Conflicts of interest

1. Purpose
The Journal of Public Administration and Policy (JAKP) is committed to maintaining integrity and objectivity in scientific publications. All parties involved, such as authors, reviewers, editors, and journal staff, must be open about potential conflicts of interest that may affect professional judgment or editorial decisions. This openness is important to maintain public trust in the scientific process.
2. Definition of Conflict of Interest
A conflict of interest occurs when an individual has a personal interest that could influence or be perceived to influence objectivity in assessing a manuscript or making editorial decisions. This conflict can take many forms:
• Financial: financial relationships such as research funding, consultancy, honoraria, share ownership, or involvement in organizations that have an interest in the content of the manuscript.
• Non-financial: personal relationships such as family or close friends, professional collaborations or conflicts, membership in relevant organizations, strong ideological or political views, and direct involvement in the public policy being evaluated in the manuscript.
Examples in a local context include:
• An individual is writing about the evaluation of a local policy where he or she works as a staff expert.
• A reviewer has a position in the author's partner organization.
• The editor is active in the government program that is the subject of the review.
Having a conflict of interest is not considered an ethical violation. Problems arise when such conflicts are not disclosed honestly.
3. Disclosure Obligation
• Authors: Authors must disclose all potential conflicts when submitting a manuscript, including funding sources and involvement of outside agencies. If there are no conflicts, authors should still state this with a sentence such as: "The authors declare that they have no relevant conflicts of interest." Conflicts that become known after publication should be reported to the editor immediately.
• Reviewers: Reviewers must inform the editor if they have any personal relationships, professional conflicts, or views that may interfere with objectivity toward the content or authors of the manuscript. If the conflict becomes known after the review process has begun, the reviewer must stop and report to the editor immediately. This provision also applies to non academic reviewers such as bureaucrats, NGO members, or policy practitioners.
• Journal Editors and Staff: Journal editors and staff must disclose any position or relationship that may affect the handling of the manuscript. If they have a conflict, they should not handle the manuscript and should refer it to another neutral editor. If journal editors or staff are authors of a manuscript, the editorial process should be conducted by an independent party in a transparent manner.
4. Conflict Handling
Reported conflicts will be reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief. Possible actions include:
• Inclusion of a conflict of interest statement in the article;
• Replacement of reviewers or editors;
• Rejection of the manuscript if the conflict is judged to significantly affect objectivity.
• If the conflict is discovered after publication, the journal may issue a correction, statement of concern, or retract the article depending on the level of impact on the credibility of the publication.
5. Records and Evaluation
All conflict statements will be recorded confidentially and used for internal audits. This policy is regularly reviewed and updated as ethical practices in scholarly publications in administrative science and public policy evolve.