Policy

Reviewers must give an honest and unbiased assessment. They must declare any competing interest to the editor before they accept a review. The journal follows the COPE guidance on conflicts of interest.

Examples of competing interests

• A recent or current collaboration, co-authorship, or shared project with an author.
• The same institution, or a supervisory, family, or close personal link with an author.
• A rivalry with an author, or strong disagreement with the authors.
• A financial interest in the topic, or an interest in a competing project or publication.
• A strong personal, political, or ideological position that could affect the review.

What reviewers do

• Tell the editor about the interest in the review invitation or as soon as it arises. If in doubt, tell.
• Decline the review if the interest could reasonably affect the judgement.
• Do not take a review in order to delay or to benefit from a manuscript.

What editors do

The editors judge whether the interest is a problem, and may keep the reviewer, remove the reviewer, or add another. If an interest is found after a review is done, the editors may disregard the review and seek another. Reviewers who hide an interest may be removed from the reviewer pool.

Related

Reviewer Selection · Reviewer Guidelines

Questions

Write to the editorial office through the Contact page.