Conflict of Interest Policy

The Journal Of Biology Education Research (JBER) is committed to ensuring that all published research is objective, unbiased, and free from undue influence. In accordance with the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), we require absolute transparency regarding any potential conflicts of interest from all parties involved in the publication process, including authors, reviewers, and editorial board members.

A conflict of interest (or competing interest) exists when professional judgment concerning the validity, objectivity, or integrity of a research article may be influenced by secondary interests, such as financial gain, personal relationships, or academic competition.

1. Authors' Obligations

All submitting authors must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest that could inappropriately influence (or be perceived to influence) their work.

  • Financial Interests: This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership, paid expert testimony, or patent applications/registrations related to the subject of the manuscript. Funding sources must be explicitly acknowledged.

  • Non-Financial Interests: This includes personal relationships, academic rivalries, or strong political/religious affiliations that are directly relevant to the research.

  • Declaration Requirement: Authors must include a specific "Declaration of Competing Interest" section in their manuscript (placed before the References). If no conflict exists, authors must explicitly state: "The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper."

2. Reviewers' Obligations

The peer-review process at JBER operates strictly under a Double-Blind Review system. However, reviewers must still ensure their evaluation remains completely impartial.

  • Reviewers must decline the invitation to review a manuscript if they suspect the identity of the author(s) and recognize a potential conflict of interest (e.g., recent co-authorship, shared institutional affiliation, or personal relationship).

  • Reviewers must not use unpublished information obtained during the peer-review process for their own personal or professional advantage.

  • Any potential conflict of interest must be immediately communicated to the handling Editor-in-Chief.

3. Editors' Obligations

Editors and Editorial Board members must ensure fair and unbiased editorial decisions.

  • Recusal: Editors will not handle manuscripts if they have a conflict of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers. In such cases, the manuscript will be reassigned to another independent editor.

  • Submissions by Editorial Board Members: If an Editor or Editorial Board member submits a manuscript to JBER, they will be completely excluded from the peer-review handling and decision-making process for that specific manuscript to ensure absolute objectivity.

  • Editors must not use their position to influence the publication of their own work or the work of close colleagues.

4. Handling Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest

If a potential conflict of interest is discovered after an article has been published, the Editorial Board will investigate the matter following the relevant COPE flowcharts.

  • If the undisclosed conflict is found to be genuine but does not compromise the scientific validity of the research, a formal Corrigendum or Correction Notice will be published to transparently declare the interest.

  • If the undisclosed conflict is deemed severe enough to have fundamentally biased the research design, data interpretation, or conclusions, the article may be subject to a formal Expression of Concern or Retraction.