Conflict of Interest

The term “Declaration of Conflicting Interests policy” is used to describe a written policy that a journal may have to require a conflict-of-interest declaration or conflict-of-interest disclosure from a submitting or publishing author.

In the event that authors, reviewers, or editors have hidden biases that could influence their decisions about what is published, this is called a conflict of interest. They have been called those that, when revealed later, would make a reasonable reader feel misled or tricked.

Authors

When submitting a manuscript, all authors and co-authors must declare any conflicts of interest they may have (e.g. employment, consulting fees, research contracts, stock ownership, patent licenses, advisory affiliations, etc.). Assuming the article is eventually published, this data should be added at the very end.

Reviewers

This conflict-free review procedure relies on:

When an editor has a bias toward one of the authors, they should appoint a guest editor. Editors have a responsibility to make sure that reviewers do not have any biases when it comes to a specific author.

Before agreeing to evaluate an article, reviewers should get in touch with the editorial office to disclose any conflicts of interest. Reviewers with minimal conflicts of interest will still be able to report on an article, and their concerns will be taken into account when evaluating the reviewer suggestions.

Editors

If an editor has a financial or other conflict of interest in a submitted manuscript, they should recuse themselves from any decisions about that manuscript and the editorial process.

If a manuscript is submitted from the editor’s own academic department or institution, the editor may have a Conflict of Interest and should have clear guidelines for handling such a situation.

Editors submitting their own research should have another member of the editorial staff handle the article and the editor should refrain from any involvement with the work once it has been submitted.
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