Conflict of Interest (Competing Interests)

A competing interest exists when a relationship or circumstance could reasonably be seen as influencing the research, its reporting, its review or an editorial decision. Declaring an interest does not disqualify a manuscript; failing to declare one may.

Types of interest

  • Financial: funding, grants, honoraria, consultancy, employment, stock or fees, including from governments, parties, political foundations, think tanks, companies and NGOs
  • Non-financial: personal, political, religious, institutional or ideological relationships relevant to the work, such as party membership or advisory roles, relatives or close friends affected by the work, rivalry or close collaboration with other authors, or holding a public position related to the research topic

Authors

  • Whenever relevant, include a Declaration of Competing Interests after the conclusion. If none statement, it implies there no competing interests.
  • Include, only if any, a Funding statement naming funders and their role in design, data analysis, writing and the decision to publish.
  • Declarations, if any, are published with the article.

Reviewers

Reviewers must decline or tell the editor if they have a conflict, for example same institution, supervisory or close personal relationship, or a financial or political interest in the outcome. They must not use information from a manuscript for personal advantage.

Editors, board members and staff

  • Editors recuse themselves from any manuscript with which they have a conflict and are blocked from seeing the manuscript and its review in OJS.
  • Manuscripts by editors, board members, or reviewers are assigned to an editor outside their own unit and not involved in their work, and undergo the same blind review.

Handling and sanctions

Editors judge whether a declared interest requires action, such as an additional reviewer, an extra editor, a statement in the article or reassignment. Interests found after publication are corrected through a published Correction (or Expression of Concern if the conclusions are affected).