For authors

Conflict of interest policy

Transparency about competing interests helps readers judge research fairly. This policy reflects common scholarly standards and COPE guidance.

What to disclose

Authors should disclose financial and non-financial relationships that could reasonably be perceived to influence the work, including for example:

Employment, consultancies, stock or patent interests, honoraria, and paid expert roles
Grants and other funding supporting the work (also summarise in the acknowledgements or funding section as required)
Personal, political, or ideological interests relevant to the topic
Relationships with organisations or advocacy groups that may be affected by the publication

When and how

Disclosures should be provided at submission and updated if circumstances change. If there are no competing interests to declare, authors should state this explicitly (for example, "The authors declare no competing interests") where the journal's instructions require it.

Reviewers and editors

Reviewers must decline invitations where they cannot evaluate work impartially and should disclose any potential bias. Editors and editorial staff manage manuscripts in which they have a direct competing interest, and may recuse themselves from decisions on those manuscripts.

Undisclosed interests

If a competing interest is identified after publication, the editorial office may publish an update or correction to the declarations associated with the article.