1. What must be disclosed
- Financial: employment, consultancies, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patents, stock ownership, or grants from any organisation with an interest in the work submitted.
- Non-financial: personal relationships, academic rivalries, political or religious beliefs that could be perceived to bias the work.
- Institutional: roles on advisory boards, editorial boards of competing journals, or leadership positions in organisations linked to the subject matter.
The relevant window is the three years preceding submission, plus any ongoing relationship.
2. Author obligations
Every submission must include a Conflicts of Interest statement. If no conflicts exist, the manuscript must state: "The authors declare no conflicts of interest." All sources of funding must additionally be declared in a separate Funding statement.
3. Reviewer obligations
Reviewers must decline an assignment if they have any financial, professional, or personal relationship with the authors, the institution, or the subject of the manuscript that could compromise their objectivity. Recent collaboration (within three years) is a disqualifying conflict.
4. Editor obligations
Editors must recuse themselves from handling any manuscript authored by close collaborators, members of the same institution, or anyone with whom they have a personal or financial relationship. Recused submissions are reassigned to an independent editor and the recusal is recorded.
5. Failure to disclose
Undeclared conflicts identified after publication are handled under our Corrections and Retractions Policy, and may result in a published correction or — where the omission materially affects the work — a retraction.