Conflict of Interest

KAISA: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Pembelajaran requires all parties involved in the publication process — including authors, reviewers, and editors — to disclose any conflicts of interest. Transparency regarding competing interests protects the objectivity of the peer-review process and enables readers to evaluate a work fairly. The journal follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

1. Definition of Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest arises when financial, institutional, personal, or other interests may influence — or may reasonably be perceived to influence — an individual's judgment in preparing, reviewing, or making decisions about a manuscript. A conflict of interest is not in itself an ethical violation. However, failure to disclose a conflict of interest constitutes a breach of ethics.

Examples of conflicts of interest relevant to research in education and learning include:

Financial: research funding, honoraria, consultancy fees, shareholdings, or other payments from parties with an interest in the subject matter of the article (for example, publishers of textbooks, learning platforms, assessment providers, or educational technology companies).
Professional: acting as a consultant, trainer, curriculum developer, or advisor for a school, institution, program, or policy discussed in the article.
Institutional: being affiliated with a government agency, educational institution, foundation, or organization whose interests are affected by the analysis or recommendations in the article — for example, authors involved in developing the curriculum, policy, or program being evaluated.
Personal: having a familial relationship, close friendship, or rivalry with a person whose work or interests are affected by the manuscript.
Intellectual or Advocacy: holding a strong public commitment to a particular pedagogical approach, educational philosophy, or policy position, or being actively involved in advocacy groups related to the subject matter of the article.

2. Author Responsibilities

Authors must disclose all potential conflicts of interest in a Conflict of Interest Statement placed at the end of the manuscript, before the References section.
Authors must declare all sources of research funding in a Funding Statement, including the role of the funder, if any, in the conduct of the research and the preparation of the manuscript.
If no conflict of interest exists, authors must still include a statement affirming this.
Authors who become aware of a conflict of interest after submission or publication of the manuscript must promptly inform the editor.

3. Reviewer Responsibilities

Reviewers must decline an invitation to review or promptly notify the editor if they:

Have a close professional, personal, or financial relationship with any of the authors.
Have co-authored a work with, supervised, or been supervised by any of the authors within the last three years.
Work in the same department or research unit as any of the authors.
Have a direct interest in the school, program, institution, curriculum, or policy discussed in the manuscript.
Are unable to assess the manuscript objectively for any other reason.

Reviewers are prohibited from using information from a manuscript under review for their own benefit or the benefit of any other party.

4. Editor Responsibilities

Editors are not permitted to handle manuscripts with which they have a conflict of interest. Such manuscripts must be reassigned to another editor who has no conflict of interest.
Manuscripts submitted by members of the editorial team undergo the same peer-review process as all other manuscripts. The editor who submitted the manuscript is excluded from every stage of its handling and has no access to information regarding reviewers or editorial decisions.
Manuscripts from authors affiliated with the publishing institution of KAISA: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Pembelajaran are, wherever possible, assigned to editors and reviewers from other departments or institutions in order to preserve the independence of the review process.
Editorial decisions are based solely on the quality, originality, and relevance of the manuscript. Such decisions are not influenced by the authors' affiliation, nationality, gender, religion, or political views, nor by commercial considerations.

5. Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest

If an undisclosed conflict of interest is identified during the review process or after publication, the journal will handle the matter in accordance with its policy on Allegations of Research Misconduct.

Depending on the severity of the case, the journal may request the author to add a conflict of interest statement, publish a correction, or — if the undisclosed conflict of interest undermines the validity of the work — retract the published article.