1. Definition

A conflict of interest (COI) arises when financial, professional, institutional, or personal circumstances may influence—or appear to influence—academic, editorial, or scientific judgments related to the publication of a manuscript.

Discimus: Revista Digitsl de Educación recognizes that transparency in managing potential conflicts of interest is essential to ensure the integrity, impartiality, and credibility of editorial and peer review processes.

 

2. Responsibilities of Authors

• All authors must explicitly declare any financial, employment, institutional, or personal relationships that may affect the interpretation of their research results.
• This declaration must be included in the manuscript under a section entitled “Conflicts of Interest.”
• When no conflicts exist, the following statement should be included:
  “The authors declare no conflicts of interest.”
• Authors must also disclose any funding sources for the research and specify the role of the funder in the design, execution, analysis, or publication of the study.

 

3. Responsibilities of Reviewers

• Reviewers must decline review invitations if they believe they have a conflict of interest that could compromise their objectivity (e.g., employment relationship, recent collaboration, direct competition with the authors).
• Reviewers are obliged to immediately inform the editor of any potential conflict and decline the assignment if in doubt.

 

4. Responsibilities of the Editorial Team

 

• Editors will not participate in decisions regarding manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest (e.g., shared authorship, institutional affiliation, or personal/professional relationships with the authors).
• In such cases, the manuscript will be reassigned to another editor without conflict.
• Editors must ensure that conflict of interest statements from authors and reviewers are transparently included in the published version of the article.

 

5. Transparency and Disclosure

• All conflict of interest statements will be publicly available in published articles.
• If an undeclared conflict is identified after publication, the journal may issue an editorial note, correction, or retraction, as appropriate, in accordance with COPE guidelines.
• Discimus ensures that this policy is publicly accessible on its website under Editorial Policies and Publication Ethics.

 

6. Compliance

Failure to comply with this policy may result in:

• Rejection of the manuscript during the review process.
• Retraction of the published article.
• Notification to the authors’ or reviewers’ affiliated institutions, if deemed necessary.