Conflict of Interest Policy

Guided by the Association of American Medical Colleges, The Council of Scientific Editors and the World Association of Medical Editors, Conflict of Interests in scientific publications is defined as any financial or personal considerations that have compromised or have an appearance of compromising the professional judgement of the researcher reporting the research. These can include any financial or non-financial interest affecting the objectivity and influence the actions of the researcher/author/reviewer/editor involved in a manuscript inappropriately.

Our publication thus asks authors to state all conflicts of interests related to their work. These must be included in the “conflict of interest” section of the manuscript. In the event that the author does not have any conflicting interests, it must be included in the article.

During the review process, if the editor or reviewer identify any conflict of interest, they can ask for further information and inform the publisher which might result in their name being excluded from the review team of that particular manuscript.

Conflict of Interest related to financial issues;

The following are issues most liable to financial conflict of interest but are limited to them;

• Receiving any monetary gains such as reimbursements, fees, funding or other benefits now or in the future from any organization that may gain/loss from publication of the manuscript.
• Receiving any monetary gains such as reimbursements, fees, funding or other benefits from any institution/individuals that have applied for patents related to the information/research published in the manuscript.

Conflict of Interest related to non-financial issues:

• Any conflicts in relation with religion.
• Intellectual or academic conflicts.
• Any conflicts related to the beliefs, ideologies or personal opinions.

Note: All submitted publications must be produced in a responsible manner complying to ethical policies. Authors working on sponsored trials must mention them under conflict of interest during submission.

The conflict of interest policy ensures transparency and objectivity in all processes involving the publication of a manuscript.