Conflict in Interest

Al-Mizan (e-Journal) is committed to maintaining integrity, independence, objectivity, and transparency throughout the entire scholarly publication process. Conflicts of interest, also known as competing interests, may arise when financial, personal, professional, academic, institutional, or other interests potentially influence, or could reasonably be perceived as influencing, the implementation of community service activities, the interpretation of results, manuscript evaluation, editorial decisions, or article publication.

The existence of certain relationships or interests does not necessarily indicate unethical behavior. However, any relevant interests must be transparently disclosed so that editors, reviewers, and readers can assess their potential influence on the content and publication process of the article.

Author Responsibilities

All authors are required to disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest affecting community service activities and the publication of the manuscript. Conflicts of interest may include, but are not limited to:

• Financial interests, such as funding, honoraria, consulting fees, stock ownership, or financial support from parties with an interest in the outcomes of the activities.
• Professional and institutional interests, such as employment relationships, institutional collaborations, program partnerships, or organizational involvements that could potentially influence the objectivity of the reporting.
• Personal interests, such as family ties, friendships, or other personal relationships that might influence judgment and the interpretation of results.
• Academic or intellectual interests, such as mentoring relationships, academic competition, intellectual property ownership, or other interests related to the outcomes of the activities and publication.
• Organizational or commercial interests, including relationships with sponsors, product or service providers, implementing partners, or parties who may potentially benefit from the publication.

Authors are required to include a Conflict of Interest Statement within the submitted manuscript. If a conflict of interest exists, authors must clearly and concisely explain the nature of that interest. If there are no conflicts of interest, authors must state so explicitly.

The disclosure of conflicts of interest does not replace the obligation to state funding sources in the Funding Statement. These two statements serve different purposes and must be provided in accordance with Al-Mizan (e-Journal) guidelines.

Reviewer Responsibilities

Reviewers must disclose to the editor any relationships or interests that could compromise the independence and objectivity of their manuscript evaluation. Conflicts of interest may include professional, institutional, financial, personal, or academic relationships with the authors or other parties associated with the manuscript.

Reviewers must decline review invitations or withdraw from the review process if there is a conflict of interest that could potentially impair their assessment objectivity. Reviewers are also required to maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts and must not use information obtained during the review process for personal gain or for the benefit of others.

Responsibilities of Editors and Editorial Board

Editors and members of the editorial board must maintain the independence of editorial decisions and disclose any conflicts of interest regarding manuscripts under review. Editors who have a conflict of interest must not be involved in the evaluation or editorial decision-making process for those manuscripts.

In such circumstances, the manuscript and editorial decision should be reassigned to another editor with no conflicts of interest. The decision to accept or reject an article must be based on its relevance to the journal's focus, scientific quality, originality, integrity, and the outcome of the review process, rather than on personal, institutional, commercial, or relational interests.