Conflict of Interest Policy

Conflict of Interest Policy (COI)

Purpose: To ensure transparency and integrity in the publication process by disclosing financial or personal relationships that may bias the research.

Sample Policy:

Conflict of Interest Policy
Authors must disclose any financial or personal relationships that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, or patent applications/registrations.

All authors are required to complete and submit a Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form at the time of manuscript submission. If no conflicts exist, authors should explicitly state:

“The authors declare no conflicts of interest.”

Reviewers and editors must also declare any conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from handling papers where such conflict exists.

Human and Animal Rights Policy

Purpose: To ensure ethical treatment of human and animal subjects according to international standards.

Sample Policy:

Human and Animal Rights
Research involving human participants must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki and must have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board (IRB). A statement including the name of the committee and the approval number must be included in the manuscript.

Research involving animals must comply with international guidelines for animal care and use (e.g., ARRIVE, U.S. Public Health Service Policy, or equivalent). Authors must state the institutional and national guidelines followed and provide the ethical clearance number.

Note: Manuscripts lacking appropriate ethics approval will be rejected.

Informed Consent Policy

Purpose: To ensure that human subjects voluntarily participate in research with full understanding of the study’s purpose and procedures.

Sample Policy:

Informed Consent
Authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained from all human participants involved in the research. In studies involving children or individuals unable to provide consent, consent must be obtained from a legal guardian.

For case reports or any publication that includes identifiable images or personal information, explicit written consent to publish must be obtained.

A statement confirming informed consent should be included in the manuscript, for example:

“Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.”