Conflict of Interest

1. Policy Statement

The Journal of Health Promotion and Behavior (JHPB) is committed to maintaining transparency, objectivity, and integrity throughout the scholarly publishing process. A conflict of interest may arise when financial, professional, personal, or other relationships could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, the judgment, decisions, or actions of authors, reviewers, or editors.

JHPB requires all parties involved in the publication process to disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that may affect the research, its interpretation, the peer review process, or editorial decisions. The disclosure of a conflict of interest does not automatically imply misconduct; rather, it enables the journal to assess and manage potential sources of bias transparently.

 

2. Types of Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest may include, but are not limited to, the following:

·       Financial Interests: Employment, consultancies, honoraria, research grants, stock ownership, patents, royalties, or other financial relationships with organizations that may benefit from the publication.

·       Professional or Institutional Relationships: Employment, institutional affiliations, supervisory relationships, collaborations, or professional commitments that could influence the assessment of a manuscript.

·       Personal Relationships: Family relationships, close friendships, personal disputes, or other circumstances that may affect impartial judgment.

·       Academic and Intellectual Interests: Strong academic positions, prior publications, professional advocacy, or intellectual commitments that could influence the interpretation or evaluation of research findings.

·       Organizational or Policy Interests: Affiliations with government agencies, healthcare institutions, pharmaceutical companies, health technology companies, funding organizations, advocacy groups, or other entities with interests related to the submitted manuscript.

 

3. Responsibilities of Authors

All authors must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest when submitting a manuscript to JHPB. Disclosures should include relevant financial and non-financial relationships that could influence, or appear to influence, the research design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or reporting of findings.

If no conflicts of interest exist, authors must explicitly state:

“The authors declare no conflicts of interest.”

If conflicts of interest exist, authors must provide a clear statement describing the relevant relationships and explaining their potential relevance to the submitted work.

Authors must also disclose the role of any funding organization or sponsor in the design of the study, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, and decision to submit the manuscript for publication, where applicable.

Any relevant conflict of interest identified after submission or publication must be reported to the editorial office promptly.

 

4. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers must disclose any circumstances that could compromise their ability to evaluate a manuscript objectively. Potential conflicts may include recent or ongoing collaboration with the authors, direct competition, personal relationships, institutional connections, financial interests, or strong professional disagreements related to the subject of the manuscript.

Reviewers who have a conflict of interest that could affect their impartiality should decline the review assignment or inform the editor so that an appropriate decision can be made. Reviewers must not use unpublished information obtained through peer review for personal, professional, or financial advantage.

 

5. Responsibilities of Editors

Editors must disclose and appropriately manage any conflicts of interest that could influence editorial decisions. Editors should not handle manuscripts in which they have a personal, professional, institutional, financial, or collaborative interest that could compromise their impartiality.

When a conflict exists, the manuscript must be assigned to an independent editor who can oversee the review and decision-making process objectively. Editorial decisions must be based on the manuscript's academic merit, relevance to the journal's scope, methodological quality, and compliance with publication ethics requirements, rather than personal or financial considerations.

 

6. Disclosure and Management Procedures

JHPB requires conflicts of interest to be disclosed during manuscript submission and, where applicable, included in the published article. The editorial team will assess disclosed conflicts and determine whether additional measures are necessary to protect the integrity of peer review and publication.

Depending on the nature and seriousness of the conflict, appropriate measures may include:

·       Requesting additional information or clarification from the relevant party.

·       Reassigning a manuscript to an independent editor or reviewer.

·       Implementing additional safeguards during peer review.

·       Requiring a more detailed disclosure statement in the manuscript.

·       Publishing a correction or additional disclosure if a relevant conflict is identified after publication.

·       Taking further action in accordance with the journal's publication ethics policies when a material conflict has been deliberately concealed.

JHPB will handle all disclosures confidentially to the extent reasonably possible, while ensuring that relevant information is communicated when necessary to maintain transparency and publication integrity.

 

7. Failure to Disclose Conflicts of Interest

Failure to disclose a relevant conflict of interest may be treated as a breach of the journal's publication ethics policies. Depending on the circumstances, JHPB may request clarification, suspend editorial processing, reject a manuscript, publish a correction or disclosure notice, or take other appropriate action consistent with its publication ethics procedures.

Where a concern arises after publication, JHPB will assess the available evidence and take proportionate action to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record.

 

8. Policy Review

JHPB will periodically review this policy to ensure that it remains consistent with recognized standards of publication ethics and best practices in scholarly publishing.