Jurnal Sport-Mu requires all authors, reviewers, and editors to declare any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest (competing interests) that could inappropriately influence or bias the research, peer review, or editorial decision-making process. As defined in the COPE Core Practices on Competing Interests, scholarly journals must establish clear policies and administrative procedures for managing financial, personal, or professional conflicts across all stages of publication.

Transparency and complete disclosure are essential to preserving public trust and scientific integrity in sports science and physical education research. In accordance with the COPE Discussion Document on Handling Conflicts of Interest, declaring a competing interest is not an admission of wrongdoing, but a standard mechanism that enables editors, reviewers, and readers to objectively evaluate the work.

 

Authors submitting manuscripts to Jurnal Sport-Mu must explicitly disclose all financial and non-financial competing interests that might influence or appear to influence their research findings. According to the guidance provided in COPE Focus on Conflicts of Interest, relevant financial interests include research grants, equipment sponsorship, consulting fees, honoraria, patent applications, or commercial relationships with sports equipment, athletic apparel, or nutritional supplement companies.

Non-financial competing interests—including personal relationships, academic rivalries, institutional affiliations, or political and ideological commitments—must also be disclosed at the time of submission as required by the COPE Discussion Document on Handling Conflicts of Interest. If authors have no competing interests to declare, they must include an explicit statement in the manuscript text stating: "The authors declare that they have no competing interests."

 

Peer reviewers invited by Jurnal Sport-Mu must evaluate whether they have any personal, academic, or financial conflicts of interest that could compromise their objectivity during evaluation. Following the principles set forth in the COPE Core Practices, reviewers must decline invitations or immediately notify the Editor-in-Chief if they share recent co-authorships, work at the same institution, or have direct competitive research interests with the authors.

Furthermore, reviewers are strictly forbidden from utilizing unpublished research data or insights obtained during the peer review process for personal or professional gain, as mandated by the COPE Guidance on Handling Conflicts of Interest.

 

Editors and editorial board members of Jurnal Sport-Mu must recuse themselves from managing or making final editorial decisions on manuscripts where they have a conflict of interest, such as manuscripts authored by close collaborators, department colleagues, or family members. In compliance with the COPE Core Practices for Journal Management, such submissions are reassigned to an independent member of the editorial board or a guest editor to ensure an unbiased peer review process.

 

When a reviewer or reader alerts the journal to a potential undisclosed conflict of interest in an unpublished manuscript, the editorial team investigates the concern by following the systematic workflow detailed in the COPE Flowchart on Undisclosed Conflict of Interest in a Submitted Manuscript.

If an undisclosed conflict of interest is reported or discovered after publication, Jurnal Sport-Mu conducts a formal investigation in strict adherence to the COPE Flowchart on Undisclosed Conflict of Interest in a Published Article.

Depending on whether the undisclosed conflict unduly influenced the peer review process or the validity of the conclusions, the Editor-in-Chief will publish a formal correction (corrigendum) or, in severe cases, execute a retraction as outlined in the official COPE Retraction Guidelines.