Conflict of Interest Policy

The International Journal of Computer Engineering and Embedded Technologies requires full transparency regarding any conflict of interest that could influence, or be perceived to influence, the objectivity of the research, editorial, or peer review process. This policy has been established in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the standards expected by international abstracting and indexing bodies, including Scopus and Web of Science.

Definition of Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest exists when an author, reviewer, or editor has a financial, professional, personal, or institutional relationship that could inappropriately influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, their judgment regarding a manuscript. Conflicts of interest are not necessarily improper in themselves, but must be disclosed so that they can be managed with appropriate transparency.

Conflicts of Interest for Authors

Authors are required to disclose, at the time of submission, any financial interests, such as funding, grants, honoraria, patents, or consultancy fees related to the subject matter of the manuscript; employment or institutional affiliations that could be perceived to influence the interpretation of the research; personal or professional relationships with individuals or organizations that have an interest in the outcome of the research; and any other circumstance that could reasonably be seen to affect the objectivity or integrity of the reported work. All sources of financial support for the research must be disclosed in the manuscript, including the role, if any, of the funding body in the study design, data analysis, or decision to publish. Where authors have no conflict of interest to declare, this must be explicitly stated in the manuscript.

Conflicts of Interest for Reviewers

Reviewers are required to disclose any conflict of interest prior to accepting a review assignment, including recent collaboration or co-authorship with any of the manuscript's authors; shared institutional affiliation with any of the authors; a personal or professional relationship, positive or negative, with any of the authors that could affect objective judgment; and any financial or competitive interest in the outcome of the manuscript's publication. Reviewers with a conflict of interest are required to decline the review assignment. Reviewers must treat all manuscripts as confidential and must not use unpublished material or ideas from a manuscript under review for their own advantage.

Conflicts of Interest for Editors

Editors are required to recuse themselves from handling any manuscript in which they have a conflict of interest, including submissions authored or co-authored by themselves, their close collaborators, family members, or individuals from their own institution, and submissions in which they hold a financial or competing interest in the outcome. In such cases, the manuscript is reassigned to another qualified editor or an independent member of the editorial board for handling, to ensure that the editorial decision remains free of undue influence.

Disclosure Procedure

All conflict of interest disclosures are collected at the time of manuscript submission, reviewer invitation, and editorial assignment, using a standard disclosure statement. Disclosed conflicts are recorded and considered by the editorial office when assigning reviewers and editors, and, where relevant to the reader's understanding of the research, are published alongside the final article.

Non-Disclosure and Misconduct

Failure to disclose a relevant conflict of interest is treated as a serious breach of the journal's publication ethics standards. Where an undisclosed conflict of interest is discovered after publication, the editorial board investigates the matter in accordance with COPE guidelines and may issue a correction, an expression of concern, or a retraction, depending on the severity of the omission and its impact on the reported research.

Institutional and Third-Party Conflicts

Where a manuscript originates from, or is closely connected to, an institution or organization with a direct interest in its outcome, this relationship must be disclosed regardless of whether individual authors perceive a personal conflict, so that readers and reviewers can independently assess the objectivity of the work.

Commitment to Transparency

The journal considers full and honest disclosure of conflicts of interest to be essential to maintaining the trust of its readers, authors, and the wider academic community, and to satisfying the transparency requirements expected by major international indexing and abstracting databases.