Conflict of interest policy

Conflict of interest policy

When issues outside the research could affect the objectivity of the submitted paper or its evaluation, conflicts of interest occur. We ask our authors to declare possible conflicts of interest along with the submitted paper so that we can decide whether or not these conflicts may have exerted any influence and can consequently make informed decisions. Conflicts include affiliations (being related in any affiliation with the organisation interested in the particular outcome of the work); financial (benefits or services received or expected to be received by authors in connection with the object of the work or by an organisation interested in the result of the work); personal relationship (close personal ties) and similar.

By submitting a work, an author must declare any potential conflict of interest in the section Comments for the Editor. In this statement, all potential interests must be explained by elaborating why a conflict of interest may have been involved. The authors must indicate any former, current, and/or possible future benefits and any other payments, goods, perks, or services that could have affected the work. All the presently listed aspects must be honestly and adequately specified in the acknowledgements section, whether or not they caused a conflict of interest.

On our behalf, we assure you that, in most cases, an honest declaration of interests will not stop work from being forwarded for review and subsequently published.

If authors have any doubts regarding potential conflicts of interest, they are encouraged to consult with the Editor-in-Chief prior to submission. The Editorial Board reserves the right to reject a manuscript if an undisclosed conflict of interest is revealed during any stage of the peer-review process. Should such a conflict come to light after publication, the journal will initiate formal retraction or expression of concern proceedings in accordance with COPE guidelines.

The journal follows a policy of the editors and reviewers not being involved in any interaction with a submitted paper when they co-authored recently with the author(s), received or are likely to receive possible financial reward related with the subject of the work, are or recently were in some form of relationship such as marriage, parentage, other family/relationship bonds, recent work/cooperation on the same project with the author, when they are close/direct competitors or have previously discussed the manuscript with the authors. The editor-in-chief of the journal is responsible for evaluating whether a specific situation is recent enough to ensure maximum integrity and transparency of the publishing process.