Conflicts of Interest
A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation
in which a person or organization is involved in multiple
interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest
could involve working against another.
There is no doubt that in scholarly publishing, the credibility
of published articles depend largely on how well a conflict of
interest is handled during the process of writing,
peer-reviewing, and making editorial decisions. As a publisher,
Merit Research Journal has a responsibility to its readers and
to the scientific community to provide a sound, clear and
unbiased scientific results and analyses. It is our considered
view that our readers should be clearly notified of additional
relationships of our authors that could pose a conflict of
interest. Therefore, for readers to assess the data and opinions
presented in our journals, they should be made to be aware of
financial and other interests of our authors that may be at odds
with objective presentation of data or analysis.
All articles should be accompanied by clear disclosures from all
authors of their affiliations, funding sources, or financial
holdings that might raise questions about possible sources of
bias. In this sense, before submitting a paper for publication
consideration, all journals publish by Merit Research Journals
have a policy requiring that each author disclose any financial
interests or connections, direct or indirect, or other
situations that might raise the question of bias in the work
reported or the conclusions, implications, or opinions stated -
including applicable commercial or other sources of funding for
the individual author(s) or for the associated department(s) or
organization(s), personal relationships, or direct academic
competition.
If you find it difficult to declare a conflicting interest, we
would like you to consider this: Will it not embarrass you or
any of your co-authors if it comes out after publication and you
had not declared it?
It is of huge significance for corresponding authors to confirm
whether they or their co-authors have any conflicts of interest
to declare, and to provide details of these.
What is a conflicts of
interest?
A conflict of interest may occur when an author or an author's
employer or sponsor has a financial, commercial, legal, or
professional relationship with other organizations or with the
people working with them that may exert an influence on that
author's research.
A conflict can be actual or potential and as such disclosure in
full is required at the point of submission by the author. All
manuscript submissions to any of journals must include the
disclosure of any and all relationships that could be viewed as
presenting a potential conflict of interest. Once disclosed, the
Journal Editor may use such information for making editorial
decisions and may publish such disclosures if they are held to
be important to readers in judging the manuscript. Additionally,
a decision may be made by the Journal Editor or peer reviewers
not to publish on the basis of any declared conflict.
Personal conflicts of
interest
A list of potential conflicts of interest in relation to the
submitted manuscript could include:
Consultancies
Employment
Grants
Fees & Honoraria
Patents
Royalties
Stock or share ownership
If necessary, please describe any potential conflicts of
interest in a covering letter. All funding sources supporting
the work should also be acknowledged.
Institutional conflicts of interest
Are you aware that your employer has any financial interest in
or a financial conflict with the subject matter or materials
discussed in the manuscript? If 'Yes' then please also provide
additional detail in a covering letter.
Animal Rights Statement
We ensure that published articles comply with the regulations
and guidelines for animal welfare. When a study has to do with
the use of live animals, authors should declare it in the
methodology section of the manuscript that all experiments were
performed in compliance with the applicable laws and
institutional guidelines, and must state the institutional
committee(s) that has endorsed the experiments.
It is crucial that any studies involving the use of animal are
carried out in agreement with relevant policies. The study
should, without any equivocation, be in compliance with the
author’s organizational policy on animal ethics and use, but
where possible details of compliance with international or
national policies should be included.
In circumstances when a study has to do with the use of live
animals, the author should incorporate the following at the
beginning of the 'experimental' section of the manuscript:
1. A declaration that the experiment, transportation and care of
the animals were done in conformity with the applicable laws and
institutional guidelines; this should entail details of the
organizations whose guidelines have been followed, and where
possible the institutional/local ethics committee which has
given authorization for the study.
2. A concise explanation of the procedures used for the handling
and care of animals. In certain circumstances, Editors may
request extra information from the author. The National Centre
for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in
Research (NC3Rs) has
produced the ARRIVE guidelines. Authors are advised to use these
guidelines when preparing a manuscript for submission to any of
our journals.
Human Rights Statement
Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed
upon without informed consent. When seeking for information,
patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers, must not be
published unless the information is vital for scientific
purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written
informed consent for publication. In cases where a study
involves the use of live human subjects, the author should
incorporate in the methodology of the manuscript a statement
that the research is approved by an appropriate institutional
review board (IRB) and complies with all relevant laws and
institutional guidelines, and also state the institutional
committee(s) that have approved the experiments.
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