At ESSD, we are committed to ensuring that the publication of research articles and other scholarly works is conducted in an unbiased and transparent manner. As part of this commitment, we require all editors and authors to disclose any conflicts of interest that may influence their work or decisions.

1. Acknowledgment:
All contributors who don’t meet the criteria of authorship should be included in this section.
Examples of a person who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical or writing assistance, or a department head/chair who provided general support.

2. Funding:
All funding sources for the submitted research paper should be declared. The role of the funding body in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript should be stated in the declaration section of the paper.

3. Ethics approval:
Manuscripts reporting data involving questionnaires, surveys, and interviews or any type of data that has been collected by the author/co-authors must:
- Include a statement on ethics approval.
- Include the name of the ethics committee that approved the study and the committee’s reference number if appropriate

4. Conflict of interest:
A conflict of interest arises when your personal or professional relationships with others, the industry, foundations, or other organizations could affect how you interpret data or convey information. Authors are required to declare any financial conflicts of interest. They should also disclose any competing interests that are not financial.
This is also applicable if the author or one of the co-authors is a member of our editorial board.
So, it should be stated if there is any type of the previously mentioned conflict of interest breaches.

A conflict of interest may arise when an editor or author has financial or personal interests that could affect their objectivity or impartiality in the publication process. Some of these conflicts include, but are not limited to:

A. Financial conflicts of interest
These occur when an author or editor has financial ties to an organization or entity that may be affected by the research or publication. Examples include receiving funding, consulting fees, or stock options from a company that produces products related to the research.

B. Personal conflicts of interest
These occur when an author or editor has personal relationships or affiliations that may influence their objectivity or decision-making. Examples include having a close personal relationship with a co-author or reviewer or being a member of an organization that may be affected by the research.

C. Intellectual conflicts of interest
These occur when an author or editor has strong opinions or biases that may influence their interpretation or presentation of the research. Examples include having a strong ideological or political stance on the research topic.

D. Institutional conflicts of interest
These occur when an institution or organization has a financial or other interest in the research or publication. Examples include a university receiving funding from a company for research related to that company's products.

We require all editors and authors to declare any potential conflicts of interest in writing during the submission process. Such declarations will be reviewed by the editorial team and may be published alongside the article or disclosed to reviewers, as appropriate.

We believe that transparency and accountability are essential to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity and ethical conduct in scholarly publishing. We encourage all editors and authors to disclose any conflicts of interest, and we remain committed to ensuring that our publication process is fair, impartial, and free from bias.

5. Authorship and Contribution
Authors or co-authors should only be listed in the study submitted if they made a significant contribution to the manuscript. In other words, authors should avoid “gift” or “ghost” authorships; the addition of an individual to the list of authors without having contributed in any way to the writing of the study. That being said, an author, alongside co-authors involved, shares the responsibility for the content and results of the submitted article. Co-authors, specifically, must have contributed to the work reported by: having taken part in the research concept/design, written/revised the work, and agreed on the journal where the article is submitted. If the article has been found to breach the codes of conduct, responsibility will then be equally shared by the named authors and corresponding authors. If needed, authors will be asked to provide detail(s) of individual contributions. In the case that the listed author does not meet authorship criteria, suggestions to remove guest/gift authorship will be made and agreements changed accordingly.