Conflicts of Interest

A competing interest is a relationship or circumstance that could influence, or could reasonably appear to influence, the reporting of research or its assessment. Disclosing such an interest allows it to be managed appropriately. A disclosure does not, by itself, indicate bias or misconduct.

1. Interests to Disclose
Authors, editors, and reviewers should disclose:

• employment, consultancy, honoraria, ownership interests, patents, or commercial benefits related to the work;
• funding, paid expert roles, institutional commitments, or sponsor involvement that may affect how the findings are interpreted;
• close personal relationships, supervisory relationships, collaborations, or professional disputes that could affect impartial assessment;
• editorial appointments or other relationships with the journal that require independent handling.

Ordinary scholarly disagreement is not automatically a disqualifying conflict. When in doubt, disclose the circumstances to the responsible editor.

2. Author Declarations and Funding
Each author must disclose relevant financial and non-financial interests. The corresponding author coordinates a single statement that identifies each author’s interests, where applicable. If no interests exist, the manuscript must include an explicit declaration that the authors have no relevant competing interests.

A separate funding statement must identify financial and in-kind support, the names of funders, and grant numbers where applicable. Describe any role the funder played in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, writing, or the decision to submit. If the funder had no such role, state this. If the research received no specific funding, say so.

A funding statement does not replace the competing-interest statement. Update both whenever relevant circumstances change. The placement of these statements is described in the [Author Guidelines]. Disclosures must not reveal author identities during anonymous review.

3. Editors and Reviewers
Editors and reviewers must disclose relevant interests before accepting an assignment and must report any interest identified later without delay. A non-conflicted editor decides whether existing safeguards are sufficient or whether the assignment must be reassigned.

Editors must not assess or decide on their own manuscripts, or on other submissions where their impartiality is compromised. Reviewers with a disqualifying conflict must decline the invitation or stop the review. Assignment procedures are set out in the [Editorial Roles] and [Reviewer Selection] policies.

4. Assessment and Late Disclosure
Disclosed interests are assessed for their relevance and potential effect. Appropriate action may include publishing an author disclosure, arranging an additional independent assessment, or replacing an editor or reviewer.

Missing or inaccurate declarations are assessed in context and are not automatically grounds for retraction. Allegations of research misconduct are handled under the [Allegation of Research Misconduct] policy, and any resulting investigation follows the [Integrity Investigation] procedure. Any necessary correction to a published article follows the [Correction and Retraction] policy.