Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest exists when financial, professional, or personal relationships could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, a person's judgement.

Authors

Authors must declare all funding sources and any potential competing interests in a "Conflict of Interest" statement in the manuscript. If none exist, authors state: "The authors declare no conflict of interest."

Reviewers

Reviewers must decline to review, or notify the editor, if they have a conflict with the authors, institutions, or funders of a manuscript, including when they suspect the authors' identity in double-blind review.

Editors

Editors do not handle manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest. Manuscripts submitted by the Editor-in-Chief, editors, or members of the publisher are handled independently by another editor who has no conflict, and the submitting editor is excluded from all stages of the decision. The number of articles authored by editorial team members is limited to a maximum of two per issue.