Conflicts of Interest

Istinbath: Jurnal Hukum is committed to maintaining the highest standards of transparency, integrity, impartiality, and ethical conduct in scholarly publishing. This policy defines conflicts of interest and establishes procedures for identifying, disclosing, and managing potential conflicts involving authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, journal staff, and the publisher, whether identified before, during, or after publication.

The journal follows the principles and Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) concerning conflicts of interest, editorial independence, peer review, and publication integrity.

Definition of Conflicts of Interest

A conflict of interest, also referred to as a competing interest, exists when an individual or organization has financial, personal, professional, institutional, academic, intellectual, or other interests that could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, the objectivity, integrity, impartiality, or decision-making of the research and publication process.

The existence of a conflict of interest does not necessarily indicate misconduct. However, all relevant competing interests must be disclosed transparently so that they can be appropriately evaluated and managed.

Identification and Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, and other individuals involved in the publication process must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest relevant to a manuscript.

Conflicts of interest may include, but are not limited to:

Financial interests: research funding, grants, employment, consultancy, honoraria, stock ownership, financial investments, or other financial relationships that may be affected by the publication.
Personal relationships: family relationships, close personal relationships, personal disputes, or other relationships with authors, reviewers, editors, or individuals involved in the research.
Professional relationships: employment relationships, supervisory relationships, professional competition, institutional responsibilities, or other professional connections that may affect impartiality.
Academic relationships: recent or ongoing research collaboration, co-authorship, supervision, institutional affiliation, or academic competition that could create an actual or perceived bias.
Institutional or organizational interests: affiliations with institutions, organizations, professional bodies, government agencies, or other entities that may have an interest in the findings, arguments, or conclusions of the manuscript.
Intellectual or ideological interests: strong academic, theoretical, doctrinal, legal, religious, political, or intellectual positions that may reasonably affect impartial evaluation of a manuscript.
Intellectual property interests: patents, copyrights, licenses, proprietary rights, or other intellectual property interests that could be affected by the publication.

Handling Conflicts of Interest

Istinbath: Jurnal Hukum manages conflicts of interest in a transparent, fair, and proportionate manner. The existence of a conflict will be assessed based on its nature, relevance, and potential influence on the integrity of the publication process.

For Authors

Authors must disclose all relevant financial and non-financial competing interests at the time of manuscript submission.

Authors should include a conflict-of-interest statement in the manuscript. If no competing interests exist, authors should state:

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this article.

Where a competing interest exists, authors must provide sufficient information to allow the editors and readers to understand its nature.

If an undisclosed conflict of interest is identified after publication, the authors must promptly inform the editorial office. The journal may publish a correction, clarification, expression of concern, or take other appropriate editorial action depending on the circumstances.

For Reviewers

Reviewers must disclose any conflict of interest that could compromise, or reasonably appear to compromise, their independence or impartiality.

Reviewers should decline a review invitation when they:

have a close personal or professional relationship with the authors;
have recently collaborated or co-authored publications with the authors;
are directly involved in the same research project;
have significant academic, professional, financial, institutional, or intellectual competition with the authors;
have any other interest that may prevent an objective assessment of the manuscript.

If a conflict becomes apparent after the review has begun, the reviewer must immediately notify the editorial office and, where appropriate, withdraw from the review process.

For Editors and Editorial Board Members

Editors, editorial board members, and journal staff must not participate in editorial decisions concerning manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest.

An editor must recuse themselves from handling a manuscript when they:

are an author or co-author of the manuscript;
have a close personal, professional, or institutional relationship with an author;
have recently collaborated with an author;
have a financial, academic, institutional, intellectual, or other competing interest relevant to the manuscript.

The manuscript will be assigned to another qualified editor who has no competing interest.

Editorial decisions must be based solely on scholarly merit, methodological rigor, originality, relevance to the journal's scope, research integrity, and the quality of the manuscript.

Submissions by Editors or Editorial Board Members

Editors and editorial board members of Istinbath: Jurnal Hukum are not prohibited from submitting manuscripts to the journal. However, they must have no involvement in the editorial evaluation, reviewer selection, peer-review process, or final publication decision concerning their own manuscripts.

Such submissions will be handled independently by another editor who has no conflict of interest. Reviewers will not be informed or influenced by the author's editorial position within the journal.

This procedure is intended to ensure editorial independence and prevent preferential treatment.

For the Publisher

The publisher must respect the editorial independence of Istinbath: Jurnal Hukum.

Commercial considerations, institutional interests, sponsorship, advertising, financial arrangements, or other external interests must not influence editorial decisions.

The publisher is responsible for supporting policies and procedures that protect:

editorial independence;
research integrity;
transparent peer review;
ethical publication practices; and
appropriate management of competing interests.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions concerning manuscripts submitted to Istinbath: Jurnal Hukum are made independently of the publisher, sponsoring institutions, funding organizations, commercial interests, or other external parties.

Acceptance or rejection decisions are based on academic quality, originality, methodological soundness, legal and scholarly contribution, ethical compliance, and relevance to the journal's focus and scope.

Transparency and Disclosure

Istinbath: Jurnal Hukum requires transparent disclosure of relevant competing interests throughout the publication process.

Where appropriate, declarations of competing interests submitted by authors will be published with the article.

The journal may also require editors, reviewers, and other parties involved in a manuscript to provide conflict-of-interest declarations where necessary to safeguard the integrity and impartiality of the editorial process.

The journal will restrict or prevent editors, reviewers, or other relevant parties from accessing or participating in the editorial process of manuscripts in which they have a competing interest.

Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest

If a potential undisclosed conflict of interest is reported or identified before publication, the editorial team will investigate the matter and may suspend the editorial process until the issue has been clarified.

If an undisclosed conflict of interest is identified after publication, Istinbath: Jurnal Hukum will assess its significance and may take appropriate action, including:

requesting a clarification from the author or relevant party;
publishing a correction or disclosure statement;
issuing an expression of concern;
initiating further investigation; or
taking other editorial action consistent with publication ethics and the seriousness of the case.

Confidentiality

Information concerning declared or alleged conflicts of interest will be handled confidentially and disclosed only to individuals who need the information to assess or manage the potential conflict, except where public disclosure is required to preserve transparency or research integrity.

Review of the Policy

Istinbath: Jurnal Hukum will periodically review and update this policy to maintain consistency with internationally recognized standards of publication ethics and best practices in scholarly publishing.

Any substantive revisions to this policy will be made publicly available through the journal's official website.