Conflicts of Interest

A conflict of interest exists when professional judgment concerning the integrity of research or its evaluation may be influenced by a secondary interest, such as financial relationships, personal or professional relationships, institutional affiliations, or competing academic interests.

Authors must disclose in their manuscript all financial and non-financial relationships that could be perceived as influencing their work, including sources of research funding, employment, consultancies, and the role of any funder in the study. Where no conflict exists, the manuscript must include a statement to that effect.

Reviewers must decline to review a manuscript if they have a recent collaboration, a close personal or professional relationship, or a competing interest with any of the authors, or if they have a financial interest in the subject of the work.

Editors must not handle manuscripts authored by themselves, colleagues from the same institution, or family members, or manuscripts with which they have any other conflict. Such manuscripts are handled by another editor who has no conflict, and the author-editor is excluded from all decisions on the manuscript.

The disclosure of a conflict of interest does not by itself disqualify a manuscript. Undisclosed conflicts that are discovered later may result in a correction or retraction.