The journal requires authors to declare any conflicts of interest relating to their work. All submitted manuscripts must include a ‘Conflicts of Interest’ section at the end, listing all conflicts of interest (both financial and non-financial). If the authors have no conflicts of interest, the statement should read: ‘The author(s) declare(s) that they have no conflicts of interest’. The editor may request further information regarding conflicts of interest.
Editors and reviewers are also required to declare any conflicts of interest. Where a conflict of interest could reasonably affect, or be perceived as affecting, their impartiality, they must recuse themselves from the peer-review and editorial decision-making process.
A conflict of interest arises if the authors’ interpretation of data or presentation of information may be influenced – or may be perceived as being influenced – by their personal or financial relationships with other individuals or organisations. Authors should disclose any financial conflicts of interest (for example, receipt of allowances, fees, funding or salary from an organisation that may in any way stand to gain or lose financially from the publication of the manuscript, either now or in the future, ownership of shares or stakes in an organisation that may in any way stand to gain or lose financially from the publication of the manuscript, either now or in the future; holding or currently applying for patents relating to the content of the manuscript; and so on), but also any non-financial conflicts of interest which might cause them embarrassment if they were to become public knowledge following the publication of the manuscript (for example, political, personal, religious, ideological, academic and intellectual conflicts of interest).
Members of the Editorial Board
Members of the Editorial Board are required to declare any conflict of interest and, where such a conflict exists, may be excluded from the peer-review process. Furthermore, they should recuse themselves from working on manuscripts where a conflict of interest exists. If an editor, guest editor or member of the editorial board is listed as an author, we recommend that they disclose this fact in the section on conflicts of interest in the submitted manuscript. If they are authors or have any other conflict of interest relating to a specific manuscript, another editor, guest editor or member of the editorial board will be appointed to take responsibility for overseeing the peer-review process. Such submissions are subject to exactly the same peer-review process as any other manuscript. Members of the editorial board may submit their own contributions to the journal. These contributions are not given any priority over other manuscripts, and membership of the editorial board has no influence on the editorial assessment.