Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest exists when financial, professional, or personal relationships could inappropriately influence a person’s judgment in the publication process.

Authors must declare all potential conflicts of interest, such as funding sources, employment, or commercial interests, in the Conflict of Interest statement. If there are none, authors should state: “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”

Reviewers and editors must decline to handle a manuscript if they have a conflict of interest, including family relationships with the authors, co-authorship with any of the authors within the last two years, or affiliation with the same institutional unit as the authors.

Manuscripts by editorial board members. Manuscripts submitted by the Editor-in-Chief, editors, or editorial board members are handled by another editor with no conflict of interest and undergo the same double-blind peer review process as all other submissions. The author-editor has no access to the review process or the editorial decision on their own manuscript.