Conflicts of Interest

Transparan! requires authors, reviewers, and editors to disclose relationships or interests that could influence, or reasonably appear to influence, their professional judgment. Disclosure supports transparency and does not automatically imply wrongdoing or prevent publication.

Authors

Authors must disclose relevant financial and non-financial interests when submitting a manuscript and update their disclosures if circumstances change. Examples include employment, consultancy payments, share ownership, funding, personal relationships, academic competition, and institutional affiliations relevant to the research.

A “Conflicts of Interest” statement must be included in the manuscript. If no relevant conflicts exist, authors should state:

“The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest related to this study.”

Research funding must be reported separately, including the funder’s role in study design, data collection, analysis, manuscript preparation, and the decision to submit the work.

Reviewers

Reviewers must inform the editor of any relationship or interest that could compromise an impartial assessment. These may include recent collaboration, close personal relationships, professional rivalry, or financial interests connected to the manuscript. Reviewers should decline or withdraw from an assignment when a conflict could affect their judgment.

Editors

Editors must disclose relevant conflicts and withdraw from handling affected manuscripts. Submissions involving an editor, editorial board member, or a close collaborator will be assigned to an independent editor. The person with the conflict must not influence reviewer selection, manuscript assessment, or the publication decision.

Handling Undisclosed Conflicts

Concerns about undisclosed conflicts may be reported through the contact details on the journal’s Contact page. The editorial office will assess the evidence and request clarification from the parties concerned.

Depending on the findings and their effect on the work, the journal may request an updated disclosure, reassign a reviewer or editor, suspend manuscript processing, or take further editorial action. If an omission is identified after publication, an appropriate correction or other notice may be issued.