Conflict of Interest

Conflict of Interest

Environmental Engineering Journal ITATS (ENVITATS) is committed to maintaining transparency, objectivity, independence, and integrity throughout the research and publication process.

The Editorial Board of ENVITATS requires all individuals involved in the publication process, including authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial board members, to disclose any financial, professional, personal, academic, or institutional interests that could influence, or reasonably appear to influence, the conduct, interpretation, evaluation, or publication of scientific research.

The existence of a conflict of interest does not automatically disqualify a manuscript from publication. However, all relevant interests must be transparently disclosed and appropriately managed to ensure the credibility and integrity of published research.

Failure to disclose a relevant conflict of interest may constitute a violation of the journal's publication ethics policy.

1. What Is a Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest, also referred to as a competing interest, exists when financial, professional, personal, institutional, or other relationships may influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, the objectivity, independence, or integrity of research and editorial decisions.

Potential conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Financial Interests: Research funding, grants, employment, consultancy fees, honoraria, stock ownership, patents, royalties, or other financial relationships with organizations that may benefit from the research findings.

  • Professional Interests: Employment relationships, research partnerships, consultancy arrangements, or professional commitments that may affect research independence.

  • Personal Relationships: Family relationships, close friendships, personal disputes, or other relationships between authors, reviewers, and editors that may compromise impartiality.

  • Academic Interests: Recent research collaborations, competing research projects, academic rivalries, or other scholarly relationships that may influence manuscript evaluation.

  • Institutional Interests: Relationships with universities, research institutions, government agencies, companies, or other organizations that may have a direct interest in the research findings or publication outcomes.

In environmental engineering research, potential conflicts of interest may arise from relationships with environmental consulting companies, industrial facilities, wastewater treatment technology providers, environmental laboratories, waste management operators, regulatory agencies, or organizations involved in environmental impact assessments.

For example, researchers evaluating the performance of a wastewater treatment technology must disclose relevant financial, employment, consultancy, or ownership relationships with the technology provider.

Similarly, researchers conducting environmental monitoring or pollution assessments must disclose relevant relationships with organizations whose activities or regulatory interests may be affected by the study's findings.

All potentially relevant interests must be disclosed, even when the individuals concerned believe that such interests have not influenced their scientific judgment.

2. Authors

All authors submitting manuscripts to ENVITATS must disclose any financial, professional, personal, institutional, or other competing interests that could potentially influence the research, its interpretation, or its publication.

Authors must also disclose all sources of financial support, research grants, sponsorships, and other relevant assistance received during the research.

Where applicable, authors should describe the role of funders or sponsors in the research design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation of findings, manuscript preparation, and decision to submit the article for publication.

All submitted manuscripts must include a separate statement entitled Declaration of Competing Interest, placed before the References section.

Declaration of Competing Interest — When No Conflict Exists

The author(s) declare that they have no known competing financial interests, personal relationships, professional affiliations, or institutional interests that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Declaration of Competing Interest — When a Conflict Exists

The author(s) declare the following competing interests: [DESCRIPTION OF FINANCIAL, PROFESSIONAL, PERSONAL, OR INSTITUTIONAL INTERESTS]. These interests have been disclosed to the Editorial Board of Environmental Engineering Journal ITATS (ENVITATS).

Authors must ensure that all declarations are accurate, complete, and updated whenever relevant circumstances change during the editorial process.

Failure to disclose a relevant competing interest may result in a request for clarification, additional editorial assessment, manuscript rejection, or appropriate post-publication action, depending on the nature and significance of the omission.

If an undisclosed conflict of interest is identified after publication, the Editorial Board may investigate the matter and, where appropriate, publish a correction or take further action in accordance with the journal's Publication Ethics and Allegation of Research Misconduct policies.

3. Reviewers

ENVITATS requires all peer reviewers to maintain independence, objectivity, confidentiality, and impartiality throughout the manuscript evaluation process.

Before accepting a review assignment, reviewers must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest involving the manuscript, its authors, affiliated institutions, research funding, or subject matter.

Potential conflicts of interest may include:

  • Close personal or professional relationships with the authors;

  • Recent or ongoing research collaborations with the authors;

  • Employment at the same institution as one or more authors;

  • Direct academic or professional competition that may affect impartiality;

  • Financial interests in organizations, products, processes, or technologies evaluated in the manuscript;

  • Involvement in the research or preparation of the manuscript; and

  • Other circumstances that may prevent an independent and unbiased assessment.

Reviewers who identify a conflict of interest that could compromise their objectivity must notify the handling editor and decline the review assignment.

When the significance of a potential conflict is uncertain, reviewers should disclose the circumstances to the editor and seek guidance before proceeding.

Reviewers must not use confidential manuscript information, unpublished research findings, experimental data, or other privileged materials obtained during peer review for personal, professional, academic, or financial advantage.

All reviewer recommendations must be based on scientific merit, methodological quality, originality, relevance, and the journal's editorial standards.

4. Editors and Editorial Board Members

Editors and editorial board members of ENVITATS are responsible for ensuring that editorial decisions are made independently, fairly, transparently, and without inappropriate influence.

Editors must disclose any financial, professional, personal, academic, or institutional interests that could compromise their impartiality when handling a manuscript.

An editor who has a relevant conflict of interest must not participate in the evaluation, reviewer selection, or editorial decision-making process for the affected manuscript.

In such cases, the manuscript must be assigned to another qualified and independent editor.

Manuscripts submitted by the Editor-in-Chief, editors, editorial board members, or individuals with close professional or institutional relationships to them must undergo an independent editorial assessment and peer-review process.

The authors concerned must not participate in selecting reviewers, accessing confidential reviewer identities or reports beyond the normal author process, or making editorial decisions regarding their own manuscripts.

When a manuscript is submitted by a researcher affiliated with the journal's publishing institution, the editorial team must ensure that the manuscript is evaluated objectively and that any relevant institutional conflicts of interest are appropriately managed.

Editorial decisions must be based exclusively on the scientific quality, originality, methodological rigor, relevance, ethical compliance, and independent peer-review evaluation of the manuscript.

Editors must not use unpublished manuscripts, research data, or confidential information obtained during the editorial process for personal research or other purposes without appropriate authorization.

5. Funding and Publisher

ENVITATS is published by Institut Teknologi Adhi Tama Surabaya (ITATS), Indonesia, and is committed to maintaining editorial independence in all aspects of scholarly publication.

Financial support, institutional relationships, sponsorships, research collaborations, and other forms of assistance must not improperly influence manuscript evaluation, peer-review assignments, editorial recommendations, or publication decisions.

The journal's publisher, institutional administrators, sponsors, and funding organizations must respect the editorial independence of the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board.

Decisions concerning manuscript acceptance, revision, or rejection must be based on scientific merit, originality, relevance to the journal's focus and scope, ethical compliance, and the outcomes of independent peer review.

Article processing charges, where applicable, must not influence editorial decisions or guarantee manuscript acceptance.

ENVITATS requires transparent disclosure of relevant funding sources and competing interests to protect the integrity of scientific communication and maintain public confidence in published environmental engineering research.

The Editorial Board reserves the right to review and update this Conflict of Interest Policy in accordance with developments in publication ethics, research integrity standards, and applicable scholarly publishing guidelines.

Environmental Engineering Journal ITATS (ENVITATS)

Editorial Board

Institut Teknologi Adhi Tama Surabaya (ITATS), Indonesia