Conflicts of Interest (COI)

Conflicts of Interest arise when issues outside of research influence the neutrality of the research content. Any reviewer or referee who has conflicts of interest that may stem from collaboration, competition, financial obligations, ideological or philosophical differences, or any form of association with the author or their competitor must immediately notify the editor of your conflicts of interest and decline working or being involved with the manuscripts. 

Any material disclosed to the reviewer, even briefly, must be kept confidential and should not be used as a reference for their future endeavors without the author's consent. Invited referees who decline to work on the manuscript due to conflicts of interest must not use it to their advantage without the author's approval.  

Authors

All authors and co-authors must disclose a potential conflict of interest, such as employment, consultancy fees, research contracts, stock ownership, patent licenses and permits, advisory connections, etc. when submitting their manuscripts. This information must be in the conclusion if the article is finally accepted for publication.

Reviewers

To guarantee no disputes during the review process: When there is an author conflict of interest, editors should choose a guest editor. Editors need to make sure that there are no conflicts of interest between reviewers and authors. Before judging an article, reviewers should contact the editorial office to disclose any potential conflicts of interest. However, they will be considered when evaluating the referees' recommendations. Minor conflicts do not automatically disqualify a reviewer from providing feedback on an article.

Editors

If an editor has COI (financial or otherwise) for a manuscript that has been submitted, they should refrain from making any editorial decisions or participating in the editorial process. In such cases, an editor may have a COI and should have defined protocols for handling it if a paper is submitted from their academic department or institution. When editors submit their work to their journals,

A staff member in the editorial office should be in charge of the paper. The editor/author should abstain from discussions and decisions regarding it.