Q: Disclosure of conflicts of interest: what do journals expect from authors?

Answer: A conflict of interest exists whenever a financial, professional, or personal relationship has the potential (even if unrealized) to influence how you conduct, report, or interpret your research. The key word is potential. You do not need to have acted on the conflict for it to require disclosure. Journals are interested in transparency, not in judging your motives. Conflicts of interest fall into two broad categories:

1. Financial conflicts: These include funding from companies with a stake in your findings, stock ownership, paid consultancies, speaker honoraria, patents, and royalties related to the subject matter of your manuscript.
2. Non-financial conflicts: These cover personal relationships, academic rivalries, ideological commitments, and institutional affiliations that could color your work.

Both types must be considered when preparing your disclosure statement, and both are taken seriously by editors and peer reviewers.

Why Disclosure Matters

Undisclosed conflicts of interest have damaged careers and triggered retractions. More broadly, they erode public trust in science. Journals require disclosure not because they assume bias, but because readers deserve the information to weigh findings for themselves. Transparent disclosure also benefits you as an author. It demonstrates scientific integrity, positions you as a trustworthy researcher, and removes the risk of a damaging revelation later in the review or post-publication process.

Common Sources of Conflict That Authors Overlook

Many authors focus exclusively on direct industry funding and miss other reportable relationships. Below is a reference table of commonly overlooked conflict sources:

Conflict Source	Example
Advisory board membership	Serving on a pharma company's scientific advisory board
Travel funding	Conference travel paid for by an industry sponsor
Institutional conflicts	Your employer holds a patent on the technology you studied
Editorial roles	Reviewing for a journal that competes with your target journal
Personal relationships	Co-authoring with a close family member or romantic partner
Pending grant applications	A pending application whose success depends on favorable findings
Equity in private companies	Shares in a startup developing the intervention you evaluated

If you are uncertain whether a relationship qualifies, the standard rule applies: when in doubt, disclose.

How to Write Your Disclosure Statement

A well-constructed disclosure statement is specific, complete, and honest. Vague language such as "some funding was received from industry" is insufficient. Follow these steps:

1. List every author individually. Each co-author must disclose their own conflicts. Do not write a single blanket statement for the entire group unless all authors genuinely have identical circumstances.
2. Name the entities explicitly. Identify companies, organizations, or individuals by their full legal name, not abbreviations or euphemisms.
3. Specify the nature of the relationship. State whether the relationship involves funding, employment, consultancy, equity, patents, or something else.
4. Include the relevant time window. Most journals request disclosures covering the past three to five years. Check the specific journal's policy and apply it consistently.
5. State the absence of conflicts clearly if applicable. If you have nothing to disclose, write "The authors declare no conflicts of interest". Do not leave the field blank, as that can be mistaken for an oversight.
6. Update your disclosure if circumstances change. If a new conflict arises between submission and acceptance, notify the editorial office immediately.

Navigating Journal-Specific Requirements

Disclosure requirements vary considerably across journals and publishers. The table below summarizes the policies of major publishing frameworks:

Publisher / Framework	Disclosure Form	Time Window*	Where It Appears
ICMJE (general medicine)	Standardized online form per author	36 months	Published alongside the article
Nature Portfolio	Competing interests section in manuscript	No fixed window stated	End of manuscript
Elsevier journals	Declaration of interests statement	Varies by journal	After acknowledgements
Journals following APA style	Conflict of interest disclosure form	12 months	Author note
PLOS journals	Competing interests section	No fixed window stated	Methods or end of article

* Refers to the period for which you should disclose potential conflicts of interest. For example, if the time window is 36 months, you don’t need to disclose a paid consultancy completed 10 years ago. If there is no fixed window, disclose all potential conflicts of interest regardless of when they actually took place.   Always read the author instructions for your target journal before drafting your statement. Do not assume that a format accepted elsewhere will satisfy a different editorial office.

Handling Disclosures When Submitting as Part of a Team

Multi-author papers introduce coordination challenges. The corresponding author typically submits disclosure information on behalf of all co-authors, but this does not reduce individual accountability. Establish a clear process within your team:

1. Circulate a COI questionnaire to all authors before submission.
2. Collect completed responses in writing, not verbally.
3. Consolidate the responses into a single disclosure section, clearly attributing each conflict to the relevant author by name.
4. Retain all individual responses in your records in case an editor requests them.
5. Confirm with all authors that the consolidated statement accurately reflects their disclosures before the manuscript is submitted.

What Happens If a Conflict Is Discovered After Publication?

Editors and publishers take undisclosed conflicts seriously. Depending on the severity and whether the omission appears intentional, consequences can range from publishing a correction notice to issuing a full retraction. In some fields, institutional investigations and funding-body sanctions may follow. The reputational damage from a post-publication disclosure failure is almost always greater than any perceived cost of transparency at the time of submission.

Final Checklist Before You Submit

Review this list in the days before you hit the submit button:

1. Every author has completed a COI review, not just the corresponding author.
2. Financial and non-financial conflicts have both been considered.
3. Company and organization names are spelled out in full.
4. The relevant time window matches the journal's stated policy.
5. Authors with no conflicts have explicitly declared this in writing.
6. The disclosure statement is included in the manuscript file in the location specified by the journal.
7. All authors have reviewed and approved the final disclosure statement.