INFORMATION
Conflicts of Interest
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AND FUNDING DISCLOSURE
What must be disclosed
Authors, reviewers and editors must declare financial or non-financial relationships that could reasonably influence, or be perceived to influence, their judgement. Examples include employment, consultancy, ownership, paid testimony, patents, grants, close personal relationships, recent collaboration, supervisory relationships, strong scholarly rivalry or a relevant editorial position. Disclosure enables assessment; it does not automatically disqualify a person or manuscript.
Authors and funders
At submission, all authors provide a declaration of relevant interests or an explicit statement that none exist. Identify funding sources and grant numbers where applicable, and state the funder’s role in design, data collection, analysis, writing and the decision to submit. The published article must carry the final declaration and funding statement. Update disclosures when circumstances change before or after publication.
Reviewers and editors
Reviewers disclose potential conflicts before accepting and decline when impartial review is not possible. Editors must not decide on manuscripts involving their own work, close associates or relevant financial interests. Such manuscripts are reassigned to an independent editor; the affected editor does not access confidential review deliberations. The same safeguards apply to guest editors, publisher-affiliated authors and special issues. The article should disclose the independent handling arrangement where relevant.
Managing and correcting disclosures
The handling editor decides whether disclosure, reassignment, an additional independent assessment or another measure is needed. Omitted interests are evaluated for their effect on the assessment and reliability of the article. Publication of a correction may be sufficient; a serious undisclosed interest may require further action under the misconduct and correction policies. Fees, waivers, sponsorship and conference participation must not determine acceptance.
Example statement
The authors declare no financial or non-financial interests relevant to this work. Alternatively: [Author] reports [relationship] with [entity]; [explain relevance]. Funding: [source and identifier]. The funder’s role was [role, or no role in the specified activities].
References
