Conflict of Interest and Funding Disclosure Policy

1. Purpose and Scope

The International Journal of Multidisciplinary Inquiry (IJMI) is committed to maintaining transparency, impartiality, and integrity throughout its scholarly publishing process. The disclosure and appropriate management of competing interests are essential to ensuring that research findings, peer review assessments, and editorial decisions remain independent of influences that could compromise professional judgment.

This policy establishes the requirements for identifying, disclosing, and managing actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest involving authors, editors, reviewers, and other individuals participating in the journal's publication activities. It applies to all manuscripts submitted to IJMI, regardless of disciplinary field or article type.

The existence of a competing interest does not necessarily indicate misconduct or invalidate a scholarly contribution. Appropriate disclosure allows the journal to assess relevant circumstances and implement safeguards where necessary.

2. Nature and Types of Competing Interests

A competing interest arises when financial, professional, personal, institutional, or other relationships could reasonably influence, or be perceived to influence, an individual's research activities, scholarly evaluation, or editorial responsibilities.

Financial interests may include research funding, employment, consultancy arrangements, honoraria, intellectual property interests, paid advisory positions, or other financial relationships connected to the subject matter of a manuscript.

Non-financial interests may arise from personal relationships, professional collaborations, institutional affiliations, academic competition, organizational commitments, or strongly held interests that could affect impartiality.

Competing interests may exist even where an individual believes that their professional judgment remains unaffected. The relevant consideration is whether the circumstances could reasonably raise questions about independence or objectivity.

IJMI encourages disclosure wherever uncertainty exists concerning the relevance of a relationship or interest.

3. Responsibilities of Authors

All authors submitting manuscripts to IJMI are required to provide a Conflict of Interest Declaration. This requirement applies regardless of whether competing interests are present.

Authors must disclose financial and non-financial relationships that are relevant to the research, its interpretation, or its potential publication. The declaration should provide sufficient information to allow the editorial team and readers to understand the nature of any disclosed interests.

Where no relevant competing interests exist, authors must explicitly confirm their absence.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that the declaration accurately reflects information provided by all co-authors. Each author remains individually responsible for disclosing relevant circumstances.

Where a competing interest arises or becomes known after submission, the authors must promptly inform the journal. Disclosure obligations continue throughout the editorial process and, where relevant, after publication.

Failure to disclose a significant competing interest may result in requests for clarification, editorial reassessment, or other action consistent with the journal's Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement.

4. Mandatory Conflict of Interest Declaration

Every manuscript must include a declaration of competing interests in accordance with the journal's submission requirements.

Authors should use the following statements, adapting them where necessary to reflect their actual circumstances.

Where no competing interests exist:

"The authors declare that they have no financial, professional, personal, or other competing interests that could have influenced the research or its publication."

Where competing interests exist:

"The authors declare the following competing interests: [provide a clear description of the relevant financial, professional, personal, institutional, or other relationships, identifying the author or authors concerned where appropriate]."

A disclosure should identify the nature of the interest and its relevance to the submitted work. Authors should not use a statement of no competing interests where a relevant relationship or circumstance requires disclosure.

The journal may request additional information where the declaration is incomplete or where further clarification is necessary.

5. Funding Disclosure and the Role of Funders

Authors must disclose financial support received for the research or preparation of the manuscript, including grants, institutional funding, sponsorship, and other relevant financial assistance.

Funding declarations should identify the funding organization and grant or project number where applicable. Authors must also disclose any substantive involvement of funders in the research design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or decision to submit the work for publication.

Where the research received no external financial support, authors should provide an appropriate statement confirming this.

Where funding was received:

"This research was supported by [name of funding organization] under grant or project number [reference, where applicable]. The funder's role in the research and manuscript preparation was as follows: [describe the role or state that the funder had no involvement in the relevant activities]."

Where no external funding was received:

"The authors declare that this research received no external funding."

The disclosure of funding does not automatically constitute a competing interest. However, funding arrangements that may affect the independence of the research must be appropriately identified.

6. Responsibilities of Editors and Editorial Board Members

Editors and members of the editorial team must disclose any relationship or interest that could compromise, or reasonably appear to compromise, their impartiality in handling a manuscript.

Potential conflicts may arise where an editor has a close personal or professional relationship with an author, has recently collaborated with an author, shares a direct institutional interest, has a financial interest in the research, or is otherwise personally involved in the subject matter.

An editor who identifies a relevant competing interest must inform the journal and withdraw from the editorial handling and decision-making process for the manuscript concerned. Responsibility must be transferred to another suitably qualified and independent editor.

Manuscripts submitted by the Managing Editor, an Editor-in-Chief, or another member of the editorial team must be evaluated through an independent editorial arrangement. The submitting editor must not select reviewers, access confidential reviewer identities or reports beyond the access ordinarily granted to authors, or participate in decisions concerning their own manuscript.

Membership of the editorial board does not confer preferential treatment or guarantee publication. All submissions are subject to the journal's established academic and ethical requirements.

7. Responsibilities of Peer Reviewers

Reviewers must assess whether any financial, professional, personal, institutional, or other relationship could affect their independence before accepting a review invitation.

Where a potential competing interest exists, the reviewer must disclose the relevant circumstances to the handling editor. The editorial team will determine whether the reviewer may proceed or whether an alternative reviewer should be appointed.

Reviewers should ordinarily decline assignments where they have a close personal relationship with an author, a significant financial interest in the research, a direct professional conflict, or another circumstance that could materially compromise impartiality.

Reviewers must not use confidential manuscript information to advance their own research, professional interests, or those of another individual or organization.

If a competing interest becomes apparent during the review process, the reviewer must notify the editorial team promptly.

8. Assessment and Management of Disclosed Interests

IJMI will assess disclosed competing interests according to their relevance, seriousness, and potential effect on the independence or integrity of the publication process.

Appropriate measures may include requesting further disclosure, appointing an alternative reviewer or editor, transferring editorial responsibility, obtaining an additional independent assessment, or requiring clarification in the manuscript's published declarations.

The editorial team will distinguish between interests that can be managed through transparent disclosure and those that require an individual to withdraw from the relevant editorial activity.

Where an undisclosed interest is identified, the journal may seek an explanation from the individual concerned and determine whether the circumstances affected the manuscript's assessment or publication.

Editorial decisions shall be based on scholarly merit and compliance with the journal's requirements. The existence of a disclosed interest will not automatically result in manuscript rejection unless the circumstances raise substantive concerns that cannot be appropriately resolved.

9. Post-Publication Disclosure and Policy Compliance

Authors and other participants in the publication process are expected to inform IJMI if a significant previously undisclosed competing interest becomes known after publication.

Where the omission does not undermine the reliability or integrity of the published work, the journal may consider publishing an appropriate correction or disclosure notice.

Where an undisclosed interest is associated with substantial concerns about research integrity, editorial independence, or the reliability of published findings, the matter may be examined under the journal's procedures for addressing publication ethics concerns and post-publication actions.

IJMI may revise this policy periodically to reflect developments in scholarly publishing standards and the journal's operational requirements.

All authors, editors, reviewers, and relevant publishing personnel are expected to comply with these requirements and to contribute to a transparent, independent, and accountable scholarly publishing environment.