CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Sehat Rakyat: Jurnal Kesehatan Masyarakat uses this policy to manage competing interests that could affect how research is reported, evaluated, or published, so that the editorial process stays transparent and the scholarly record is protected. In this policy, “conflict of interest” and “competing interest” have the same meaning.

Disclose
every relevant interest
2 statements
competing interests and funding
Not an accusation
disclosure protects everyone
Step aside
when impartiality is at risk

1What Is a Competing Interest

A competing interest is any relationship, circumstance, or activity that could influence, or appear to influence, how research is conducted, reported, reviewed, or edited.

Disclosure is a protective step

Declaring an interest does not mean that bias or misconduct has occurred. It lets editors, reviewers, and readers judge the work with full information. Ordinary scholarly disagreement between researchers is not, by itself, a disqualifying conflict.

2Interests That Should Be Disclosed

Disclose the following interests whenever they are relevant to a manuscript or to an editorial or review assignment.

Type of interest Examples
Financial relationships Employment, consultancy, honoraria, shareholdings, patents, royalties, or other commercial benefits, for example from a pharmaceutical company, a medical device or health product maker, a hospital or clinic, a health insurer, or a developer of health software or applications.
Funding and sponsorship Research funding, paid expert work, or involvement of a sponsor in the study, for example funding from a government office, a health agency, a foundation, a company, or an institution.
Personal and professional relationships Close personal, supervisory, collaborative, or professional ties with authors, reviewers, or editors, for example a relationship between a supervisor and a student, close colleagues, or recent coauthors.
Interest in the subject of the study Having designed, developed, or sold the program, intervention, instrument, device, or application that is evaluated, or studying one’s own patients, clinic, health centre, or institution in a way that may affect objectivity.
Editorial and journal ties Editorial appointments or other ties with the journal that mean a manuscript should be handled independently.

3Author Responsibilities

3.1 Disclosure

Every author must disclose any interest that is relevant to the submitted work.

3.2 Competing Interests Statement

The corresponding author compiles one statement for the whole manuscript. If there are no interests to declare, the statement must say so.

Example: no competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Para penulis menyatakan tidak ada konflik kepentingan.

Example: an interest is declared

The first author is employed by an organization that developed the health program evaluated in this study. The other authors declare no competing interests.

Penulis pertama bekerja di organisasi yang mengembangkan program kesehatan yang dievaluasi dalam penelitian ini. Penulis lainnya menyatakan tidak ada konflik kepentingan.

3.3 Funding Statement

Authors must state their sources of funding, including the names of the funding organizations and the grant numbers, and whether the funder had any role in the design of the study, the collection and analysis of data, or the preparation of the manuscript.

Example: funded study

This study was funded by [name of funder] under grant number [grant number]. The funder had no role in the design of the study, the collection and analysis of data, or the preparation of the manuscript.

Penelitian ini didanai oleh [nama pemberi dana] melalui hibah nomor [nomor hibah]. Pemberi dana tidak berperan dalam desain penelitian, pengumpulan dan analisis data, atau penyusunan naskah.

3.4 Both Statements Are Required

The funding statement does not replace the competing interests statement. A manuscript must contain both.

3.5 Placement in the Manuscript

Item Where it goes
Competing interests statement Acknowledgments section (UCAPAN TERIMA KASIH), as a final paragraph
Funding statement Acknowledgments section (UCAPAN TERIMA KASIH), as a final paragraph

The article template has no separate sections for these statements, so both are written in the Acknowledgments section. Include this section even if there is nothing else to acknowledge. See Manuscript Preparation and the Author Guidelines.

4Editors and Reviewers

4.1 Editors

Editors disclose relevant interests before accepting an assignment and promptly report any interest that arises later. An editor whose impartiality may be compromised must not make decisions on that manuscript.

Manuscripts from editors and board members

A manuscript submitted by an editor or by an editorial board member is handled by an uninvolved editor. The author who is also an editor takes no part in the evaluation or in the decision.

4.2 Reviewers

Reviewers disclose relevant interests before accepting an invitation and promptly report any interest that arises later. A reviewer with a disqualifying conflict must decline the invitation or withdraw. The following situations are examples of disqualifying conflicts.

Situation
A close personal or supervisory relationship with an author
A recent collaboration with an author
A competing interest in the subject of the manuscript

When an editor or a reviewer declares a conflict, an unaffected editor decides whether safeguards are enough or whether the assignment should go to someone else. See the Peer Review Process.

5Assessment and Late Disclosure

Each declared interest is assessed for its relevance and for its possible effect on the work or on the editorial process.

Possible outcome What it means
Publish the disclosure The declared interest is published together with the article.
Independent assessment The journal asks for an independent assessment of the work.
Replacement The involved editor or reviewer is replaced.

If a declaration is missing, incomplete, or inaccurate, or if an interest is disclosed after submission or after publication, the journal considers the circumstances in context. Material concerns are handled under the Publication Ethics, Allegations of Misconduct, and Correction and Retraction policies.

6Scope of This Policy

Topic Where it is covered
Interests connected with research and its assessment This policy
Author fees Author Fees
Journal ownership and management Ownership and Management
Commercial considerations They do not influence editorial decisions, as stated in Publication Ethics.

✓Related Pages and Enquiries

Disclose every relevant interest. Include both a competing interests statement and a funding statement in the Acknowledgments section. Editors and reviewers declare their interests early and step aside when their impartiality is at risk.