Conflict of Interest and Funding Disclosure

Purpose

The XERON Journal of Medical Research (XJMR) is committed to transparency in research, peer review, editorial decision-making, and scholarly publication.

All authors, reviewers, editors, Editorial Board members, journal staff, and publisher representatives must disclose relationships, activities, or interests that could influence—or reasonably appear to influence—the conduct, interpretation, review, editorial handling, or publication of scholarly work.

A competing interest does not necessarily imply improper conduct. Appropriate disclosure enables editors, reviewers, and readers to evaluate the work with full knowledge of relevant circumstances.

Definition of a Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest, also referred to as a competing interest, exists when an individual or organisation has financial, professional, academic, institutional, personal, intellectual, or other interests that may affect, or reasonably appear to affect, objective judgment.

Conflicts may arise during:

• study design;

• data collection;

• statistical analysis;

• interpretation of findings;

• manuscript preparation;

• peer review;

• editorial decision-making;

• publication; or

• post-publication assessment.

COPE defines competing interests broadly and recommends that journals maintain clear public procedures for conflicts involving authors, reviewers, editors, editorial boards, journals, and publishers. (Publication Ethics)

Financial Interests

Financial competing interests may include:

• employment or paid appointments;

• consultancies;

• advisory-board membership;

• honoraria;

• speaker fees;

• research grants;

• travel support;

• accommodation or conference sponsorship;

• stock or share ownership;

• stock options;

• patents or patent applications;

• royalties;

• paid expert testimony;

• ownership of a relevant company;

• paid medical writing or editorial support;

• equipment, medication, software, or materials supplied by an organisation; and

• other direct or indirect financial benefits.

Authors should disclose financial relationships relevant to the submitted work and any relationship that readers could reasonably consider relevant to its interpretation.

Non-financial Interests

Non-financial competing interests may include:

• personal relationships;

• professional rivalry;

• academic competition;

• institutional loyalty;

• supervisory or mentoring relationships;

• political, religious, or ideological commitments;

• leadership positions in professional organisations;

• membership of advocacy groups;

• involvement in developing the intervention, instrument, guideline, product, or policy being evaluated;

• participation in related litigation or regulatory proceedings;

• access to confidential information; and

• strongly held intellectual positions directly related to the manuscript.

The absence of financial payment does not necessarily mean that no competing interest exists.

Responsibilities of Authors

Every author must disclose all relevant financial and non-financial interests.

The corresponding author is responsible for:

• obtaining a declaration from every co-author;

• entering complete disclosure information during submission;

• ensuring that declarations are consistent across the title page, submission metadata, author forms, and manuscript;

• updating the journal if circumstances change during review or production; and

• confirming the accuracy of the final published declaration.

Each author remains individually responsible for the completeness and accuracy of their own disclosure.

Author Declaration

Every manuscript must contain a Conflict of Interest statement.

Where no conflict exists

Authors should use:

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no financial or non-financial competing interests related to this work.

Where a conflict exists

Authors should provide a specific declaration:

Conflict of Interest: Author AB has received research funding and speaker honoraria from [Organisation]. Author CD serves as an unpaid adviser to [Organisation]. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.

Authors should not use vague wording such as:

Conflicts are available on request.

All relevant interests should be stated directly.

Time Period for Disclosure

Authors should report relationships and activities that are relevant to the submitted work, including those that occurred during the planning, conduct, analysis, and reporting of the study.

Earlier or continuing relationships should also be disclosed when a reasonable reader could consider them relevant to the manuscript.

Where uncertainty exists, authors are encouraged to disclose the relationship and allow the editor to determine its relevance.

Funding Disclosure

All sources of financial and material support must be reported.

The funding statement should identify:

• full name of the funding organisation;

• grant or award number, where applicable;

• recipient of the funding;

• provision of equipment, medication, software, laboratory materials, statistical support, or other resources;

• medical-writing or editorial assistance;

• payment of publication-related costs; and

• the funder’s role in the research and publication process.

In-kind support should be disclosed even when no direct payment was made. COPE guidance specifically recommends transparency about support such as administrative assistance, literature-search support, medical writing, or supplied research materials. (Publication Ethics)

Role of the Funder

Authors must state whether the funder participated in:

• study conception or design;

• protocol development;

• participant recruitment;

• data collection;

• data management;

• statistical analysis;

• interpretation of results;

• preparation of the manuscript;

• selection of the journal;

• decision to submit for publication; or

• approval of the final manuscript.

Funder had no role

Use:

Funding: This study was supported by [Funder] under grant number [Number]. The funder had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or the decision to submit the article for publication.

Funder had an active role

Use:

Funding: This study was supported by [Funder] under grant number [Number]. The funder contributed to [describe the specific role]. The authors retained responsibility for data interpretation and the decision to submit the manuscript.

No external funding

Use:

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

Sponsor Access to Data

For sponsored research, the manuscript should explain:

• whether authors had full access to the data;

• whether the sponsor controlled data analysis;

• whether the sponsor reviewed the manuscript;

• whether the sponsor could prevent or delay publication; and

• who made the final decision to submit the work.

Authors should not enter agreements that prevent independent access to study data or restrict their ability to publish scientifically valid findings.

Research and Editorial Support

Authors must disclose assistance received from:

• professional medical writers;

• language editors;

• statisticians;

• data analysts;

• research consultants;

• manuscript-development services;

• graphic designers;

• artificial-intelligence systems; or

• commercial research organisations.

The declaration should identify:

• the person or organisation providing support;

• the nature of the assistance;

• the source of payment; and

• whether the contributor qualifies for acknowledgment or authorship.

XERON Research Services

XERON Research Services and XJMR operate under the same parent organisation, XERON Medical Research. To protect editorial independence, any author who has received assistance from XERON Research Services must disclose this relationship at submission.

The disclosure should state the type of assistance provided, such as:

• research methodology support;

• statistical analysis;

• scientific writing;

• language editing;

• reference formatting;

• table or figure preparation; or

• manuscript formatting.

Suggested statement:

Editorial Support Disclosure: The authors received [describe the service] from XERON Research Services. This assistance had no influence on reviewer selection or the journal’s editorial decision.

For manuscripts supported by XERON Research Services:

• staff involved in providing the service must not handle the manuscript editorially;

• the submission must be assigned to an independent editor;

• reviewers must be selected independently;

• the service provider must not have access to confidential editorial discussions;

• acceptance must not be promised or implied; and

• the manuscript must undergo the same review process as other submissions.

Use of XERON Research Services does not guarantee peer review, acceptance, accelerated publication, or a favourable editorial decision.

Reviewer Conflicts of Interest

Before accepting a review invitation, reviewers must disclose any relationship that could affect their independence.

A reviewer should ordinarily decline where they:

• work in the same department or institution as an author;

• have recently collaborated with an author;

• are currently supervising or being supervised by an author;

• have a close personal relationship with an author;

• have a financial interest in the study outcome;

• are directly competing with the authors;

• contributed to the research;

• reviewed substantially the same manuscript for another journal;

• hold a strong undisclosed position concerning the intervention or topic; or

• cannot provide an impartial assessment.

Reviewers must not contact authors directly about the submitted manuscript.

Where a potential conflict is uncertain, the reviewer should describe it confidentially to the editor, who will decide whether the review may proceed.

Editor and Editorial Board Conflicts

Editors and Editorial Board members must disclose interests that may affect manuscript handling.

An editor must not participate in the evaluation of a manuscript where:

• the editor is an author or contributor;

• an immediate colleague or close relative is an author;

• the manuscript originates from the editor’s department;

• the editor recently collaborated with an author;

• the editor has a financial interest in the subject;

• the editor is involved in a related commercial, academic, or legal dispute; or

• another relationship could reasonably affect editorial independence.

The manuscript must be reassigned to an independent editor.

COPE recommends that journals manage conflicts involving editors and clearly disclose when an editor or board member publishes in their own journal and has been excluded from the normal editorial process. (Publication Ethics)

Manuscripts Submitted by Journal Editors

An editor, Editorial Board member, journal employee, or publisher representative may submit a manuscript to XJMR, but must not:

• select reviewers;

• access confidential reviewer identities;

• participate in editorial discussions;

• influence the handling editor;

• make the final decision; or

• access information unavailable to ordinary authors.

The published article should include a statement such as:

Author AB is a member of the Editorial Board of XJMR and was not involved in the peer review or editorial decision for this manuscript. The submission was handled independently.

Publisher Conflicts of Interest

The publisher must not interfere with the acceptance or rejection of individual manuscripts.

Commercial, organisational, reputational, or financial interests must not influence:

• reviewer selection;

• editorial assessment;

• requests for revision;

• publication decisions;

• corrections;

• expressions of concern; or

• retractions.

Where the publisher has a direct interest in a manuscript, the matter should be managed by an editor with sufficient independence.

Institutional and Organisational Interests

Institutions, hospitals, societies, professional bodies, advocacy groups, or sponsors may also have competing interests.

A manuscript should disclose where:

• the study evaluates a programme operated by the authors’ institution;

• the institution owns the product being studied;

• the institution may gain financially or reputationally from the results;

• an organisation involved in the work funded the study;

• authors hold decision-making positions in the relevant organisation; or

• the findings may affect an institutional policy or commercial arrangement.

Editorial Management of Disclosed Interests

After reviewing a declared competing interest, the editor may:

• proceed with normal review;

• request clarification;

• add a published disclosure;

• assign an independent handling editor;

• exclude a reviewer or editor;

• request independent statistical analysis;

• seek specialist ethical advice;

• require additional transparency regarding the funder’s role; or

• decline the manuscript where the conflict cannot be managed appropriately.

Disclosure does not automatically result in rejection.

Undisclosed Conflicts Identified Before Publication

If a possible undisclosed conflict is identified during review or production, XJMR may:

1. suspend editorial processing;

2. contact the corresponding author;

3. request declarations from all authors;

4. request supporting documents;

5. consult reviewers or independent editors;

6. update the disclosure statement;

7. repeat parts of the review where independence may have been affected; or

8. reject the manuscript where serious concealment or manipulation is established.

Authors will ordinarily be given an opportunity to respond.

Undisclosed Conflicts Identified After Publication

Where an undisclosed interest is identified after publication, the journal will assess:

• whether the interest should have been disclosed;

• whether the omission was accidental or deliberate;

• whether peer review or editorial handling was affected;

• whether the findings or interpretation remain reliable; and

• whether readers require a formal notice.

Possible actions include:

• updating the conflict-of-interest statement;

• publishing a correction;

• repeating independent review;

• issuing an expression of concern;

• referring the matter to an institution; or

• retracting the article where the undisclosed conflict has materially compromised the reliability of the work.

COPE advises journals to maintain procedures for conflicts discovered both before and after publication and to correct the published record when necessary. (Publication Ethics)

Confidentiality

Conflict-of-interest disclosures and related editorial correspondence will be handled confidentially during review.

Relevant declarations will be published with accepted articles.

Information may be shared with:

• independent editors;

• ethics advisers;

• institutions;

• funders;

• regulatory bodies; or

• other journals

where this is reasonably necessary to evaluate a serious concern.

Author Responsibility

By submitting a manuscript, all authors confirm that:

• their declarations are complete and accurate;

• relevant financial and non-financial interests have been disclosed;

• all funding and in-kind support have been identified;

• the role of the funder has been described;

• editorial or research assistance has been disclosed;

• declarations will be updated if circumstances change; and

• they will cooperate with any editorial enquiry.

Failure to disclose a relevant relationship may result in correction, rejection, institutional notification, expression of concern, or retraction, depending on the nature and effect of the omission.

Required Statements in Every Article

Every published article should contain separate headings for:

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no financial or non-financial competing interests related to this work.

or a complete description of the interests.

Funding

The authors received no specific funding for this work.

or the full funding details and role of the funder.

Editorial Support

Add this heading where relevant:

The authors received [type of assistance] from [person or organisation], funded by [source].

Contact

Questions or concerns regarding competing interests or funding disclosures should be submitted to:

Editorial Office
XERON Journal of Medical Research
Published by XERON Medical Research

Email: majidhurmaz@yahoo.com
Website: xeronclub.com/ojs2/index.php/XJMR
Country: Pakistan

Correspondence should include:

• manuscript or article title;

• submission number or DOI;

• description of the relationship or concern;

• supporting evidence, where available; and

• sender’s contact details.