The journal, in accordance with the guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), requires the explicit, complete, and truthful disclosure of any conflict of interest by authors, reviewers, members of the editorial team, and members of the editorial board involved in the submission, evaluation, editorial decision, or publication of a manuscript.

For the purposes of this journal, a conflict of interest shall be understood as any personal, professional, institutional, academic, commercial, or financial relationship, circumstance, or connection that may influence, or may reasonably appear capable of influencing, the preparation, evaluation, editorial decision, or publication of a manuscript. The existence of a conflict of interest does not in itself imply improper conduct, nor does it automatically determine that a manuscript is inadmissible. Its disclosure is intended to safeguard transparency and the independence of scholarly and editorial judgment.

Researching a topic because it is considered relevant, useful, or pertinent within one’s own field of work does not in itself constitute a conflict of interest, nor does having a trajectory, specialization, or academic interest in a given subject. A conflict of interest arises when there is a connection with the object being analyzed, with the expected results, or with benefits that could derive from publication, in such a way that the independence of judgment may be affected or may reasonably appear to be affected.

Conflicts of interest include, among others, the following cases: analyzing, evaluating, or academically defending a product, methodology, platform, device, program, intervention, work, or development of one’s own authorship; reviewing one’s own work; participating in the evaluation or editorial decision of a manuscript in relation to which one has a close personal or professional relationship with any of the authors; or presenting the results of research funded by a party directly interested in the outcome of the study. Thus, for example, if research on the ecological impact of industrial waste in a territory is funded by the company that owns the facility involved, there is a conflict of interest that must be expressly disclosed. This does not necessarily mean that the results are false, but it does mean that there is a relevant relationship that may affect, or may appear capable of affecting, the independence of judgment.

The conflict of interest disclosure must be made at a specific and separate stage of the editorial process, before publication, and must be formulated clearly, sufficiently, and understandably. The journal will expressly include conflict of interest disclosures in published works in a consistent and visible manner.

The editorial management, or the higher body designated by the journal for this purpose, shall be responsible for managing the application of this policy, reviewing the disclosures submitted, and adopting the relevant editorial measures in each case.

If an undisclosed conflict of interest is detected during the editorial process, the journal may request clarifications, require a new disclosure, remove the person involved from the process, reassign the review, or adopt any other measure necessary to safeguard the impartiality of the procedure. If an undisclosed conflict of interest is identified after publication, the journal must formally correct the editorial record in accordance with its procedures and with good editorial practices.

Editors must disclose their own conflicts of interest, especially when they publish in the same journal, and must refrain from participating in the evaluation, reviewer selection, editorial decision, or any other action related to the affected manuscript.

When there is no conflict of interest, this must be expressly declared.

Where to Add the Statement

The statement must be placed immediately after the contribution statement.

If a conflict of interest is disclosed and this disclosure could compromise anonymity during the peer review process, the editorial team will remove the statement in order to protect anonymity and will add it again once the reviews have been completed.

Examples According to the Situation

Authors

Conflict of Interest Statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest related to this manuscript.

Conflict of Interest Statement: A conflict of interest is declared because the research was funded by an entity directly linked to the object analyzed in this study.

Conflict of Interest Statement: A conflict of interest is declared because the manuscript analyzes a method, product, platform, or development authored by the author.

Conflict of Interest Statement: A conflict of interest is declared because the text examines or reviews a work authored by the author.

Reviewers

Reviewers must report whether they have any conflicts of interest in relation to reviewing a manuscript.

Editorial Team

The journal’s editorial team must declare whether it has any conflict of interest when processing a submission.