Conflict of Interest Policy

The International Journal of Social Exploration (IJSoE) is committed to ensuring transparency, independence, and integrity in the publication process. Authors, reviewers, and editors are required to disclose any competing or conflicting interests that could reasonably influence, or appear to influence, their professional judgement.

Authors

Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, professional, personal, academic, or other relationship that could be perceived as influencing the research, interpretation of findings, or presentation of the manuscript.

Relevant conflicts may include, but are not limited to:

• financial interests or funding relationships;
• employment or consultancy arrangements;
• institutional or organizational affiliations;
• personal or professional relationships;
• academic competition;
• intellectual or ideological interests directly related to the submitted work.

Authors should provide a Conflict of Interest statement during submission. If no competing interests exist, authors should state:

“The author(s) declare that there are no competing interests.”

Reviewers

Reviewers must disclose any potential conflict that could affect their ability to provide an independent and objective assessment.

Reviewers should decline an invitation or contact the Editor if they have a recent collaborative, supervisory, student, institutional, financial, personal, or other significant relationship with the author(s) or the research.

Reviewers must not use information obtained through peer review for personal, academic, professional, or financial advantage.

Editors

Editors must not handle manuscripts where they have a conflict of interest that may reasonably affect, or appear to affect, their impartiality.

Where an Editor has a relevant conflict, responsibility for the manuscript should be transferred to another qualified editor who can manage the submission independently.

Editorial decisions must not be influenced by personal relationships, institutional affiliation, financial considerations, academic rivalry, or other interests unrelated to the scholarly merit of the manuscript.

Funding and Sponsorship

Authors must disclose all sources of funding, grants, institutional support, or sponsorship associated with the research.

The role of the funder or sponsor in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or publication decisions should be disclosed where relevant.

Funding or sponsorship must not interfere with the independence of editorial or peer-review decisions.

Undisclosed Conflicts

If an undisclosed competing interest is identified before publication, the Editorial Team may request clarification or additional disclosure before proceeding.

If a significant undisclosed conflict is identified after publication, the journal may issue an appropriate correction, disclosure statement, or other editorial notice depending on the circumstances.

Editorial Responsibility

The existence of a competing interest does not automatically prevent publication. The purpose of disclosure is to ensure transparency and allow editors, reviewers, and readers to assess whether relevant interests may have influenced the work.

The Editorial Team will evaluate disclosed interests on a case-by-case basis and take appropriate action where necessary.