Conflict of Interest Policy

LEGAL BRIEF is committed to maintaining transparency, objectivity, independence, and integrity throughout the scholarly publishing process. The journal requires authors, editors, reviewers, and other parties involved in the publication process to disclose any conflicts of interest that could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, the preparation, evaluation, editorial handling, or publication of a manuscript.

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

1. Conflicts of Interest for Authors

Authors must disclose any financial, professional, institutional, personal, or other relationships that could influence the research, legal analysis, interpretation of findings, or presentation of conclusions.

Potential conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to:

  1. Financial relationships, including employment, consultancy, honoraria, grants, sponsorships, or other financial support.

  2. Personal or professional relationships that may affect the objectivity of the research or its publication.

  3. Institutional or organizational affiliations that may influence the interpretation or presentation of legal arguments.

  4. Intellectual property interests, including patents, copyrights, or other proprietary interests relevant to the manuscript.

  5. Involvement in litigation, legal disputes, policy advocacy, or other matters directly related to the subject of the article, where such involvement could reasonably affect impartiality.

  6. Any other interest that readers could reasonably consider relevant to the independence or objectivity of the work.

Authors must disclose relevant conflicts during manuscript submission and include a Conflict of Interest Statement in the manuscript. If no competing interests exist, authors should state:

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

Authors must also disclose relevant funding sources and clarify the role of funders, if any, in the research, analysis, preparation, or publication of the manuscript.

2. Conflicts of Interest for Editors

Editors must maintain editorial independence and make decisions based on scholarly merit, originality, relevance, methodological or analytical quality, and compliance with publication ethics.

Editors must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest related to a submitted manuscript. Such conflicts may include personal relationships with authors, recent or current collaboration, institutional affiliations, financial interests, competing research interests, or direct involvement in the subject matter of the manuscript.

An editor who has a conflict of interest must not participate in the evaluation or decision-making process for the affected manuscript. The manuscript will be assigned to another qualified editor who can handle it independently and impartially.

Editorial decisions must not be influenced by commercial interests, personal relationships, institutional pressure, or other considerations unrelated to the scholarly quality of the submission.

3. Conflicts of Interest for Reviewers

Reviewers must disclose any circumstances that could compromise their ability to provide an objective and impartial assessment of a manuscript.

Potential conflicts include close personal relationships with the authors, current or recent collaboration, direct competition in the same research area, financial interests, institutional connections, or involvement in disputes relevant to the manuscript.

Reviewers who identify a significant conflict of interest must promptly inform the editorial office and decline the review when impartiality cannot reasonably be maintained.

Reviewers must not use unpublished information obtained during peer review for personal, professional, financial, or competitive advantage. Manuscripts and associated review materials must be treated as confidential.

4. Disclosure and Management Procedures

All authors, editors, and reviewers are responsible for disclosing relevant conflicts of interest as soon as they become aware of them.

During manuscript submission, authors must provide the required declarations regarding competing interests and funding. Editors and reviewers must disclose relevant conflicts before undertaking manuscript evaluation or making editorial recommendations.

When a conflict is identified, the Editor-in-Chief or an appropriate independent editor will assess its nature and significance and determine the necessary measures. These may include reassignment of editorial responsibilities, replacement of a reviewer, additional independent assessment, publication of a disclosure statement, or other appropriate safeguards.

The existence of a conflict of interest will not automatically result in manuscript rejection. Decisions will depend on the nature of the conflict, its potential impact on the work, and whether it can be managed transparently and effectively.

5. Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest

If an undisclosed conflict of interest is identified before publication, the journal may request clarification or additional disclosure from the authors and take appropriate editorial action.

If a conflict is identified after publication, LEGAL BRIEF will assess the available information and may publish a correction, disclosure notice, Expression of Concern, or retraction when justified by the evidence and applicable publication ethics principles.

Where necessary, the journal may consult independent experts or the relevant institutions to establish the facts and determine an appropriate response.

Failure to disclose a conflict will be assessed in proportion to its seriousness, relevance, and impact on the integrity of the scholarly record.

6. Transparency and Publication of Declarations

Conflict of Interest Statements and relevant funding disclosures will be published with the article where applicable.

The journal will make reasonable efforts to ensure that declarations are clear, accurate, and sufficient to allow readers to assess the independence and potential competing interests associated with the published work.

The journal may request further information from authors when a declaration is incomplete, unclear, or inconsistent with information available to the editorial office.

7. Editorial Responsibility

The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for overseeing the implementation of this policy and ensuring that conflicts of interest are handled consistently, fairly, and transparently.

All parties involved in the publication process are expected to cooperate with reasonable requests for disclosure and clarification.

LEGAL BRIEF is committed to protecting the integrity of scholarly communication by identifying, disclosing, and appropriately managing conflicts of interest throughout submission, peer review, editorial decision-making, and post-publication assessment.

Policy responsibility: Editor-in-Chief, LEGAL BRIEF
Publisher: Ihsa Institute