Conflict of Interest Policy

A conflict of interest means anything that interferes or may interfere with a full, proper, and objective review and decision-making procedure regarding the publication of research articles or other materials.

A conflict of interest is considered to exist if the persons involved in the editorial process are in a relationship with each other that could potentially compromise them or interfere with objectivity or affect the resolution of issues related to the publication.

During the editorial process, conflicts of interest include the following relationships between the main and/or responsible editors, reviewers, and authors:

• the author and the editor-in-chief/responsible editor and/or reviewer work at the same department or in the same research group;
• the author is a student, and the reviewer and/or editor is a teacher/supervisor of the student's scientific work;
• the editor-in-chief/member of the editorial board or editorial office is the author;
• the author is a relative of the editor-in-chief.

When submitting an article, the author must disclose all possible conflicts of interest to the editors of the journal. Once manuscripts are assigned for review, reviewers are asked to notify the editor of any conflicts that may arise.

The corresponding author designated by the co-authors as responsible for correspondence with the editors must declare any conflicts of interest on behalf of all authors.

Conflicts of interest may also be related to employment, sources of funding, personal financial interests, membership in relevant organizations, or other circumstances that may cause bias and influence decision-making.

Reviewers should not review manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships/connections with any authors, companies, or institutions associated with the manuscript.

Editors should not edit/manage manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or affiliations with any of the authors, or companies or institutions associated with the research.

Any declarations of conflict of interest made by authors, reviewers or editors are reviewed by the managing editor and/or editor-in-chief of the publication. In the case of substantiated declarations of a conflict of interest with the editor-in-chief/member of the editorial board and the editorial staff, a special procedure for reviewing the manuscript is applied.