1. Definition of Conflict of Interest

• Financial conflicts include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, research funding, or patent applications.
• Non-financial conflicts may include personal relationships, academic competition, political or religious beliefs, or strong intellectual passion.
  Not all relationships constitute conflicts, but full disclosure ensures transparency and helps readers assess potential sources of bias.

2. Authors’ Responsibilities

• All authors must complete and submit the ICMJE Disclosure Form for Potential Conflicts of Interest at the time of manuscript submission. Submissions without a completed form will not enter the peer-review process.
• Authors must clearly declare in the manuscript:
  • Whether conflicts of interest exist or not.
  • Sources of research funding and the role of sponsors in study design, data collection, analysis, manuscript preparation, or publication decisions.
  • Any use of professional writers or third-party editorial assistance, with disclosure of funding sources.
• Investigators must disclose potential conflicts to study participants (where applicable) and state in the manuscript that they have done so.
• If sponsors are involved, authors may be asked to provide a signed statement confirming full access to the data and responsibility for the integrity of the analyses.

3. Reviewers’ Responsibilities

• Reviewers must disclose any actual or potential conflicts before accepting a review assignment and recuse themselves when conflicts exist.
• Examples include: institutional affiliations with authors, direct collaborations, or financial interest in the subject matter.
• Reviewers must explicitly declare whether conflicts exist or not; silence is not acceptable.
• Information obtained during peer review must be kept strictly confidential and not used for personal or professional advantage.

4. Editors and Editorial Staff Responsibilities

• The Editor-in-Chief ensures that submissions authored by editors or board members are handled independently to guarantee objectivity.
• Editors and editorial board members must not participate in decisions on manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest.
• Editorial staff involved in manuscript handling must provide regular disclosures of relevant financial or non-financial interests.
• Information obtained during editorial work must never be used for personal gain.
• The scientific independence of editorial decisions is always maintained, free from commercial or institutional considerations.

• 5. Transparency in Publication

• Relevant COI disclosures will be published alongside accepted manuscripts when considered important for readers’ judgment.
• If undeclared conflicts are identified post-publication, the journal will take corrective measures, including publishing corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions, in line with COPE flowcharts.

• 6. Enforcement

• Failure to disclose conflicts of interest may result in manuscript rejection, article retraction, notification to authors’ institutions or funders, and restrictions on future submissions.