Conflict of Interest
Conflicts of interest may exist when professional judgments concerning a primary interest have the possibility of being influenced by a secondary interest (e.g., financial gains). It is to be noted that even perceptions of conflicts of interest are as important as actual conflicts of interest.
Any agreements with study sponsors (for-profit or non-profit), such as those that interfere with the authors’ access to the study data or with the authors’ ability to analyze or interpret the data and publish the manuscript independently according to their own decision, should be avoided by authors at all costs.
A declaration of interest for all authors should be received before an article can be reviewed and accepted for publication.
For authors:
While submitting an article, authors must list all competing interests relevant to this work, including but not limited to:
- Funding sources
- The role of sponsors in the work design, data collection, and results of the analysis.
- Whether any of the authors serves on the Editorial Board of the journal that they are submitting their article to.
For editors and reviewers:
Editors and reviewers must declare any possible conflict of interests in connection with the manuscript and, if necessary, they must withdraw from the peer review process. If authors submit an article to a journal of which they serve as Editorial Board members, the editorial office will insist that the authors are recused from the peer review process.
Common reasons for editors and reviewers to be replaced include but are not limited to:
- The editor or reviewer works at the same organization as the authors.
- The editor or reviewer is one of the authors of the work.
- The editor or reviewer is on the avoidance list from the authors.
- The editor or reviewer has a financial or personal relationship with the authors.