Conflict of Interest Policy

The Journal of English Teaching and Linguistics Studies (JET Li) is committed to ensuring that all editorial decisions, peer-review evaluations, and published articles are objective, unbiased, and transparent. In accordance with the guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), this policy outlines the responsibilities of authors, reviewers, and editors regarding the disclosure and management of potential conflicts of interest (also known as competing interests).

A conflict of interest exists when professional judgment concerning the validity of research is, or may reasonably be perceived to be, influenced by secondary interests such as financial gain, personal relationships, or professional rivalries.

1. Types of Conflicts of Interest Conflicts of interest can be financial or non-financial. Relevant conflicts include, but are not limited to:

  • Financial Interests: Research grants, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, or patents related to the research being reported.

  • Non-Financial Interests: Close personal relationships, institutional affiliations, recent academic collaborations, mentor/mentee relationships, or strong personal/professional rivalries.

2. Authors' Responsibilities Transparency is a fundamental requirement for manuscript submission. Authors must disclose all potential conflicts of interest that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work.

  • Declaration in the Manuscript: Authors must include a mandatory "Declaration of Conflicting Interests" section at the end of their manuscript (before the References).

  • Disclosure of Funding: All sources of financial support for the research must be explicitly stated in the "Fundings" section, detailing the sponsor's role in the study design, data collection, or manuscript writing.

  • Absence of Conflict: If no conflict of interest exists, the authors must explicitly state: "The author(s) declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article."

3. Reviewers' Responsibilities To maintain the integrity of the double-blind peer-review process, reviewers must provide unbiased evaluations.

  • Mandatory Recusal: Reviewers must decline the invitation to review a manuscript if they identify a conflict of interest, such as recognizing the author's identity (despite anonymization), sharing a recent publication history (within the last 3 years) with the suspected authors, or working at the same institution.

  • Confidentiality and Misuse: Reviewers must not use knowledge of the work they are reviewing to further their own interests before the article is published.

4. Editors' and Editorial Board Responsibilities Editors hold the ultimate responsibility for ensuring the impartiality of the publication process.

  • Handling Submissions by Editors: If an Editor or Editorial Board member of JET Li submits a manuscript, they will be completely excluded from any editorial involvement regarding their own paper. The manuscript will be assigned to an independent handling editor who will oversee the double-blind peer-review process.

  • Editorial Recusal: Editors must recuse themselves from making decisions on manuscripts submitted by colleagues from their own department at FKIP Universitas Pakuan, former doctoral students, or close personal connections.

  • No Financial Influence: Editorial decisions are based purely on academic merit and relevance to English language teaching and linguistics. The payment of Article Processing Charges (APCs) has no bearing on editorial outcomes.

5. Handling Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest If a conflict of interest is discovered after an article has been published, the journal will follow the relevant COPE flowcharts.

  • The Editor-in-Chief will initiate an investigation and contact the corresponding author for clarification.

  • If the undisclosed conflict is found to significantly compromise the integrity of the research, JET Li reserves the right to issue a formal Correction, an Expression of Concern, or, in severe cases, retract the article entirely.