Public trust in the scientific process and the credibility of published articles are dependent
partially on the fair and transparent handling of conflicts of interest while processes like
planning, implementation, writing, peer review, editing, and publication of scientific work are
going on. A conflict of interest arises when professional judgment about a primary interest (such
as patients’ welfare or the validity of research) might get affected by a secondary interest (such
as financial gain). Discernments of conflict of interest hold the same importance as the actual
conflicts of interest. Financial relationships (such as employment, consultancies, stock ownership
or options, honoraria, patents, and paid expert testimony) are the types of conflicts of interest that
can be spotted easily and directly weaken the credibility of the journal, the authors, and the entire
discipline. However, conflicts can arise due to other causes as well, such as personal
relationships or enmities, academic competition, and intellectual dogmas. Authors need to be
wary while signing any agreement with the study sponsors, whether for-profit or nonprofit, as
such agreements can limit author’s access to the complete study’s data or their freedom to
analyze and interpret the data and present the manuscripts independently according to their own
will.
1. Participants
All people playing a part in the peer-review and publication process i.e., authors, peer reviewers,
editors, and editorial board members of journals, should always keep their individual conflicts of
interest in mind while they perform their roles during the article review and publication and are
liable to openly state the relationships that can be a cause of conflicts of interest.
a. Authors
Authors, while submitting their manuscripts of any given type or format, should ensure that they
disclose all the financial and personal relationships that can lead to conflict or bias later on. The
ICMJE has formulated a Form for Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest for offering standard
Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in
Medical Journals. The ICMJE member journals facilitate authors with this form while disclosing
conflict of interest, and the ICMJE also promotes the practice for the other journals to follow.
b. Peer Reviewers
Reviewers, when checking a manuscript critically, should be interviewed whether they have any
conflicts of interest that can make the review process difficult. Reviewers should openly discuss
with the editors all the possible means of conflicts of interest leading to biased judgement for the
manuscript, and should avoid taking the responsibility of reviewing those manuscripts that
exhibit higher risk of biased judgment. Reviewers should not violate the author’s rights over the
manuscripts and avoid using the manuscript’s content for their own interest.
c. Editors and Journal Staff
Editors who give the final verdict for the manuscripts should refrain from continuing the process
if conflicts of interest exist or relationships leading to potential conflicts regarding the articles
under consideration have been disclosed. Other editorial staff members who play a part in the
editorial decisions must let the editors know their present financial interests or other conflicts
(that might affect the editorial judgments) and should avoid participating in the decision that has
a visible conflict of interest. Editorial staff must never exploit the content of manuscripts for their
personal interest. Editors should release regular disclosure statements about possible conflicts of
interests concerning the obligations of journal staff. Same procedures apply to the guest editors.
2. Reporting Conflicts of Interest
Articles should have, at the time of publishing, statements or supporting documents, such as the
conflict of interest form, proclaiming: – Authors’ conflicts of interest; and – Sources of support
for the work, including sponsor names with descriptions of the role of those sources if any in
study design; collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; report compilation; the decision of
report submission for publication; or a statement affirming no association of the supporting
source; and – evidence of authors’ access to the study data, while highlighting the nature and
extent of access, particularly its on-going nature. For bolstering the above statements or
documents, editors may require the authors of a study having a funding sponsor with a
proprietary or financial interest to get a statement formally signed, such as “I had full access to
all of the data in this study and I take complete responsibility for the integrity of the data and the
accuracy of the data analysis.”
Author Agreement Form
