Conflict of Interests |
Declaration of conflicting interests
Though this policy our journal requires a conflict-of-interest statement or conflict of interest disclosure from any submitting or publishing author.
In accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) statement, “conflicts of interest comprise those which may not be fully apparent and which may influence the judgment of author, reviewers, and editors. They have been described as those which, when revealed later, would make a reasonable reader feel misled or deceived. They may be personal, commercial, political, academic or financial. “Financial” interests may include employment, research funding, stock or share ownership, payment for lectures or travel, consultancies and company support for staff” (COPE, 2017)
As many scholars, researchers and professionals may have potential conflicts of interest, that could have an effect on their research, LUMEN journals require a formal declaration of conflicting interests enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated published article.
Manuscripts will be evaluated fairly and will not necessarily be rejected when any competing interests are declared.
Here are some examples of conflicts of interest:
Having received fees for consulting.
Having received research funding.
Having been employed by a related company.
Holding stocks or shares in a company which might be affected by the publication of your paper.
Having received funds reimbursing you for attending a related symposium, or talk. (Note: it is not expected that details of financial arrangements be disclosed when a competing interest is declared.)
Any other interests which the reasonable reader might feel has affected the research author may also wish to declare them.
Author obligations regarding conflicting interests
At the earliest stage possible, authors should disclose any conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or their interpretation in the manuscript. Prior submission, author will be asked to certify that: 1) All forms of financial support, including pharmaceutical company support (if the case), are acknowledged in the author’s contribution; 2) Any commercial or financial involvements that might present an appearance of a conflict of interest related to the contribution are disclosed in a covering letter accompanying the contribution and all such potential conflicts of interest will be discussed with the Editor as to whether disclosure of this information with the published contribution is to be made in the journal; 3). That the author/s have not signed an agreement with any sponsor of the research reported in the contribution that prevents them from publishing both positive and negative results or that forbids you from publishing this research without the prior approval of the sponsor; 4) That they have checked the manuscript submission guidelines to see whether the journal requires a Declaration of Conflicting Interests and have complied with the requirements specified where such a policy exists.
That you have checked the manuscript submission guidelines to see whether the journal requires a Declaration of Conflicting Interests and have complied with the requirements specified where such a policy exists.
- How do I make a declaration?
If you are submitting to or publishing your manuscript in a journal which requires you to make a Declaration of Conflicting Interests, please include such a declaration at the end of your manuscript after any Acknowledgements and prior to the Funding Acknowledgement, Notes (if relevant) and References, under the heading 'Declaration of Conflicting Interest'. If no conflict exists, please state that 'The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest'.
Potential conflict of interest for reviewers
The LUMEN publishing attempts to prevent conflicts of interest by not inviting reviewers from the same institutions as authors. However, previous relationships or places of employment may not be obvious, therefore the invitation to
potential reviewers, the editors will ask that they decline to review if they know, or guess the identity of the author.
You may find the following useful resources to refer to for more information on Conflict-of-Interest policies, existing codes of practices and more general good practice in relation to journal publication ethics:
