Conflict of Interest

Definition of Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest occurs when personal, financial, or professional affiliations could influence or appear to influence an individual's objectivity in the manuscript submission, review, or editorial decision-making processes. Conflicts of interest can arise from various sources, including but not limited to:

  • Financial relationships.
  • Personal relationships or competing interests.
  • Academic competition.
  • Institutional affiliations.

GJNMID is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity and transparency in the publication process. To ensure unbiased and objective research dissemination, all participants in the publication process, including authors, reviewers, and editors, must disclose any potential conflicts of interest.

Authors

  1. Awareness and Disclosure:

    • Authors should be aware of potential conflicts of interest. In such cases, authors must take responsibility for the accuracy of their paper while informing readers with an appropriate statement in the Acknowledgments section.

  2. Types of Conflicts:

    • Financial: Includes funding, 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.
    • Affiliations: Includes being employed by, on the advisory board for, or a member of an organization with an interest in the outcome of the work.
    • Intellectual Property: Includes patents or trademarks owned by the authors or their organization.
    • Personal: Includes relationships, such as those with friends, family, or other close personal connections.
    • Ideology: Includes beliefs or activism, for example, political or religious, relevant to the work.
    • Academic: Includes competitors or someone whose work is critiqued.

  3. Handling Conflicts:

    • Declared conflicts of interest will be considered by the editor and reviewers and included in the published article.

Peer-Reviewers

  1. Disclosure and Recusal:

    • Reviewers are asked at the time of invitation to disclose any conflicts of interest that could affect their review. If a conflict exists, reviewers must recuse themselves from the review process.

  2. Bias and Confidentiality:

    • Reviewers must disclose any potential biases to the editors and should not use knowledge of the work they’re reviewing before its publication to further their own interests.

Editors and Journal Staff

  1. Decision-Making and Recusal:

    • Editors making final decisions on manuscripts must recuse themselves from editorial decisions if they have conflicts of interest related to the articles under consideration. Other editorial staff must also disclose current financial interests or other conflicts and recuse themselves when a conflict exists.

  2. Use of Information:

    • Editorial staff must not use information gained through working with manuscripts for private gain.

  3. Disclosure Statements:

    • Editors should publish regular disclosure statements about potential conflicts of interest related to their own commitments and those of their journal staff. Guest editors must follow these same procedures.

Ethical Standards

GJNMID adheres to the ethical guidelines and best practices established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We are committed to upholding these standards to ensure the credibility and reliability of the research we publish.

By disclosing and managing conflicts of interest, GJNMID ensures that the research we publish is credible and free from undue influence.