Competing Interests

A competing interest is anything that could reasonably be seen to influence judgement about the work. Having one is not wrong and does not prevent publication. Failing to declare it is the problem, because it denies readers the context they need to weigh what they are reading.

Authors

Every author declares for themselves, covering the [36 months] before submission. Declare:

• Financial — funding, grants, employment, consultancies, honoraria, speaker fees, paid expert testimony, travel support, shares, patents, patent applications and royalties.
• Commercial relationships — any interest held by a company with a stake in the outcome, including sponsors of the study and manufacturers of a product being assessed.
• Non-financial — unpaid roles in organisations with a position on the subject, advocacy, political or religious commitments bearing directly on the work, and personal or professional relationships that could be seen to affect it.
• Academic — a direct competitor’s work, or strong public positions taken on the question under study.

Declarations are published in full on the article. “The authors declare no competing interests” is a complete and acceptable answer where it is true. Leaving the section out is not.

Funder involvement

State each funder, the grant number, and what role, if any, the funder had in the design, conduct, analysis, interpretation, writing or the decision to submit. Where the funder had none, say so. We do not publish studies where a sponsor holds a right of veto over publication.

Reviewers

Reviewers declare before accepting an invitation, against the tests set out in the reviewer guidelines. Where an interest is disclosed, the editor decides whether the review can stand; that disclosure is never passed to the authors.

Editors

Editors declare their interests on appointment and again for any manuscript they handle. An editor with an interest in a submission passes it to another editor and sees neither the reviews nor the decision.

Manuscripts authored by a NexOneMed editor are handled entirely by an editor outside that author’s institution, who selects the reviewers and makes the decision independently. The handling editor is named on the published article.

Interests found after publication

If an undeclared interest comes to light after publication, we put it to the authors, publish a correction to the declaration, and consider whether the omission casts doubt on the findings themselves. Where it does, the matter is handled under the corrections and retractions policy.

How to declare

Declarations are made in the editorial manager at submission, and repeated in a Competing Interests section at the end of the manuscript. If you are unsure whether something counts, declare it and let the editor judge, or ask the editorial office first.