A conflict of interest will exist in a certain manuscript when a participant in the process of its writing, review and publication (author, reviewer or editor) has links with activities that may influence their judgment in an inappropriate way, regardless of whether or not said judgment was affected. The most common conflict of interest resides in financial relationships, personal relationships, academic rivalry, or intellectual passion
Peers acting as external reviewers should disclose to editors any conflicts of interest that could skew their views on the manuscript and should excuse themselves from reviewing it if they deem it appropriate.
The editors will be informed of the conflicts of interest of the reviewers so that they can interpret their reports and judge for themselves whether they should disqualify them.
Reviewers should not make use of their reading of the work to further their own interests before the manuscript is published.
When authors submit a manuscript for publication, they have the responsibility to acknowledge and declare their financial connections and any other conflicts of interest that could skew their work.
The editors who make final decisions on the manuscripts may not have financial or personal commitments with any of the authors and works that will judge.
The members of the editorial committee who participate in the final decisions on the manuscripts, must provide an updated description of their own financial interests (which could affect their editorial judgments) and exclude themselves from any decision in which they could have a conflict of interest.
All authors must fill out and submit to the journal the mandatory Disclosure Sheet of Possible Conflicts of Interest of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). This interactive worksheet will help each author to determine individually if they present any conflict of interest