Conflict of Interest

Conflicts of interest may be either financial or non-financial. Financial conflicts include direct employment, receipt of consulting or authorship fees, participation in companies, patent authorship, conference funding, and other forms of material benefit. Non-financial conflicts may arise from personal or professional relationships, academic rivalry, intellectual or ideological beliefs, political or religious preferences, or any other connections that could influence the objectivity of the research evaluation.

When submitting a manuscript to the journal, authors are responsible for honestly declaring all potential conflicts of interest – financial or non-financial – that could directly or indirectly affect the results of their work. This includes any relationships with governmental, private, or commercial organisations, institutions, or individuals, as well as any circumstances that could be perceived as a conflict of interest – personal, professional, academic, intellectual, political, or religious.

The editorial office ensures transparency throughout this process. Reviewers who identify a potential conflict of interest are required to inform the editorial office immediately and to refrain from evaluating the manuscript in question. Similarly, the Editor-in-Chief or any editorial board members with a conflict concerning a manuscript (for example, being an author or co-author, having familial or professional ties with the authors, or having a personal interest in the results) do not participate in the decision-making regarding its publication; instead, the decision is made by an independent Deputy Editor-in-Chief or another editorial board member without a conflict.

All declared conflicts of interest are published at the end of the article under the heading “Conflicts of Interest”. If no conflicts exist, the statement will read: “None”.