FOR AUTHORS:

Public trust in the scientific process and the credibility of published articles depend in part on how transparently conflicts of interest are handled during the planning, implementation, writing, peer review, editing, and publication of scientific work. The potential for conflict of interest and bias exists when professional judgment concerning a primary interest (such as patients' welfare or the validity of research) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain). Perceptions of conflict of interest are as important as actual conflicts of interest.

Financial relationships (such as employment, consultancies, stock ownership or options, honoraria, patents, and paid expert testimony) are the most easily identifiable, the ones most often judged to represent potential conflicts of interest and thus the most likely to undermine the credibility of the journal, the authors, and of science itself. Other interests may also represent or be perceived as conflicts, such as personal relationships or rivalries, academic competition, and intellectual beliefs.

Authors should avoid entering in to agreements with study sponsors, both for-profit and non-profit, that interfere with authors’ access to all of the study’s data or that interfere with their ability to analyse and interpret the data and to prepare and publish manuscripts independently when and where they choose. Policies that dictate where authors may publish their work violate this principle of academic freedom. Authors may be required to provide the journal with the agreements in confidence.

Purposeful failure to report those relationships or activities specified on the journal’s disclosure form is a form of misconduct.

Authors can the following web page of ICMJE for more information regarding conflicts of Interest-

http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/author-responsibilities--conflicts-of-interest.html

Conflicts include the following:

1. Financial - funding and other payments, goods and services received or expected by the authors relating to the subject of the work or from an organization with an interest in the outcome of the work
2. Affiliations - being employed by, on the advisory board for, or a member of an organization with an interest in the outcome of the work
3. Intellectual property - patents or trademarks owned by someone or their organization
4. Personal - friends, family, relationships, and other close personal connections
5. Ideology - beliefs or activism, for example, political or religious, relevant to the work
6. Academic - competitors or someone whose work is critiqued

FOR REVIEWERS:

Reviewers should inform EJMR regarding any conflicts of interest on recognising any conflict of interest either at the time of receiving the article or at the time of reviewing the article, if it was not obvious at the time of receiving the article.

FOR EDITORS:

EJMR has in place systems for managing editors' conflicts of interest as well as those of their staff, authors, reviewers and editorial board members.

Editors publish lists of relevant interests (financial, academic and other kinds) of all editorial staff and members of editorial boards (updated periodically).

(Source- COPE, ICMJE, DOAJ, WAME)