1. Policy Statement

Jurnal Agrotek Tropika (JAT) is committed to ensuring transparency, independence, and impartiality in scientific research, manuscript evaluation, and editorial decision-making.

All authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could influence, or reasonably appear to influence, their professional judgment.

A conflict of interest does not necessarily indicate unethical behavior. However, failure to disclose a relevant conflict may compromise the integrity and credibility of the publication process.

2. Types of Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest may include:

• Financial Interests: Research funding, consultancy arrangements, employment, honoraria, patents, commercial investments, or financial relationships related to the research.

• Professional Relationships: Recent or ongoing research collaborations, coauthorship, supervisory relationships, or professional partnerships.

• Personal Relationships: Family relationships, close personal associations, or personal disputes.

• Institutional Relationships: Organizational affiliations, administrative responsibilities, or institutional interests that may influence judgment.

• Intellectual or Academic Interests: Strong academic competition, conflicting theoretical positions, or personal involvement in closely related research.

3. Responsibilities of Authors

All authors must disclose relevant financial and non-financial interests associated with the submitted research.

Authors should identify funding sources and describe any relationships that may have influenced the research design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or publication.

Where no relevant conflicts exist, authors should include the following declaration:

"The authors declare that they have no competing interests that could have influenced the research reported in this manuscript."

Where relevant conflicts exist, authors should provide a clear and complete disclosure.

4. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts objectively and independently.

Before accepting a review invitation, reviewers should consider whether professional, financial, personal, or institutional relationships could compromise their impartiality.

Reviewers must promptly disclose any relevant conflict to the handling editor.

Where a conflict may substantially affect the independence of the review, the reviewer should decline the invitation or withdraw from the evaluation.

5. Responsibilities of Editors

Editors must make publication decisions based on scientific merit, methodological validity, relevance, and compliance with editorial standards.

Editors should not handle manuscripts when personal, financial, academic, or institutional relationships create a significant conflict of interest.

When a potential conflict exists, editorial responsibility should be transferred to another qualified and impartial editor.

6. Funding Disclosure

Authors must identify sources of financial support relevant to the research, including research grants, institutional support, or commercial sponsorship.

Where applicable, the role of the funding organization in study design, data collection, analysis, manuscript preparation, or publication decisions should be disclosed.

7. Management of Conflicts of Interest

The Editorial Board may request additional information, appoint an independent reviewer or editor, or take other appropriate measures to manage a declared conflict.

Failure to disclose a significant competing interest may result in editorial investigation or corrective action.

8. Ethical Standards

Jurnal Agrotek Tropika considers the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in evaluating and managing conflicts of interest.

The objective of this policy is to promote scientific transparency, independent peer review, and confidence in the integrity of published research.

Jurnal Agrotek Tropika (JAT)

Department of Agrotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Lampung, Indonesia