Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest exists when financial, professional, or personal relationships could influence, or appear to influence, someone's judgement.

Authors
Declare all funding and competing interests in the manuscript, or state that there are none.
Reviewers
Decline if they share an institution with an author, collaborated with an author in the last three years, or have any other conflict.
Editors
Do not handle their own manuscripts or those of close collaborators; such manuscripts go to another editor.
Related: Publication Ethics
Last updated: October 2026