Conflict of Interest

Legal Autonomous Web-based Governance (LAW) is committed to maintaining transparency, objectivity, fairness, and academic integrity throughout the scholarly publication process. A conflict of interest occurs when financial, personal, professional, institutional, commercial, political, or other relationships could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, the preparation, evaluation, editorial handling, or publication of a manuscript.

LAW recognizes that the disclosure and appropriate management of conflicts of interest are essential to safeguarding the credibility of scholarly research and ensuring independent editorial decisions. As a journal focusing on law, autonomous systems, artificial intelligence governance, digital regulation, and web-based governance, LAW expects all parties involved in the publication process to maintain professional independence and disclose any actual, potential, or perceived competing interests.

1. Authors' Responsibilities

All authors are required to disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest relevant to their submitted manuscripts. Disclosures must be provided during manuscript submission and included in the appropriate declaration section of the manuscript.

Authors must ensure that research objectives, legal arguments, research methodologies, analysis of legal materials, empirical findings where applicable, interpretations, and conclusions are presented objectively and are not improperly influenced by personal interests, institutional affiliations, commercial relationships, or external organizations.

Conflicts of interest may include, but are not limited to:

  • Financial interests, including research grants, sponsorships, consultancy fees, honoraria, investments, or other financial benefits associated with the research.

  • Employment and institutional relationships, including professional appointments, institutional affiliations, contractual obligations, or organizational positions that may influence the research or publication process.

  • Personal and professional relationships, including family connections, academic collaborations, professional competition, disputes, or other relationships that could compromise scholarly objectivity.

  • Commercial and technological interests, including company ownership, business partnerships, patents, intellectual property rights, or financial interests in artificial intelligence systems, digital platforms, software applications, blockchain technologies, or autonomous systems examined in the manuscript.

  • Governmental and regulatory relationships, including advisory positions, consultancy arrangements, policy development roles, or other affiliations with government agencies, regulatory authorities, public institutions, or organizations whose interests are directly related to the subject of the research.

  • Legal and professional interests, including involvement in litigation, legal representation, regulatory disputes, policy advocacy, or professional activities that may affect the impartiality of the legal analysis presented in the manuscript.

  • Research and data access relationships, including agreements with technology providers, digital service operators, data controllers, platform providers, or other organizations that provide access to research materials or information.

  • Other relevant circumstances that could reasonably be perceived as influencing research design, legal interpretation, data analysis, scholarly judgment, or the presentation of conclusions.

If no conflict of interest exists, authors must explicitly include the following statement in their manuscript:

"The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article."

If a conflict exists, authors must provide a transparent explanation describing its nature, the relevant parties, and its potential influence on the research. All co-authors share responsibility for ensuring that the disclosure is accurate and complete.

2. Reviewers' Responsibilities

Reviewers must evaluate submitted manuscripts independently, objectively, and confidentially in accordance with LAW's double-blind peer-review policy. They are required to disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest to the Editorial Office before accepting a review assignment.

Reviewers should decline or withdraw from reviewing a manuscript if financial interests, institutional relationships, personal connections, recent academic collaborations, professional competition, previous involvement in the research, or other circumstances could compromise their impartiality.

Particular attention should be given to manuscripts addressing legal disputes, regulatory frameworks, institutional policies, technology governance, or commercial systems where reviewers may have direct professional, advisory, financial, or organizational interests.

Reviewers must not use unpublished research findings, confidential manuscripts, unpublished legal analysis, proprietary technological information, restricted datasets, or other materials obtained during peer review for personal advantage, commercial benefit, or professional gain.

All review materials must remain confidential and must not be shared with unauthorized individuals or organizations. If a potential conflict of interest becomes apparent during the review process, the reviewer must promptly notify the handling editor and follow the journal's instructions.

3. Editors' Responsibilities

Editors are responsible for ensuring that editorial decisions are based exclusively on academic merit, originality, legal and methodological rigor, ethical compliance, and relevance to LAW's focus and scope. Editorial decisions must not be influenced by financial interests, personal relationships, institutional affiliations, commercial partnerships, political interests, professional competition, or other competing interests.

Editors must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could affect their ability to evaluate manuscripts independently. When a conflict is identified, the editor must recuse themselves from handling the manuscript, and responsibility for the editorial evaluation and decision-making process must be transferred to an independent editor.

Editors must also ensure that reviewer selection and manuscript evaluation procedures support fairness, confidentiality, and impartiality, particularly within LAW's double-blind peer-review system.

Manuscripts submitted by members of the Editorial Board, editors, or individuals affiliated with the journal's publishing institution must undergo an independent editorial evaluation. The author-editor concerned must not participate in the selection of reviewers, editorial deliberations, or publication decisions concerning their own manuscript.

The journal will take appropriate measures to prevent preferential treatment, institutional bias, or any other influence that could compromise the independence of editorial decisions.

4. Disclosure of Funding and Third-Party Interests

Authors must disclose all relevant sources of financial and non-financial support contributing to the research, manuscript preparation, or publication. Such support may include funding from universities, government agencies, research institutions, private companies, technology providers, digital platform operators, legal institutions, or other sponsoring entities.

Authors should explain the role of funders or supporting organizations, where applicable, in research design, selection and interpretation of legal materials, data collection, technological development, data analysis, interpretation of findings, manuscript preparation, and decisions concerning publication.

Research involving artificial intelligence applications, autonomous systems, blockchain technologies, digital platforms, personal data processing, cybersecurity systems, or technology-driven public services should clearly identify relationships that could influence the independence of the research.

Authors conducting research involving industry partnerships, government institutions, regulatory bodies, or organizations whose policies or activities are examined in the manuscript must disclose relevant relationships that could reasonably be perceived as affecting the research.

The receipt of funding or institutional support does not automatically constitute a conflict of interest. However, any financial, contractual, professional, or organizational relationship that could influence, or reasonably appear to influence, the research must be transparently disclosed.

5. Management of Conflicts of Interest

LAW will assess disclosed conflicts of interest and implement appropriate measures to safeguard the independence and integrity of the editorial and publication processes.

Depending on the circumstances, these measures may include requesting additional disclosures, seeking clarification from authors or reviewers, assigning independent reviewers or editors, requiring revisions to disclosure statements, or taking other appropriate editorial actions.

The existence of a disclosed conflict of interest does not automatically disqualify a manuscript from publication. Editorial decisions will consider whether the conflict has been adequately disclosed and whether appropriate measures can protect the reliability and impartiality of the evaluation process.

Failure to disclose a relevant conflict of interest may result in suspension of the editorial process, rejection of the manuscript, correction of a published article, or other proportionate editorial action consistent with LAW's Publication Ethics policy.

If an undisclosed conflict of interest is identified after publication, the Editorial Board will assess its nature and potential effect on the credibility and integrity of the published research.

Depending on the findings, the journal may issue a correction, an expression of concern, or a retraction when warranted by the available evidence and applicable publication ethics standards.

6. Commitment to Publication Ethics

Legal Autonomous Web-based Governance (LAW) expects authors, reviewers, editors, and all individuals involved in scholarly publishing to uphold the principles of honesty, neutrality, fairness, transparency, accountability, and professional integrity.

The disclosure of conflicts of interest is intended to support informed editorial decisions, prevent inappropriate influence, and maintain confidence in the scholarly publication process.

Through this policy, LAW seeks to ensure that research concerning artificial intelligence governance, algorithmic regulation, digital human rights, data protection, cybersecurity law, blockchain and smart contract regulation, autonomous systems accountability, digital public administration, online dispute resolution, and digital economy governance is evaluated and published through a transparent, independent, and ethically responsible process.

The journal also recognizes the relevance of responsible legal and technological governance to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions), where relevant to the subject and findings of the research.

All parties are expected to comply with LAW's Publication Ethics policy, editorial guidelines, and applicable scholarly publishing standards to protect the credibility, independence, and long-term integrity of the academic record.