Competing Interests Policy

JLSC is committed to transparent and bias-free publications as much as is possible. To that end, all authors, reviewers and editors are required to declare any interests that could appear to influence or compromise the validity of the publication. This requirement is designed to ensure academic rigor and foster readers' trust in the information presented.

A conflict of interest must be declared if there is any reason why the information or the interpretation of information being presented may have been influenced by a personal or financial relationship with other organisations or individuals, or if these relationships could be reasonably perceived by other people as having compromised objectivity. All authors, editors, and reviewers should declare any competing interests that they may have as early as possible.

Examples of competing interests:

  • receipt of payment, in any form, from an organisation or individual related to the subject matter
  • commercial interests, such as ownership of stocks or shares in organisations directly related to the subject matter
  • receipt of grants or funding
  • membership on relevant boards
  • related patents or applications for patents
  • gifts
  • known relationships that would hinder impartiality (e.g., colleagues, family, mentor, previous supervisor/student).
  • political, religious or ideological interests

Competing interests should be declared to cover at least the previous 5 years. This is a minimum requirement, and individuals must declare if they have had a previous relationship with an individual or  organisation relevant to the submission that could still be deemed to influence decision-making.

For Authors

Please place the competing interests section at the end of the manuscript, immediately before the reference list. The authors’ initials should be used to denote which competing interest applies to whom. For example:

“TW completed paid consultancy work for [company name] as part of the data acquisition for this study. BH has minority shares in [company name], which partly funded the research grant for this project. SM is a member of the editorial board for [journal name], which is on a voluntary basis. All other authors have no competing interests."

 If there are no competing interests, please add the below statement:

“The authors declare that they have no competing interests.”

For Reviewers

If you have any competing interests, please list them in the text box available on your reviewer page. For example:

"I was previously employed by the laboratory that collected this data."

If you do not have competing interests, please add the below statement:

"I have no competing interests to declare."