Competing interests policy

Declaration of competing interestsTransparency and bias mitigation

Authors are required to declare any competing financial and/or non-financial interests related to the work described in the interest of transparency and to enable readers to form unbiased judgments.

Definition of competing interestsFinancial competing interests policy

Financial interests that could directly or potentially undermine the objectivity, integrity, and value of a publication are considered competing interests. This includes:

Funding: Disclosure of research support from organizations with a financial stake.

Employment: Declaration of recent, present, or anticipated employment that may gain or lose financially through publication.

Personal financial interests: Disclosure of stocks, consultation fees, patents, or other financial involvements that may be affected by publication.

Non-financial competing interests policy

Various forms of personal or professional relations with organizations and individuals could impact the publication process.

Competing interests statement format guidelinesExplicit declarations

The competing interests statement must be explicit and unambiguous, addressing potential competing interests of each contributing author.

Examples of declarations

Examples include statements of “no competing interests” or “detailed declarations specifying financial and non-financial involvements”.

Application to authorsCorresponding author responsibility

The corresponding author is responsible for submitting a competing interests statement on behalf of all authors. This statement must be included in the submitted article file under ‘additional information’ following the ‘Author contributions’ section.

Confidentiality agreements

Authors bound by confidentiality agreements may provide a statement acknowledging this limitation, allowing online disclosure in the absence of itemized financial disclosure.

Monetary value disclosureNot required

Authors are not obligated to state the monetary value of their financial interests.