Conflict of Interest

PRIMER: Jurnal Ilmiah Multidisiplin

1. Policy Statement PRIMER: Jurnal Ilmiah Multidisiplin (E-ISSN: 2985-7996), published bimonthly (6 issues per year) by LPPM Institut Teknologi Dan Kesehatan Aspirasi under the leadership of Editor-in-Chief Rizwan Ikromi, S.Li., M.A.P., is thoroughly committed to maintaining transparency, objectivity, fairness, and scientific integrity throughout every stage of the scholarly publication workflow. A conflict of interest arises when financial, professional, institutional, or personal commitments improperly influence—or could reasonably be perceived to influence—the conception, execution, peer review, editorial adjudication, or dissemination of a manuscript. All authors, editors, and peer reviewers are strictly required to disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could compromise their professional neutrality. Declaring a conflict of interest does not automatically preclude a manuscript from evaluation; however, undisclosed conflicts represent serious ethical infractions that compromise editorial credibility and necessitate rigorous corrective actions.

2. Definition of Conflict of Interest A conflict of interest exists whenever private interests, external loyalties, or professional entanglements undermine, or appear to undermine, an individual's impartial judgment and responsibilities across the publication cycle. Recognizable categories of conflict include:

• Financial Conflicts of Interest: Paid employment, consultancies, honoraria, patent royalties, commercial sponsorships, stock holdings, industry grants, or other financial benefits directly impacted by the analytical findings or publication outcome of the paper.

• Personal and Professional Conflicts of Interest: Close familial bonds, personal relationships, active disputes, recent research collaborations, academic mentorship/supervision, departmental co-affiliation, or professional rivalries that impair fair, dispassionate evaluation.

• Institutional Conflicts of Interest: Directives, strategic agendas, or financial stakes driven by the author's or editor's employing university, commercial enterprise, or institutional sponsor that may seek to direct research outcomes toward institutional interests.

• Intellectual and Academic Conflicts of Interest: Deeply entrenched theoretical biases, ideological commitments, or competing scientific initiatives that preclude balanced openness to differing empirical evidence or alternative theoretical frameworks.

3. Responsibilities of Authors All authors submitting work to PRIMER must provide an explicit, comprehensive conflict of interest disclosure statement upon initial manuscript submission. Authors must identify all financial and non-financial ties pertinent to the investigation, disclose all research sponsorships along with the precise involvement of funding agencies, and confirm that all co-authors have reviewed and verified the statement. In cases where no competing interests exist, authors must explicitly incorporate the following declaration within the submission metadata and the final manuscript: "The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest related to the publication of this article." Should any relevant conflict emerge subsequent to initial submission or following publication, authors are obligated to inform the editorial board immediately in writing.

4. Responsibilities of Editors Editors must safeguard institutional independence, academic fairness, and complete impartiality when overseeing peer review and reaching publication determinations. Editorial board members are required to disclose any competing interests regarding assigned submissions and must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts authored by departmental colleagues, recent collaborators, current advisees, or individuals with whom they share significant personal or professional relationships. In cases where an editor (including the Editor-in-Chief or Section Editors) authors or co-authors a manuscript submitted to PRIMER, that editor is barred from reviewer assignment, review file access, and editorial decision-making; the entire workflow is delegated to an independent editor to preserve objective, arm's-length oversight.

5. Responsibilities of Reviewers Peer reviewers play a decisive role in maintaining scholarly quality and must decline assignments whenever personal, institutional, or financial conflicts could undermine their impartiality. Reviewers must not evaluate manuscripts produced by current or recent research collaborators, direct unit associates, or direct competitors pursuing identical scientific projects. Furthermore, reviewers are strictly prohibited from exploiting unpublished hypotheses, data, or methodologies obtained through peer evaluations for personal academic advancement. If a latent conflict becomes apparent during the review process, the reviewer must cease evaluation immediately and notify the editor so that an alternative independent reviewer can be appointed.

6. Disclosure and Declaration Procedure The disclosure framework operates systematically through five distinct operational phases:

1. Initial Submission: Authors declare any competing interests directly within the Open Journal Systems (OJS) submission interface and within the manuscript body.

2. Editorial Evaluation: The handling editor examines the declaration to assess the potential for bias within the context of the research.

3. Supplementary Clarification: The editorial office may demand supplementary verification, sponsorship agreements, or detailed descriptions of funder involvement if significant entanglements are noted.

4. Editorial Risk Management: Proactive protocols are enacted to eliminate bias, such as delegating the manuscript to external handling editors or assigning independent reviewers outside the author's institutional network.

5. Public Transparency: Disclosed conflicts of interest are formally incorporated into the final Version of Record (galley PDF) accessible via Crossref DOI (https://doi.org/10.55681/primer).

7. Management of Conflicts of Interest When potential conflicts are identified, PRIMER takes proportionate measures to secure the integrity of the peer-review process. Interventions are determined by the significance of the conflict and may involve appointing alternative editors, recruiting external peer reviewers, requesting formal clarifications from the authors, embedding clear explanatory notices within the published work, or rejecting the manuscript if an irreconcilable conflict impairs the scholarly reliability of the findings.

8. Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest The deliberate or negligent failure to disclose relevant conflicts represents a severe breach of academic publishing integrity. If an undisclosed conflict is uncovered during the editorial process, PRIMER reserves the right to halt review workflows or reject the submission. If an undisclosed conflict comes to light post-publication, an inquiry aligned with Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) flowcharts will be conducted. Dependent on the outcome, the journal will issue a formal Corrigendum, an Expression of Concern, or execute a permanent Retraction if the unstated conflict severely distorted the empirical conclusions or review impartiality.

9. Funding and Sponsor Disclosure Authors must explicitly document all research funding mechanisms, including university allocations, governmental research grants, civic endowments, and private commercial sponsorships. The disclosure must detail the funding organization, grant numbers, and the precise contribution of the funding body across study design, data collection, statistical computation, result interpretation, and manuscript drafting. Where funders held no role in research execution or reporting, the following declaration must be stated: "The funder had no role in the design of the study; the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; the preparation of the manuscript; or the decision to publish the results."

10. Post-Publication Disclosure If an undisclosed or previously unacknowledged conflict of interest is identified by authors, reviewers, or readers after the article has been published, the concerned party must alert the editorial office promptly. The editorial team will review the notification and, where justified, publish a formal supplementary statement linked permanently to the article's digital record and registered Crossref DOI.

11. Commitment to Transparency and Publication Ethics PRIMER: Jurnal Ilmiah Multidisiplin and LPPM Institut Teknologi Dan Kesehatan Aspirasi remain dedicated to the highest standards of transparent academic publishing. Conflict of interest procedures are enforced consistently, confidentially, and equitably to ensure that all editorial decisions rest entirely upon academic merit, robust methodology, and original contributions to multidisciplinary sciences.

• Journal Name: PRIMER: Jurnal Ilmiah Multidisiplin

• Publisher: LPPM Institut Teknologi Dan Kesehatan Aspirasi

• Editor-in-Chief: Rizwan Ikromi, S.Li., M.A.P.

• Identifiers: E-ISSN: 2985-7996 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55681/primer

• Policy Purpose: To regulate the disclosure, management, and transparent resolution of financial and non-financial conflicts of interest.