All competing interests — financial, personal, professional — must be declared by authors, reviewers, and editors.

Authors

At submission, every author discloses all financial relationships (consultancies, stock holdings, patents, paid advisory roles, expert testimony) within the past three years that are relevant to the work. Non-financial conflicts (close professional or personal relationships, advocacy positions) are also disclosed. The disclosure is published with the article.

Reviewers

Reviewers must decline manuscripts in which they have a material conflict — including direct competition, recent collaboration with the authors, or financial interest in the outcome. When in doubt, declare and let the editor decide.

Editors

Editors recuse themselves from manuscripts where they have a conflict; the manuscript is reassigned to an independent handling editor.

Examples

• An author is a paid consultant for a chemical manufacturer whose product is the subject of the manuscript — declare.
• A reviewer co-authored a paper with the corresponding author within the past three years — decline.
• An editor's institution receives unrestricted research support from a sponsor whose funding underlies the manuscript — recuse.