Conflict of Interest
A conflict of interest arises when authors, reviewers, and editors have interests that are not clearly visible and that subsequently impact their judgement on what is published. The following steps are taken to ensure the review process is free of any impeding interests.
Reviewers: Editors should select reviewers are free of conflict of interests with the authors. If any conflict of interest becomes apparent, a new faculty reviewer should be chosen.
Authors: All authors and co-authors are required to disclose any potential conflicts, which include, but are not limited to employment, consulting fees, stock ownership, etc., when submitting their manuscript.
Editors: All editors should ensure that they are free of conflicts of interests before making any sort of editorial decisions on a manuscript. Upon the submission of a manuscript from an editor, it is ensured that the editorial team does not consist of the editor and is not involved in any discussions or decisions pertaining to the manuscript.