Editorial Policies

Conflicts of Interest Policy

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) defines conflicts of interest as “those which may not be fully apparent and may influence the judgement of authors, reviewers and editors”. A conflict of interest can be described as “those which, when revealed later, would make a reasonable reader feel misled or deceived”. Conflicts of interest can be personal, commercial, political, academic or financial. Such interests must be declared by authors, reviewers and editors. In case of uncertainty, rather disclose.
Authors’ conflicts of interest
Authors are asked during the submission process to declare any potential conflicts of interest for the Editor-in-Chief’s consideration. Examples include employment, funding sources, owning of shares and payment for lectures or travel.
Should a potential conflict of interest exist, it must be declared and will be included in the published version if the article is accepted for publication. A potential