Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest may exist when professional judgment regarding a primary interest is likely to be influenced by a secondary interest, such as financial gain. It is important to note that even the perception of a conflict of interest can be as important as the actual conflict of interest.

Any agreement with a research sponsor (for-profit or not-for-profit) that interferes with the author's access to research data or interferes with the author's ability to analyze or interpret the data as they wish and to publish the manuscript independently should be avoided at all costs. .

Statements of interest should be received from all authors before the article is reviewed and accepted for publication.

For authors:

When submitting an article, authors must list all competing interests relevant to the work, including but not limited to:

• Source of funds
• Sponsor’s role in job design, data collection, and analysis of results.
• Whether the author serves on the editorial board of the journal to which he or she submitted the article.

 

For reviewers and for editors

Editors and reviewers must declare any possible conflicts of interest related to the manuscript and, if necessary, withdraw from the peer review process. If an author submits an article to a journal for which he is a member of the editorial board, the editorial office will insist that the author be reused in the peer review process.

Common reasons why editors and reviewers are replaced include, but are not limited to:

• The editor or reviewer works for the same organization as one of the authors.
• The editor or reviewer is one of the authors of the work.
• The editor or reviewer is on the author's avoidance list.
• The editor or reviewer has a financial or personal relationship with the author.