ASSETS: Jurnal Ekonomi, Manajemen, dan Akuntansi (ASSETS) is committed to promoting transparency, impartiality, accountability, and ethical integrity throughout all stages of scholarly publication. Conflicts of interest may arise when financial, professional, institutional, commercial, academic, or personal relationships have the potential to influence research conduct, interpretation, peer review, or editorial decisions. To safeguard scientific credibility and maintain public trust, ASSETS requires the identification, disclosure, and appropriate management of potential conflicts of interest among authors, reviewers, editors, and other individuals involved in the publication process. This policy is informed by internationally recognized publication ethics principles, including guidance provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and, where applicable, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

1. Policy Statement

ASSETS recognizes that conflicts of interest may compromise, or appear to compromise, the objectivity, independence, and credibility of scientific research and scholarly publishing, particularly in economics, management, accounting, finance, and related business disciplines.

All individuals participating in manuscript submission, peer review, editorial evaluation, and publication must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could influence their professional judgment, research activities, scholarly interpretations, or editorial responsibilities.

The existence of a conflict of interest does not automatically disqualify a manuscript from publication. However, complete and transparent disclosure is essential for maintaining confidence in research findings and the integrity of the scholarly record.

ASSETS is committed to evaluating and managing disclosed conflicts fairly, independently, transparently, and consistently with recognized publication ethics standards.

2. Types of Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest may be financial or non-financial and may involve relationships, institutional affiliations, commercial interests, or circumstances that directly or indirectly affect research integrity, professional judgment, or scholarly independence.

2.1. Financial Conflicts of Interest

Financial conflicts may include:

• Research grants and financial sponsorship.
• Employment or consultancy relationships.
• Honoraria, professional fees, and paid advisory services.
• Stock ownership, shareholding interests, or other financial investments.
• Patents, royalties, licensing agreements, and intellectual property interests.
• Financial relationships with corporations, financial institutions, accounting firms, auditing organizations, business associations, government agencies, or commercial research sponsors.
• Commercial interests in financial products, business models, management systems, accounting applications, or technologies evaluated in the research.
• Financial incentives or other economic benefits associated with the outcomes or publication of the research.

2.2. Non-Financial Conflicts of Interest

Non-financial conflicts may include:

• Personal or family relationships.
• Professional and institutional affiliations.
• Academic competition or professional rivalry.
• Close research collaborations.
• Personal beliefs, professional commitments, or organizational interests that could influence scientific judgment.
• Relationships with companies, organizations, government institutions, or professional associations that may benefit from the research findings.
• Direct involvement in the development, implementation, management, or evaluation of economic policies, business programs, accounting practices, or organizational interventions examined in the manuscript.

2.3. Research-Related Conflicts of Interest

Research-related conflicts may arise when individuals have direct relationships with organizations, institutions, policies, financial products, business practices, or managerial interventions evaluated in the research.

In economics, management, accounting, finance, and related business research, these may include relationships with corporations, financial institutions, accounting and auditing firms, government agencies, business associations, consulting organizations, investment companies, or commercial sponsors.

Potential conflicts may also arise when researchers evaluate economic policies, organizational practices, financial instruments, business strategies, accounting systems, or management programs that they have personally developed, commercially supported, or institutionally implemented.

Research involving corporate financial performance, investment decisions, financial reporting, auditing practices, or organizational assessments must consider potential conflicts arising from employment relationships, consulting arrangements, ownership interests, or access to confidential business information.

All relevant relationships must be transparently disclosed when they could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, the design, implementation, analysis, evaluation, reporting, or interpretation of the research.

3. Responsibilities of Authors

All authors submitting manuscripts to ASSETS must disclose relevant financial and non-financial interests that may affect the research or its interpretation.

Authors are required to:

1. Provide accurate and complete conflict-of-interest declarations during manuscript submission.
2. Identify all sources of financial support, research funding, and sponsorship.
3. Explain the role of funders or sponsors in research design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, and publication decisions.
4. Disclose relevant professional, academic, institutional, financial, commercial, or organizational relationships associated with the reported research.
5. Declare relevant ownership interests, investment relationships, consultancy arrangements, or commercial interests connected to the organizations, financial products, or business practices evaluated in the study.
6. Disclose potential conflicts arising from professional relationships with employees, managers, business owners, investors, financial institutions, or other research participants.
7. Update their disclosures if new conflicts emerge during the editorial or publication process.
8. Ensure that research findings, statistical analyses, economic evaluations, accounting interpretations, and conclusions remain independent of inappropriate external influence.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that conflict-of-interest information is collected from all co-authors and accurately reported to the journal.

Authors must not conceal financial, institutional, professional, or personal interests that could reasonably influence the interpretation of research findings or the reported effectiveness of economic policies, management practices, financial strategies, or accounting procedures.

When research involves confidential financial records, proprietary business information, corporate data, or other restricted organizational materials, authors must obtain appropriate authorization and ensure that data confidentiality and research independence are maintained.

4. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Peer reviewers must conduct manuscript evaluations objectively, independently, professionally, and confidentially.

Before accepting a review invitation, reviewers must disclose relationships or circumstances that could compromise their impartiality.

Potential conflicts may include:

• Recent or ongoing research collaborations with the authors.
• Personal, professional, financial, or institutional relationships with the authors.
• Direct academic competition involving the research topic.
• Institutional affiliations or professional relationships that could compromise impartiality.
• Financial or other interests in the research outcomes, economic policies, business strategies, accounting practices, or financial products being evaluated.
• Involvement in competing research projects, consultancy activities, investment arrangements, or commercially supported programs directly related to the submitted manuscript.
• Relationships with companies, financial institutions, accounting firms, or other organizations that may benefit from the publication or rejection of the manuscript.

Reviewers must decline or withdraw from the review process when a conflict could reasonably influence their scientific, methodological, or professional assessment.

Reviewers must not use confidential information, unpublished research findings, financial records, business data, accounting information, or research ideas obtained during peer review for personal, professional, academic, or financial advantage.

Reviewers must provide fair and evidence-based evaluations without allowing commercial interests, institutional competition, personal relationships, or academic disagreements to influence their recommendations.

5. Responsibilities of Editors and Editorial Board Members

Editors and editorial board members must maintain independence, impartiality, transparency, and professional integrity throughout the editorial decision-making process.

Editors must disclose relevant conflicts of interest and must not manage manuscripts when significant personal, professional, institutional, academic, financial, or commercial relationships could compromise their judgment.

When a conflict exists, editorial responsibility must be transferred to an independent editor who has no relevant conflict of interest.

Manuscripts submitted by editors or editorial board members must undergo independent editorial handling and the journal's established peer-review procedures.

Editorial decisions must be based exclusively on scientific merit, methodological quality, originality, ethical compliance, relevance to economics, management, accounting, and related disciplines, and contribution to the journal's focus and scope.

Commercial interests, institutional influence, personal relationships, academic partnerships, financial sponsorship, professional affiliations, and potential publication revenue must not determine editorial decisions.

Editors must also ensure that reviewers are selected based on appropriate expertise, independence, and their ability to provide objective scholarly assessments.

Where editors have relationships with organizations, companies, financial institutions, or professional associations directly connected to a submitted manuscript, such relationships must be appropriately disclosed and managed.

6. Conflict of Interest Declaration

All manuscripts submitted to ASSETS must include a Conflict of Interest Statement, regardless of whether the authors have any conflicts to disclose.

6.1. Declaration When No Conflict Exists

Authors who have no relevant conflicts of interest must include the following statement:

"The authors declare that they have no financial or non-financial conflicts of interest related to this research."

6.2. Declaration When a Conflict Exists

Authors with relevant conflicts must clearly identify and describe the relationships involved.

An appropriate statement may follow this structure:

"The authors declare the following potential conflicts of interest: [describe the relevant financial, professional, institutional, commercial, or personal relationships]. The authors confirm that these relationships have been disclosed and that responsibility for the scientific integrity of the research remains with the authors."

When a study evaluates economic policies, financial products, accounting practices, management systems, corporate performance, or business programs developed, implemented, or commercially supported by the authors or their affiliated organizations, the relevant relationships must be clearly disclosed.

Authors should provide sufficient information to allow readers, reviewers, and editors to understand the nature of the interests involved and assess their potential influence on the reported findings.

6.3. Funding Disclosure

Authors must provide a separate Funding Statement identifying any financial support received for the research.

Where no external funding was received, authors may state:

"This research received no external funding."

Financial support must be disclosed independently of conflict-of-interest declarations so that readers can distinguish research funding from other relevant relationships.

When a research project involves government funding, institutional sponsorship, private corporations, financial institutions, international organizations, or industry-supported business programs, authors must clearly explain the role of the sponsoring organizations in the research process.

Funding disclosure does not automatically indicate a conflict of interest. However, authors must disclose any additional relationships or arrangements that could influence, or reasonably appear to influence, the research findings or their interpretation.

7. Conflict of Interest Management

The ASSETS Editorial Team will assess disclosed conflicts of interest and determine whether additional measures are necessary to ensure the independence, objectivity, credibility, and integrity of the publication process.

Depending on the circumstances, appropriate measures may include:

1. Requesting additional information or clarification from the individuals involved.
2. Requiring more detailed conflict-of-interest disclosure statements.
3. Assigning independent reviewers or editors.
4. Excluding conflicted individuals from specific editorial decisions.
5. Requiring clarification of sponsor involvement, institutional relationships, financial interests, business partnerships, or author independence.
6. Requesting additional methodological explanations or independent verification of research findings when necessary and feasible.
7. Publishing relevant conflict-of-interest disclosures alongside the article.

The editorial team may request supporting documentation where necessary.

All decisions concerning conflict-of-interest management will be guided by transparency, fairness, proportionality, scientific independence, and recognized publication ethics principles.

Where potential conflicts involve companies, financial institutions, accounting firms, business organizations, or research participants, the editorial team may also consider whether appropriate safeguards were implemented to protect data confidentiality, research independence, and the integrity of reported findings.

The disclosure and management of conflicts of interest are intended to protect the scholarly record and do not necessarily indicate unethical conduct by the individuals involved.

8. Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest

Failure to disclose relevant conflicts of interest may constitute a violation of publication ethics, particularly when the omission is deliberate or materially affects the credibility of the research or publication process.

When undisclosed conflicts are identified before publication, the editorial team may request clarification, require additional declarations, suspend editorial processing, or reject the manuscript when justified.

If undisclosed conflicts are discovered after publication, ASSETS will assess their significance and determine an appropriate response.

Depending on the evidence and severity of the issue, actions may include publishing a correction, issuing an editorial notice, referring the matter for institutional investigation, or considering retraction when the integrity or reliability of the publication is seriously compromised.

Editorial responses will be proportionate to the nature and severity of the concern. The existence of an undisclosed conflict of interest does not automatically justify retraction unless the circumstances satisfy recognized retraction criteria.

Authors, reviewers, and editors may be requested to provide additional explanations, declarations, or supporting documentation during the assessment of undisclosed conflicts.

All investigations and editorial actions will be conducted in accordance with relevant COPE guidance and the journal's applicable publication ethics policies.

9. Transparency and Compliance

ASSETS requires all authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial board members to comply with this Conflict of Interest Policy.

Relevant disclosures must be communicated transparently and accurately throughout the publication process.

The journal recognizes that transparent disclosure does not necessarily indicate misconduct. Rather, it enables readers, reviewers, editors, policymakers, business practitioners, accounting professionals, and other stakeholders to assess potential influences on reported research, financial evaluations, economic analyses, managerial interpretations, and scientific conclusions.

ASSETS is committed to maintaining editorial independence, protecting scientific credibility, promoting responsible economic and business research, and ensuring that published findings are evaluated on the basis of evidence, methodological validity, ethical integrity, and scholarly merit.

The journal encourages responsible disclosure practices and emphasizes that transparency regarding relevant interests is an essential component of trustworthy scholarly publishing.

References: Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) | International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)