Competing Interests & Disclosures

The Journal of Exact Community Health & Rehabilitation Sciences (JECH), published by EXACT RESEARCH SOLUTIONS (SMC-PRIVATE) LIMITED, is committed to ensuring scientific integrity, transparency, and absolute impartiality across editorial, peer review, and publication processes. All authors, peer reviewers, handling editors, and editorial staff must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest (COI) that could influence research findings, manuscript evaluation, or publication decisions in physical therapy, rehabilitation, community health, and allied health sciences.

Definition of Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest exists when professional judgment regarding research conduct, clinical evaluation, manuscript processing, or editorial decision-making may be inappropriately influenced or biased by financial, personal, academic, institutional, or professional relationships.

Conflicts of interest may include:

1.1 Financial Conflicts

  • External research funding, grants, or equipment sponsorship from commercial healthcare entities.

  • Consulting fees, honoraria, or advisory board retainers.

  • Paid speaking engagements or clinical workshop fees sponsored by medical device manufacturers or pharmaceutical firms.

  • Equity, stock ownership, or stock options in relevant healthcare enterprises.

  • Patents, patent applications, or royalty rights linked to clinical techniques, therapeutic devices, or medical tools.

1.2 Non-Financial Conflicts

  • Close personal or family relationships between authors, editors, or peer reviewers.

  • Academic rivalry or direct professional competition within specialized health and rehabilitation fields.

  • Strong personal, intellectual, or political beliefs that impede objective evaluation.

  • Institutional affiliations or professional appointments creating allegiance bias.

1.3 Institutional Conflicts

  • Employment at or formal affiliation with organizations holding commercial interests in manuscript findings.

  • Direct supervisory, mentoring, or training relationships between authors and evaluators.

  • Institutional funding or commercial performance incentives tied to study outcomes.

Conflict of Interest Disclosure by Authors

Authors submitting to JECH must disclose all financial and non-financial competing interests:

  • Comprehensive sources of research grants, equipment access, or administrative funding.

  • Past or current financial relationships relevant to the research topic.

  • Personal, clinical, or professional ties that could affect data interpretation or clinical reporting.

  • Institutional or departmental incentives tied to manuscript publication.

  • Direct or indirect funder involvement in study design, data collection, statistical analysis, or manuscript preparation.

Where Disclosure Appears

All disclosures must be stated explicitly in:

  1. The submitted manuscript file under a dedicated "Competing Interests" section.

  2. The OJS manuscript submission metadata interface.

  3. The final published Version of Record.

No Conflict Statement

Where no competing interests exist, authors must include the following standardized declaration:

"The authors declare that they have no competing interests (financial or non-financial) that could inappropriately influence or bias the work reported in this paper."

Conflict of Interest Disclosure by Reviewers

Peer reviewers assigned by JECH must evaluate submissions with total objectivity. Reviewers are required to decline invitations and notify the editorial office immediately at Admin@jech.exactresolution.com if they:

  • Have co-authored publications or actively collaborated with any author within the past 3 years.

  • Belong to the same department, institution, or clinical unit as any co-author.

  • Maintain financial, consulting, or commercial ties to the study or related commercial products.

  • Hold personal or theoretical convictions that prevent impartial scientific assessment.

  • Stand to gain financially or professionally from the acceptance or rejection of the manuscript.

Conflict of Interest Disclosure by Editors

Editors (including the Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editors, and Section Editors) must recuse themselves from manuscript handling and decision-making when:

  • They share institutional affiliations, past collaborations, or co-authorship with any author.

  • They possess direct personal, professional, or financial stakes in the study outcome.

  • They face academic or competitive conflicts of interest.

Recusal Protocol: Upon recusal, the manuscript is reassigned entirely to an independent senior editor with zero conflicts of interest, who will oversee the double-blind peer review and make the final decision.

Conflict of Interest and the Publisher

EXACT RESEARCH SOLUTIONS (SMC-PRIVATE) LIMITED guarantees that:

  • The publisher exerts zero influence over double-blind peer review evaluations or editorial decisions.

  • Article Processing Charges (APC: PKR 26,000 national / USD 100 international) or waiver requests play no role in manuscript acceptance or rejection.

  • Editorial independence is strictly maintained and protected.

  • Corporate financial management remains completely segregated from editorial decision workflows.

Handling Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest

If an undisclosed conflict of interest is identified prior to or following publication, JECH will take actions in accordance with ICMJE Recommendations and COPE flowcharts:

  • Pre-Publication: Immediate manuscript rejection or cancellation of acceptance.

  • Post-Publication: Publication of a formal Erratum/Corrigendum, an Expression of Concern, or full Article Retraction.

  • Escalation: Formal notification sent to the authors' institutional oversight boards or research ethics committees.

  • Sanctions: Temporary or permanent ban on future manuscript submissions from involved authors.

Conflict of Interest for Special Issues / Guest Editors

When JECH organizes thematic special issues or appoints Guest Editors:

  • Guest Editors must complete a formal Conflict of Interest Declaration prior to appointment.

  • Guest Editors are strictly prohibited from handling submissions co-authored by themselves, departmental colleagues, active collaborators, or current students.

  • All Guest Editor-authored or colleague-submitted manuscripts are assigned to independent regular Editorial Board members for double-blind peer review.