Conflicts of Interest

A conflict of interest in a manuscript occurs when a writer in the writing, review, or publication process—whether author, reviewer, or editor—has ties to activities or relationships that could inappropriately influence their judgment. The most common are financial relationships, family ties, personal relationships, and academic rivalry. Bias may be shown or omitted through careful or vague attention to the scientific method and the work’s conclusions from a partial viewpoint.
All participants in peer review and the publication process must declare relationships that could be considered potential conflicts of interest. External peer reviewers must disclose any conflict of interest, which is requested on the manuscript review page and must be declared in writing before continuing the review process. Journal editors are informed, and if a personal conflict of interest arises in manuscript processing, they must inform the journal director, who will assign another editor to handle it.