Conflict of Interest

Everyone involved in publishing with IJoSPaT - authors, reviewers and editors - must disclose any interest that could reasonably be seen to influence their work.

What counts as a conflict of interest

•           Financial: funding, employment, consultancy, shares, patents or fees related to the research.

•           Personal: family ties, close friendship or personal rivalry with an author.

•           Professional: same institution, recent co-authorship (within the last 3 years), supervisor–student relationships or competing research.

•           Ideological or political interests that may affect objectivity.

Authors declare all funding sources and competing interests in a “Declaration of Competing Interest” statement in the manuscript. If there are none, they write “The authors declare no competing interests.”

Reviewers decline an invitation, or inform the editor immediately, if they have any conflict with the authors or the work, or if they recognise the authors’ identity.

Editors do not handle manuscripts by authors from their own institution, by recent co-authors or by family members; these are reassigned to another editor. Editors’ own submissions follow the rule in the Editor section.

Undisclosed conflicts found after publication are handled under the Post-Publication Discussions and Corrections or Withdrawal & Retraction policy.