Ethical Oversight

The journal requires transparent disclosure of financial and non-financial relationships and activities, sources of funding, and the role of funders or sponsors that could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, the conduct, interpretation, peer review, or publication of scholarly work.

The existence of a relationship or activity does not necessarily constitute misconduct or invalidate research. The purpose of disclosure is to allow editors, reviewers, and readers to assess relevant interests transparently. ICMJE emphasizes that perceived conflicts may be as important to scientific trust as actual conflicts.

Authors must disclose all relevant relationships and activities that could affect, or appear to affect, their work. These may include, where applicable:

  • employment, consultancy, advisory, or leadership roles;
  • research grants and other financial support;
  • honoraria, speaker fees, travel support, or other payments;
  • ownership of stocks, shares, or other financial interests;
  • patents, licences, royalties, or other intellectual property interests;
  • relevant institutional, professional, academic, or personal relationships;
  • other interests that readers could reasonably consider relevant to the submitted work.

If no relevant conflicts exist, authors should provide a clear declaration such as “The authors declare no conflicts of interest.”

Authors must also provide a Funding Statement identifying all organizations or other sources that directly supported the reported work. Where no specific funding was received, this should be stated clearly.

Funding disclosure must be distinguished from the broader conflict-of-interest disclosure. Authors should identify direct support for the study and, where relevant, support provided specifically for an individual author’s contribution. ICMJE recommends transparent reporting of both relationships and activities and direct sources of support for the work.

Role of Funders and Sponsors

Where research is funded or sponsored, authors must describe the role of the funder or sponsor, where applicable, in:

  • study conception and design;
  • selection or recruitment of participants;
  • collection of data;
  • management and analysis of data;
  • interpretation of results;
  • preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript;
  • the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

If the funder or sponsor had no role in these activities, this should be stated explicitly.

Authors must disclose any agreement with a sponsor that could restrict access to study data, independent analysis or interpretation, preparation of the manuscript, or the right to submit the work for publication.

Authors should retain appropriate access to the data necessary to take responsibility for the integrity of the study and the accuracy of its analysis. This point is particularly relevant to the January 2026 ICMJE update, which strengthened guidance concerning sponsor agreements, academic freedom, reporting of sources of support, and authors’ access to study data.

Reviewers and Conflicts of Interest

Reviewers must disclose to the editor any relationships or activities that could affect the objectivity of their review.

A reviewer should decline or withdraw from reviewing a manuscript when a financial, professional, institutional, personal, academic, or other relationship creates a conflict that prevents an independent and impartial evaluation.

Reviewers must not use confidential information obtained through peer review to advance their own interests.

Editors and Editorial Board Members

Editors, Editorial Board members, and other persons involved in editorial decisions must disclose relevant conflicts of interest and must recuse themselves from handling or deciding on manuscripts when their impartiality could reasonably be questioned.

Manuscripts submitted by editors, Editorial Board members, or persons with close professional, institutional, or personal relationships to editorial decision-makers must be handled through an independent editorial and peer-review process.

Editorial staff must not use confidential manuscript information for personal, academic, financial, or professional benefit.

Editorial Independence

Sources of funding, commercial relationships, sponsorship, advertising, institutional interests, or publication charges must not influence peer review or editorial decisions.

Funders and sponsors must not determine reviewer selection, control editorial decisions, or require acceptance or rejection of individual manuscripts.

The final decision regarding publication remains with the Editor-in-Chief or an appropriately authorized editor, acting independently in accordance with the journal’s editorial policies.

Disclosure in Published Articles

Relevant declarations should be published with the article in a clear and accessible form. Depending on the study and article type, these may include:

  • Conflicts of Interest Statement;
  • Funding Statement;
  • Role of the Funder/Sponsor;
  • other disclosures required by the journal.

Authors remain responsible for the completeness and accuracy of their disclosures.

Deliberate failure to disclose a relevant relationship, funding source, or sponsor role may be investigated as a potential breach of publication ethics. ICMJE specifically identifies purposeful failure to report required relationships or activities as potential misconduct.

If an incomplete or inaccurate disclosure is identified after publication, the journal may take appropriate action, including correction of the published disclosure and, in serious cases, further investigation under the journal’s Research Misconduct and Corrections and Retractions policies.

ISSN 2181-3353 (Print)
ISSN 2181-3353 (Online)