Conflicts of Interest
Declaring interests that could reasonably be seen to affect editorial judgement.
Author declarations
Authors must declare any financial, personal, or professional relationship that could be perceived to influence the work — including funding sources, employment, consultancies, and patents — or explicitly state that none exist.
Reviewer & editor declarations
Reviewers and editors must declare any competing interest with a submission's authors, institution, or subject matter, and recuse themselves from handling that submission where a genuine conflict exists.
Editor-authored submissions
Where an editor or editorial board member is an author on a submission, that person is excluded from any editorial or review role on that specific submission; a different qualified editor manages the process independently.