A conflict of interest exists when professional judgment concerning a primary interest may be influenced by a secondary interest. Bulletin of Education and Language follows the principles outlined in the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) regarding disclosure of conflicts of interest.

Link: https://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf

Authors’ Conflict of Interest

At the time of manuscript submission, all authors are required to disclose any personal, professional, or financial relationships or interests—direct or indirect—that could be perceived as influencing the research, its interpretation, or the conclusions presented.

Authors should consider whether any undisclosed relationship or circumstance could raise concerns of bias or cause embarrassment if revealed after publication. If so, such interests must be declared. The corresponding author is responsible for confirming and reporting conflict of interest disclosures for all co-authors. Authors must also disclose whether the manuscript is under consideration elsewhere and whether any patents or patent applications are relevant to the submitted work. If the manuscript is accepted for publication, all disclosed conflicts of interest will be published as part of the conflict of interest statement.

Authors’ Acknowledgments and Funding Disclosure

Authors must fully disclose all sources of financial support related to the preparation of the manuscript. This includes funding from government agencies, academic institutions, commercial organizations, industry partners, or any other sources.

Authors are required to:

1. Identify all funding sources supporting the study;
2. State whether the funding body had any role in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or manuscript preparation;
3. Indicate whether the manuscript was reviewed or approved by the sponsor prior to submission.

In addition, corresponding authors must disclose any relevant consultancies, advisory roles, or professional relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the content of the manuscript. All such information should be included in the acknowledgments section.

Reviewers’ Conflict of Interest

Reviewers must disclose to the editors any conflicts of interest that could bias their evaluation of a manuscript. Reviewers should decline to review manuscripts where a conflict of interest exists or may reasonably be perceived.

Reviewers must treat all manuscript information as confidential and must not use unpublished material obtained through peer review for personal, professional, or financial advantage. Failure to disclose a potential conflict of interest may undermine the integrity of the peer-review process and will be treated seriously by the journal.