A conflict of interest exists when a person's judgement about a manuscript could be influenced, or could reasonably be seen to be influenced, by a financial, professional or personal interest. PatternIQ Mining (PIQM) requires authors, reviewers and editors to declare such interests.
What counts as a conflict of interest
- Financial interests: funding, employment, consultancies, paid expert work, shares, patents or other intellectual property
- Institutional interests: working at the same institution as an author
- Professional interests: recent collaboration or co-authorship, supervision, or direct competition
- Personal interests: family ties, close friendship or personal disputes
Authors
Every manuscript must contain a "Conflict of Interest" statement that lists all interests that could be seen as influencing the work. If there are none, the statement should read:
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
A "Funding" statement must name every source of funding and say what part, if any, the funder played in the design of the study, the analysis, the writing of the manuscript or the decision to publish. If the work received no specific funding, this should be stated.
Reviewers
Reviewers must decline an invitation, and tell the editor, when they have a conflict of interest with the authors or with the subject of the manuscript. Reviewers who discover a conflict during a review must inform the editor at once.
Editors and editorial board members
Editors do not handle manuscripts written by themselves, by members of their family, by recent collaborators or by colleagues at their own institution, or manuscripts in which they have a financial interest. Such manuscripts are assigned to an independent editor, and the editor concerned takes no part in the review or the decision. See Peer Review Policy.
Undisclosed conflicts
If an undisclosed conflict of interest comes to light, the journal follows the relevant COPE guidance. This may lead to rejection of a submission or, for a published article, to a correction or retraction. See Corrections and Retractions.