Conflict of Interest Policy

To maintain the impartiality, integrity, and credibility of the published record, Journal of Research in Social Sciences (JRSS) enforces strict protocols to identify, declare, and manage potential conflicts of interest across all stages of the publication cycle. A statement declaring any conflicts of interest, data integrity, AI use, funding, and participant consent or explicitly stating that none exist must be included in all full-text versions of published articles.

  1. Authors' Obligations

Authors must disclose all financial and non-financial interests that could be perceived as influencing their research, authorship, or publication.

Disclosure Requirements: This includes, but is not limited to: employment, consultancies, honoraria, funding, grants, stock ownership, affiliations, personal/professional relationships, and institutional ties.

Mandatory Statement: All manuscripts must include a "Conflict of Interest Statement." If no conflicts exist, the following text is required:

"The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article, and that the data presented have not been fabricated or falsified."

Data Fabrication / Falsification: Authors must declare that the data presented in the manuscript has not been falsified or fabricated, and that the research is original and conducted with integrity.

Signed Declaration: All authors contributing to JRSS must sign a formal declaration confirming the absence of conflicts (or full disclosure), originality, data integrity, and transparency in AI usage.

Funding Disclosure: All sources of financial support for the project must be disclosed, along with a brief overview of the role played by the funding sources. If no funding was received, the following statement is required:

"Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant or financial support from public, commercial, or not-for-profit funding agencies."

Participant Consent & Ethics (for human-subjects research):

"Participant Consent: The authors confirm that informed consent was obtained from all participants, confidentiality was duly maintained, and institutional ethical clearance was obtained where applicable."

  1. Reviewers' Obligations

The integrity of the double-blind peer-review process depends entirely on objectivity.

Recusal: Reviewers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest prior to accepting a manuscript. Reviewers must decline an invitation if they have:

    • A personal or professional connection to the authors.
    • An institutional affiliation with the authors (e.g., same department or university).
    • Prior collaboration with the authors within the last 36 months.
    • A financial interest in the research findings.

Ethical Conduct: Reviewers are prohibited from using unpublished data from the manuscripts they review for personal or professional gain. All review materials remain strictly confidential.

  1. Editors and Editorial Staff Obligations

Editors must recuse themselves from handling or making decisions on manuscripts in which they have any conflict of interest, whether financial, professional, or personal. Alternative editorial arrangements must be made to ensure impartial decision-making.

  1. Internal & Institutional Submissions (Firewall Policy)

As an HEC-recognized journal, JRSS maintains a strict firewall for internal submissions:

  • The internal author will have no access to the review records, reviewer identities, or the editorial dashboard for their own submission.
  • Such submissions undergo the same rigorous double-blind peer review as all external manuscripts.

Policies  for Published Articles (JRSS)

The following combined statement will appear at the start/end of every published article in JRSS:

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article, and that the data presented have not been fabricated or falsified.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant or financial support from public, commercial, or not-for-profit funding agencies. [OR: This work was supported by the [Funding Agency Name] under Grant [Number].]

Participant Consent: The authors confirm that informed consent was obtained from all participants, and confidentiality was duly maintained.

Data Fabrication/Falsification Statement: The author(s) declare that no data have been fabricated, falsified, or manipulated in this study.

Copyright: © [Year] The Author(s). Published by the Journal of Research in Social Sciences (JRSS) under a CC BY 4.0 license (https://jrss.numl.edu.pk).