The International Journal of Eco-Innovation in Science and Engineering (IJEISE) requires all participants in the publication process—authors, peer reviewers, and editorial board members—to disclose any potential conflicts of interest. A conflict of interest exists when professional judgment concerning the validity, objectivity, or integrity of a manuscript may be influenced by secondary interests, whether financial or non-financial. Transparent disclosure is essential to maintaining the trust of the engineering and scientific community.

1. Definition of Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest in engineering and scientific research can arise from multiple sources, including but not limited to:

• Financial Interests: Research grants, funding, consulting fees, employment, patent ownership or applications, stock ownership, or honoraria from organizations that may financially benefit or suffer from the publication of the research.
• Non-Financial Interests: Close personal or professional relationships, academic competition, institutional affiliations, or strong political/ideological beliefs that could bias the evaluation or reporting of the work.

2. Author Responsibilities and Declarations

All authors must explicitly declare any potential conflicts of interest at the time of manuscript submission. This declaration ensures that reviewers and readers can evaluate the research with full context.

• Authors must include a "Declaration of Competing Interest" section at the end of their manuscript, prior to the references.
• If a conflict exists, the nature of the conflict must be described (e.g., "Author A holds a patent related to the eco-material discussed in this study. Author B receives funding from Company X.").
• If no conflict exists, the authors must state: "The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper."
• The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring all co-authors agree with the final conflict of interest statement.

3. Reviewer Responsibilities

Peer reviewers must objectively evaluate manuscripts based on their scientific and technical merit. Reviewers must decline the invitation to review a manuscript if they identify a conflict of interest, such as:

• Having recently collaborated, co-authored, or shared funding with any of the authors within the past three years.
• Working at the same institution or department as the authors.
• Being in direct academic or commercial competition with the authors.
• Reviewers who are unsure whether a specific situation constitutes a conflict of interest must consult the handling editor before proceeding with the review.

4. Editorial Responsibilities

Editorial board members and handling editors are strictly excluded from publication decisions when they have a conflict of interest with the manuscript.

• If an editor submits a manuscript to IJEISE, the peer review and editorial decision process will be managed independently by another member of the editorial board to ensure a completely blinded and unbiased evaluation.
• Editors must recuse themselves from handling submissions from colleagues at their own institution, former students, or active collaborators.

5. Unreported Conflicts of Interest

If a conflict of interest is discovered after a manuscript has been published, IJEISE will follow the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Depending on the severity of the undeclared conflict and its impact on the validity of the research, the journal may publish a formal Corrigendum to update the disclosure, or in severe cases of misconduct or bias, issue a Retraction.