Grant Support

Policy on Conflicts of Interest, Funding, and Financial Disclosure

Purpose:
The Axis Community Research Journal (ACRJ) mandates comprehensive transparency regarding any financial or personal interests that could potentially influence, or be perceived to influence, the objectivity and integrity of published research. This policy is essential for maintaining trust among our readers, community partners, and the scholarly community. It applies to all submissions and requires disclosure from authors, reviewers, and editors.

1. Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest (COI)
A Conflict of Interest exists when an individual's personal, financial, professional, political, or institutional affiliations could reasonably be seen as compromising their impartiality regarding the research.

  • Author Requirements: All authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest related to the submitted work. This includes, but is not limited to:

    • Financial Interests: Employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, grants (even those not directly funding the study), patents (pending or awarded), royalties, and in-kind support received within the 36 months preceding submission.

    • Personal & Professional Relationships: Close personal relationships, academic rivalries, concurrent collaborations, or advisory roles with individuals or organizations that could be affected by the publication.

    • Community-Based Conflicts: Roles or relationships within a community that could affect the presentation or interpretation of community-engaged research findings.

  • Statement of No Conflict: If no conflicts exist, authors must include the statement: "The authors declare no conflicts of interest."

2. Grant Support and Financial Disclosure
Transparency in funding is a critical component of research integrity and reproducibility.

  • Funding Declaration: Authors must explicitly identify all sources of financial support for the research project and manuscript preparation. This includes grant numbers and the full names of funding agencies (e.g., "This work was supported by the [Funding Body] under Grant [number xxxx]"). If the research received no specific grant from any funding agency, this should be clearly stated.

  • Statement of Independence and Access: For research funded by any external entity, the corresponding author must provide a statement confirming that all authors had full and unrestricted access to all study data, were responsible for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the analysis, and had final authority over manuscript preparation and the decision to publish. This statement safeguards against sponsor influence.

3. Reviewer and Editor Disclosure

  • Reviewers must decline to review a manuscript if they have a conflict of interest and must notify the editor immediately upon identifying any potential conflict after accepting an invitation.

  • Editors will recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where they have a conflict of interest. These disclosures are managed confidentially within the editorial team.

4. Publication of Disclosures
In line with our commitment to transparency:

  • The Conflict of Interest Disclosures and Funding Information will be published in a dedicated section of every accepted article (e.g., "Competing Interests," "Funding").

  • The Statement of Independence and Access, where applicable, may be included within the manuscript's methods or acknowledgements section.

5. Compliance and Verification

  • Submission of these disclosures is mandatory during the online submission process via dedicated forms.

  • The editorial office may request clarification or documentation to verify disclosures.

  • Failure to provide complete and accurate disclosures, or the discovery of an undeclared conflict, may result in manuscript rejection, retraction of a published article, and/or notification of authors' institutions.

This policy is fundamental to upholding the credibility and ethical standing of research published in ACRJ. It ensures that readers can assess potential biases and that the journal's content is produced under conditions that prioritize scholarly integrity over undisclosed external influences.