Jivaro Journal
Conflicts of interest should be disclosed, assessed, and handled transparently.
This policy explains how Jivaro Journal handles financial, professional, academic, personal, institutional, editorial, and publisher-level interests that could affect, or appear to affect, research, peer review, editorial decisions, or reader trust.
Who this policy covers
Conflicts can affect every part of publication.
This policy applies to authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, non-author contributors, and Jivaro as publisher. Readers may also raise concerns about undisclosed conflicts after publication.
Manuscript disclosures
Authors should disclose relevant interests that could affect, or appear to affect, how the work is planned, conducted, interpreted, written, or submitted.
Review independence
Reviewers should disclose relationships or activities that could bias their opinion and should recuse themselves when a potential for bias exists.
Editorial handling
Editors and board members should disclose conflicts and step aside from handling manuscripts when impartiality could reasonably be questioned.
Institutional transparency
Publisher-level interests, donations, sponsorships, advertising, affiliate relationships, or business relationships must not purchase editorial outcomes.
Disclosure standard
Use the three-tier disclosure test.
When uncertain, disclose. A transparent disclosure is usually easier to manage than an undisclosed interest discovered later.
Decision rule
Would a reasonable reader, reviewer, editor, or author want to know this relationship?
If the answer is yes, the interest should be disclosed. If the answer is unclear, disclose it and let the journal determine whether it affects handling.
Directly relevant interests
Financial relationships, employment, ownership, patents, funding, recent collaboration, personal relationships, or direct institutional interests related to the manuscript.
Context-dependent interests
Academic rivalry, strong public advocacy, professional competition, advisory roles, indirect funding, or prior involvement with related work.
Remote or unrelated interests
Interests with no reasonable connection to the manuscript, review, editorial decision, research area, or reader interpretation usually do not need disclosure.
Disclosure matrix
Common conflict types and examples.
This matrix is not exhaustive. The absence of a specific example does not mean an interest is irrelevant.
Risk-level dashboard
Not all conflicts require the same response.
The journal may treat disclosed interests differently depending on closeness, relevance, timing, severity, and whether the interest affects authorship, review, handling, or publication interpretation.
Low concern
Remote or limited interests that are disclosed and unlikely to affect interpretation or editorial handling.
Moderate concern
Relevant relationships that may require clarification, disclosure, additional editorial oversight, or reviewer replacement.
High concern
Direct interests that may require recusal, independent handling, additional review, or a clear published disclosure.
Disqualifying conflict
Interests that make fair review or editorial handling unreasonable, such as close personal connection, direct financial stake, or direct involvement in the work.
Handling workflow
How disclosed conflicts are handled.
This workflow is the practical path from disclosure to editorial action. It is meant to make the process visible rather than hidden behind a generic policy statement.
Disclosure received
The author, reviewer, editor, board member, contributor, or publisher identifies a relevant interest before review, decision, or publication.
Editorial assessment
The journal considers relevance, severity, timing, relationship to the manuscript, and effect on reader trust or impartial handling.
Management decision
The journal may require clarification, independent handling, reviewer replacement, editor recusal, additional review, or disclosure.
Publication statement
Relevant author disclosures may be published with the article when they could affect how readers interpret the work.
Post-publication action
If an undisclosed conflict is discovered after publication, the journal may issue a correction, expression of concern, editorial note, or retraction when appropriate.
Participant duties
Specific expectations by role.
Each participant in the publication process has a different disclosure responsibility.
Authors
Authors should disclose relevant relationships and activities connected to the submitted work, including financial, professional, academic, personal, institutional, or sponsor-related interests.
Reviewers
Reviewers should disclose any relationship or activity that could bias their opinion and should decline or recuse themselves when a potential for bias exists.
Editors and board members
Editors and editorial board members should not handle manuscripts where a conflict could compromise, or appear to compromise, editorial independence.
Publisher and platform
Jivaro’s business, advertising, affiliate, donor, software, or publishing interests must not determine acceptance, rejection, review assignment, or editorial conclusions.
Nondisclosure
Hidden conflicts can affect editorial action.
Failure to disclose a relevant interest may require action before review, during review, after acceptance, or after publication. The response depends on the seriousness of the omission and its relationship to the manuscript or editorial process.
Before review
The journal may request clarification, return the manuscript, require updated statements, or change editorial handling.
During review
The journal may replace a reviewer, recuse an editor, restart review, or ask for corrected disclosures.
After acceptance
The journal may delay publication, update disclosures, require additional review, or reconsider acceptance.
After publication
The journal may issue a correction, editorial note, expression of concern, or retraction depending on severity.
Reader concerns
Readers may report possible undisclosed conflicts.
If a reader believes a published article has a relevant undisclosed conflict of interest, they may contact Jivaro with the article title, link, concern, and supporting information. Concerns are reviewed in relation to the article, the disclosure record, and the journal’s publication policies.
Disclosure checklist
Before submitting, reviewing, or handling a manuscript.
This checklist helps authors, reviewers, editors, and board members decide whether a relationship or interest should be disclosed.
Do I have a financial interest related to the manuscript topic, product, company, method, or conclusion?
Have I received funding, consulting fees, grants, honoraria, equity, patents, or advisory compensation connected to the topic?
Do I have a recent collaboration, supervision relationship, direct competition, or academic dispute with the authors?
Do I have a personal relationship that could affect impartial judgment?
Does my institution, employer, funder, or organization have a stake in the manuscript’s findings?
Would a reasonable reader, reviewer, editor, or author want to know about this relationship?
Could the relationship affect how the work is interpreted, reviewed, edited, or published?
If uncertain, have I disclosed the interest so the journal can assess it?
Journal links
Research directory
Compact, alphabetized links for authors, reviewers, readers, and editorial-policy navigation.