DEVELOPMENT: Journal of Community Engagement is committed to ensuring that all editorial and peer-review decisions are fair, objective, transparent, and free from inappropriate influence. All authors, reviewers, editors, and members of the editorial team are required to disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that may influence their judgment, responsibilities, or participation in the publication process.
A conflict of interest may arise when personal, professional, financial, academic, institutional, or other relationships could reasonably be perceived as influencing the objectivity or integrity of the research, community engagement activities, peer-review process, interpretation of findings, or editorial decision-making.
1. Authors
Authors are required to disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest at the time of manuscript submission. Potential conflicts may include, but are not limited to:
- Financial relationships or funding that could influence the research or community engagement activities.
- Employment or professional affiliations.
- Personal or family relationships.
- Academic or professional competition.
- Intellectual property interests, including patents, copyrights, or commercial interests.
- Institutional relationships.
- Relationships with community partners, sponsors, organizations, or other stakeholders involved in the reported activities.
- Other relationships or circumstances that may affect, or appear to affect, the objectivity of the research, community engagement process, or interpretation of findings.
If no conflict of interest exists, authors should include the following statement in their manuscript:
Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest related to the publication of this article.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that all relevant conflicts of interest involving all co-authors are properly disclosed. Any conflict that becomes apparent after submission must be reported promptly to the Editorial Office.
2. Reviewers
Reviewers must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest before accepting an invitation to review a manuscript. Reviewers should decline the invitation if they:
- Have a personal or professional relationship with one or more of the authors.
- Have recently collaborated with the authors.
- Work at the same institution as an author where such affiliation could reasonably affect impartiality.
- Have direct academic or professional competition with the authors.
- Have a financial, institutional, organizational, or other interest related to the research or community engagement activities.
- Have participated directly in the project, program, or activity described in the manuscript.
- Believe that their relationship with the manuscript, authors, institutions, or related organizations could affect their impartiality.
Reviewers must not use information obtained during the peer-review process for personal, professional, academic, institutional, or financial benefit.
If a conflict of interest becomes apparent after accepting a review assignment, the reviewer must immediately inform the Editorial Office and, where appropriate, withdraw from the review process.
3. Editors and Editorial Team
Editors and members of the editorial team must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could influence their editorial judgment.
An editor should not handle a manuscript when the editor:
- Is an author or co-author of the manuscript.
- Has a close personal or professional relationship with an author.
- Has recently collaborated with one or more authors.
- Has a significant academic or professional conflict with an author.
- Has a financial or institutional interest related to the manuscript.
- Has been directly involved in the community engagement project, program, or activity reported in the manuscript.
- Has another relationship that may compromise, or reasonably appear to compromise, impartiality.
In such circumstances, the manuscript will be assigned to another qualified editor who has no relevant conflict of interest.
Editorial decisions must be based on the manuscript's scholarly quality, originality, relevance to community engagement and community service, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, contribution to knowledge or practice, and conformity with the journal's publication standards. Decisions must not be influenced by commercial, personal, institutional, political, financial, or other competing interests.
4. Funding and Financial Interests
Authors must disclose all sources of financial support for the research, community service, community engagement program, or other activities reported in the manuscript.
Funding information should be included in the manuscript where applicable and should identify the funding body, sponsoring organization, grant provider, or other financial support received.
Authors should also disclose relevant financial interests that could influence, or reasonably be perceived as influencing, the design, implementation, reporting, interpretation, or publication of the work.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that funding and financial disclosures are accurate, complete, and transparent.
5. Institutional and Community Relationships
Because articles published in DEVELOPMENT: Journal of Community Engagement may involve collaboration with communities, educational institutions, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, businesses, religious institutions, or other community partners, authors should disclose relationships that may create competing interests.
This may include circumstances in which authors hold managerial, advisory, financial, organizational, or other positions within institutions or community organizations directly involved in the activities described in the manuscript.
Such relationships do not automatically prevent publication, but they must be disclosed transparently so that editors, reviewers, and readers can appropriately evaluate the reported work.
6. Management of Conflicts of Interest
When a conflict of interest is disclosed, the Editor-in-Chief of DEVELOPMENT: Journal of Community Engagement, or another designated editor without a relevant conflict, will assess its nature and determine appropriate measures to protect the integrity of the editorial and peer-review process.
Possible actions may include:
- Assigning the manuscript to an alternative editor.
- Assigning an alternative reviewer.
- Requesting additional disclosure or clarification from the relevant individual.
- Requesting additional documentation concerning funding, institutional relationships, or project involvement.
- Requiring a conflict-of-interest disclosure statement to be included in the published article.
- Removing an individual from a particular editorial or review decision.
- Taking other appropriate measures to ensure a fair and impartial editorial process.
The existence of a conflict of interest does not necessarily indicate misconduct. However, failure to disclose a significant conflict of interest may result in further investigation and appropriate editorial action in accordance with the publication ethics policies of DEVELOPMENT: Journal of Community Engagement.
7. Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest
If an undisclosed conflict of interest is identified during the editorial process, the journal may temporarily suspend manuscript processing while the matter is assessed.
If a significant undisclosed conflict is discovered after publication, the journal may take appropriate action depending on the seriousness of the case. Such action may include requesting clarification from the authors, publishing a correction, issuing an editorial notice, or taking other measures necessary to maintain transparency and the integrity of the scholarly record.
8. Confidentiality and Publication Ethics
DEVELOPMENT: Journal of Community Engagement handles conflict-of-interest disclosures confidentially and in accordance with recognized standards of publication ethics.
Information concerning disclosed conflicts will be shared only as necessary to assess and manage the relevant circumstances, subject to applicable journal policies, ethical standards, and legal requirements.
Editors, reviewers, and members of the editorial team must not disclose confidential manuscript information or conflict-of-interest information to unauthorized parties.
The journal follows established publication ethics principles and may refer to the guidelines, flowcharts, and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) when evaluating and managing conflicts of interest.
9. Commitment to Transparency and Editorial Independence
Through this policy, DEVELOPMENT: Journal of Community Engagement aims to maintain transparency, impartiality, accountability, editorial independence, and public trust in scholarly publishing.
The journal is committed to ensuring that editorial decisions concerning research and community engagement publications are based on academic merit, ethical standards, methodological quality, relevance, and contribution to community development rather than inappropriate personal, financial, institutional, or other competing interests.
