CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Conflict of interest exists when a participant in the publication process namely, the author, peer reviewer, or editor has a competing interest that could unduly influence his or her responsibilities in the publication process that involve the submission of manuscripts, peer review, editorial decisions, and communication between authors, reviewers, and editors. Before you submit your scholarly article to us, authors are encouraged to reveal any type of bias in the research article papers with respect to other similar authors, that may raise the question of bias in the submitted research work. Hence, a clear statement of examples of the types of competing interests the article must be declared should include the following as examples:

• Financial ties
• Academic commitments
• Personal relationships
• Political or religious beliefs
• Institutional affiliations

There is a need to consider a wide range of competing interests that the individual processes as to whether they unduly influence his or her responsibilities in the publication process. Journals must articulate examples and definitions of what competing interests should be declared, moving beyond just financial conflict of interest. Because routine monitoring or investigation is not possible, journals rely on the disclosure of facts. This places an additional burden on the declarer to report thoroughly and accurately. It also implies that journals should ask about conflicts of interest in such a way that relevant conflicts of interest are likely to be reported. Journals have different rules for dealing with conflicts of interest and conflict of interest disclosures, and these must be communicated to all parties involved in the publication process.