Conflicts of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial or non-financial relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing their research, interpretation, or publication.

Potential conflicts may include:

- Employment, consultancy, or professional relationships;

- Financial interests, grants, or commercial relationships;

- Personal or family relationships;

- Institutional affiliations or competing academic interests;

- Personal, professional, or intellectual disputes; and

- Other circumstances that may affect the impartiality of the research or editorial process.

Reviewers and editors must also disclose potential conflicts of interest and decline involvement when their impartiality may be compromised.

Editors must not handle manuscripts in which they have a direct personal, professional, institutional, or financial interest. Such manuscripts must be assigned to an independent editor who has no relevant conflict of interest.

If no conflicts of interest exist, authors should include the following statement:

"The authors declare no conflicts of interest."