Conflict of Interest

Authors, reviewers, editors, and Editorial Board members must disclose relationships or interests that could influence—or reasonably appear to influence—their scholarly judgment.

Potential conflicts include:

• financial relationships;
• employment;
• commercial interests;
• patents;
• research funding;
• institutional relationships;
• professional relationships;
• personal relationships;
• academic competition; and
• relevant intellectual interests.

Authors

Authors must disclose relevant competing interests.

Reviewers

Reviewers must decline assignments when a conflict prevents an independent assessment.

Editors

Editors must not make decisions on manuscripts where they have a relevant conflict of interest.

Such manuscripts must be assigned to an independent editor.

 

Related Policies:
Peer Review Process | Editorial Process | Publication Ethics