Conflict of interest

For the purpose of avoiding violations of publication ethics, conflicts of interest must be excluded for all parties involved in the publication process. A conflict of interest arises when there are financial, scientific or personal relationships between the author, reviewer or editorial board member that may influence their actions and decisions. In order to prevent conflicts of interest and in accordance with the ethical standards of the journal, each party has the following responsibilities:

– Authors are obliged to disclose any potential conflicts of interest upon submission of their manuscript. This includes both financial relationships (e.g., direct employment, patents, etc.) and non-financial factors (personal connections, academic rivalry, ideological views).

–  Reviewers are obliged to declare any conflicts of interest that may call into question their ability to objectively evaluate the manuscript and to decline to review it, immediately informing the Editorial Board if there are financial or personal ties to the authors, if there is direct competition between their own research and the submitted manuscript, there is a personal interest or bias (friendship, rivalry) that could affect the impartiality of the conclusions.

– Editors must also declare any potential conflicts of interest that could compromise their ability to make impartial decisions about articles. An editor must recuse themselves from considering a manuscript if there are financial, personal, academic, or other ties to the author.

– Members of the editorial board may submit their manuscripts for publication in the collection, but cannot participate in the decision-making process.

Compliance with this policy by all participants (authors, reviewers, editors) is a fundamental requirement for ensuring the objectivity of scientific communication. Any statements of conflict of interest made by authors, reviewers or editors are considered by the Editor-in-Chief of the journal. In the case of substantiated statements of conflict of interest with the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, such statements are considered by two members of the Editorial Board of the journal.