Conflict of Interest Policy

The Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi dan Bisnis is committed to maintaining objectivity, transparency, and integrity throughout the research, peer-review, editorial decision-making, and scholarly publication processes. A conflict of interest may arise when financial, personal, professional, academic, or institutional interests influence, or could reasonably be perceived to influence, an individual's judgment concerning a manuscript, particularly in research involving communication studies, media and journalism, digital communication, public relations, political communication, and other related fields.

A conflict of interest does not necessarily constitute an ethical violation. However, all relevant conflicts must be disclosed and appropriately managed to protect the independence of the editorial process.

1. Types of Conflicts of Interest

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

  1. Financial: research funding, employment, paid consultancy, honoraria, share ownership, patents, or other economic interests related to communication research, media organizations, public relations activities, digital communication platforms, or other aspects of the research.

  2. Personal: family relationships, close friendships, disputes, or other personal relationships that could affect impartiality.

  3. Academic and professional: research collaboration, supervisor–student relationships, academic competition, or professional interests in communication studies, journalism, media studies, public relations, political communication, or related disciplines that could influence judgment.

  4. Institutional: relationships with universities, media organizations, public relations agencies, communication service providers, digital platforms, or other institutions that are the subject of the research or may benefit or suffer from the publication of its findings.

This list is not exhaustive. Any other interest that could reasonably influence, or be perceived to influence, impartiality must also be disclosed.

2. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest relevant to their submitted manuscripts. Authors must also declare all research funding sources and, where relevant, explain the funders' roles in the research design, conduct, analysis, manuscript preparation, and decision to publish.

A conflict of interest statement must be included in the manuscript in accordance with the journal's author guidelines. If no conflict exists, authors must explicitly state that there are no conflicts of interest to declare.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all co-authors have provided the relevant disclosures. Any conflict identified during peer review or after publication must be promptly reported to the editor.

3. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest to the editor before accepting or undertaking a review. They must decline the invitation or promptly notify the editor if financial, personal, academic, professional, or institutional relationships could compromise their independent judgment.

If a conflict becomes apparent after the review has begun, the reviewer must inform the editor immediately. Reviewers must not use unpublished information obtained through the review process for personal or professional advantage, including in communication research, media studies, journalism, public relations, political communication, or related fields.

4. Responsibilities of Editors and Editorial Board Members

Editors and editorial board members must disclose conflicts of interest relating to manuscripts they are assigned to handle. An editor must not make editorial decisions or manage peer review when a conflict could compromise impartiality.

In such cases, the manuscript must be reassigned to an independent editor who has no relevant conflict. Manuscripts submitted by editors or editorial board members must undergo the same peer-review process and editorial standards as other submissions, without the submitting individual participating in editorial decisions concerning their own manuscript.

5. Disclosure and Management of Conflicts of Interest

The editor is responsible for assessing disclosed conflicts and determining appropriate measures, including requesting clarification or additional information, replacing a reviewer or editor, or implementing other measures necessary to protect editorial independence.

Undisclosed conflicts identified at a later stage will be addressed according to their seriousness and impact on publication integrity. Possible actions include requesting clarification, correcting the conflict of interest statement, rejecting the manuscript, or taking post-publication action in accordance with the journal's correction and retraction policies.

6. Examples of Conflict of Interest Statements

If no conflict exists:

“The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest related to the research and publication of this article.”

If a conflict exists, authors must transparently describe the nature of the interest and its relationship to the research.