Conflict of Interest

Definition

A conflict of interest exists when a personal, financial, professional or institutional relationship could influence, or reasonably appear to influence, scholarly judgment or decision-making about an article.

Authors

Authors must declare any conflict of interest related to the research, funding or institutional relationships that may affect the article.

Reviewers

Reviewers must declare any relationship or interest that could compromise the independence of their assessment before accepting a review assignment.

Editorial team

Editorial members who have a conflict of interest must withdraw from decision-making on the relevant article, and the manuscript should be assigned to another qualified person.

Transparency

Operational details of the conflict-of-interest declaration form will be completed when the formal submission and peer-review procedures are finalized, and will be reflected in the Author Guidelines and reviewer instructions.