Conflict of Interest and Financial Disclosures (Specific to Reviewers)
Bio-QI requires reviewers to disclose conflicts of interest before accepting a manuscript, in line with the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers.
What must be disclosed
- A financial stake in the outcome, such as funding, consultancy, shareholding or an advisory role with an organisation affected by the work
- Personal or professional ties to the authors, including collaborators, family members, and students or supervisors
- A shared institutional affiliation that could affect objectivity
- Competing research on the same question
Managing conflicts
Where a real conflict exists, the reviewer should decline the invitation, not accept it and disclose afterwards. If a conflict comes to light during the review, the reviewer must withdraw at once and tell the editor.
Confidentiality
Information obtained through peer review must not be used for personal or professional advantage before the work is published.
General financial relationships
Reviewers with continuing consultancy or other paid relationships with industry should tell the editorial office when they join the reviewer panel.
Non-compliance
Concealing a real conflict of interest may lead to removal from the reviewer panel and a report to the reviewer's institution.
See also the Conflict of Interest Policy.
