Conflicts of Interest/Competing Interests

Journal of Midwifery (JOM) requires transparent disclosure and appropriate management of competing interests to safeguard the integrity of editorial decisions, peer review, and published research. This policy aligns with COPE Core Practices and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.

1. Introduction

  • A conflict/competing interest (COI) is any relationship or activity that could inappropriately influence—or be perceived to influence—research conduct, interpretation, peer review, or editorial decision-making.

  • This policy applies to authors, editors, reviewers, and editorial staff.

  • Disclosures enable readers to assess potential influences; they do not necessarily indicate bias or wrongdoing.

2. Description

2.1 Types of competing interests

  • Financial: employment, consultancies, honoraria, grants or in-kind support, paid expert testimony, stock/stock options, royalties, intellectual property (patents, licenses), or other monetary relationships.

  • Non-financial: personal or professional relationships, academic competition, strongly held beliefs, society/association roles, editorial positions, political or religious interests.

  • Institutional: interests held by an author’s or editor’s institution that could be affected by the work (e.g., equity holdings, contracts).

2.2 Time window for disclosure

  • Disclose interests from the past 36 months and any anticipated interests reasonably foreseeable to be affected by the work.

2.3 Funding and sponsor involvement

  • Authors must disclose all funding sources and the role of the funder/sponsor (study design; data collection; analysis; interpretation; writing; publication decision; access to data). Independence and data-access statements are required where sponsors are involved.

3. Policy

3.1 Authors

  • Submit a Competing Interests statement for each author at submission and update it at acceptance and post-publication if circumstances change.

  • Provide a Funding statement naming funder(s) and grant numbers; describe sponsor roles and access to data; state who had final responsibility for the decision to submit.

  • If no competing interests: include the statement “The authors declare no competing interests.”

  • Manuscripts must include CRediT roles, conflicts, funding, and data availability statements consistent with other JOM policies.

  • Undeclared relevant interests discovered later may lead to correction, expression of concern, or retraction for serious cases.

3.2 Editors and editorial staff

  • Editors must recuse themselves from handling submissions where a COI exists (e.g., same institution, recent collaboration within 3 years, personal relationships, financial stakes).

  • Submissions from editors/board members are handled by an independent editor; peer review uses reviewers without conflicts; decisions are made independently of the conflicted editor.

  • Editorial decisions are independent of commercial considerations (APCs, advertising, sponsorship). Advertising and sponsored content do not influence editorial decisions.

3.3 Peer reviewers

  • Reviewers must declare any conflicts before accepting an assignment. Examples include: recent co-authorship (< 3 years), current or recent same institution/department, direct competition, personal or professional relationships, or financial interests in products/companies discussed.

  • If a manageable, limited interest exists, the editor may decide whether to proceed with reviewer input while documenting the interest; otherwise the reviewer should decline.

  • Reviewers must not use unpublished information for personal advantage and must keep manuscripts confidential.

3.4 Public disclosure

  • For accepted manuscripts, author COI and funding statements appear on the article page and, where possible, in the PDF. Editorial and reviewer COIs are recorded internally.

3.5 Enforcement

  • JOM may request clarifications, supporting documents, or institutional letters.

  • Remedies for non-disclosure include editorial correction, reassessment of the manuscript, peer-review reassignment, or, for published content, correction/Expression of Concern/retraction in line with COPE guidance. Repeated or egregious breaches may incur sanctions (e.g., submission embargoes).

4. Technicalities to Achieve and Materialise the Policies

4.1 Author disclosure requirements (what to include)

  • For each author:
    a) All financial relationships relevant to the submitted work (entity name, nature of relationship, time period).
    b) Non-financial interests that could be perceived to influence the work.
    c) Funding sources and grant numbers.
    d) Sponsor role(s) across the research lifecycle.
    e) Statement on data access and independence of analysis and publication.

Sample wording

  • Competing interests: “Author A reports consulting fees from Company X (2024–2025) and travel support from Society Y (2023). Authors B and C declare no competing interests.”

  • Funding: “This work was supported by Grant Z (No. 12345) from Funder Q. The funder had no role in study design; data collection, analysis, and interpretation; writing; or the decision to submit.”

4.2 Editorial handling and recusal

  • The submission system records COIs. Handling editors confirm declarations at initial check and before final decision.

  • If an editor has a COI, the EiC assigns an alternate handling editor and documents the recusal.

  • For board-member authors, add an extra independent reviewer where feasible and note the handling arrangement in internal records.

4.3 Reviewer declaration and management

  • Invitation letters request reviewers to confirm absence/presence of COI before accepting.

  • On disclosure, the handling editor decides to proceed, limit scope, or reassign.

  • All reviewer COIs and decisions are logged in the editorial system.

4.4 Sponsored research and third-party services

  • If medical/scientific writers or editing services contributed, acknowledge them and disclose the funding source for those services.

  • For industry-sponsored research, authors should provide statements on data ownership, analysis independence, and publication rights.

4.5 Post-publication updates and corrections

  • Authors must notify the journal if COIs change after publication.

  • JOM issues a correction to update COI/funding statements; severe undisclosed conflicts may prompt Expression of Concern or retraction after investigation.

4.6 Record-keeping and transparency

  • JOM maintains confidential COI records for authors, editors, and reviewers, including recusal logs and handling arrangements.

Related and supporting policies

Contact

Questions about conflicts/competing interests: jom@med.unand.ac.id

Back to Publication Ethics main page: https://jom.fk.unand.ac.id/index.php/jom/ethics