Conflict of Interests

Conflict of Interest & Independence Policy

Author Independence

Authors must not enter into agreements with study sponsors—whether commercial or non-profit—that restrict access to full research data, limit their ability to analyze and interpret findings independently, or constrain their freedom to publish manuscripts when and where they choose.

 Disclosure Requirements

All authors must declare any financial or personal relationships that could perceivedly bias or influence their work. Potential conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to:

 Financial Interests: Employment, consultancies, stock or share ownership, honoraria, research grants or other funding, paid expert testimony, and patent or licensing arrangements.

Non-Financial Interests: Professional or personal relationships, institutional affiliations, and personal beliefs relevant to the manuscript.

Submission & Manuscript Disclosures:

 Online Submission: Authors must declare all potential conflicts of interest in the submission portal during the manuscript submission process.

In-Text Statement: The corresponding author must include a unified summary statement in a dedicated section titled “Conflicts of Interest”, positioned immediately before the reference list. This statement must reflect all disclosures collected during submission.

 Standard Declarations: 

 Example Disclosure:

Conflicts of Interest: Author A has received research funding from Company A. Author B has received speaker honoraria from Company X and holds stock in Company Y. Author C serves as a consultant and expert witness for Company Z. Author D is an inventor named on Patent X.

 If no competing interests exist:

 Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.