Author Competing Interest Guidelines

Authors should declare any competing interest in a cover letter with their submission. Where a third party is involved, authors should describe the role of the third party in all aspects of the research (research question/design/collection/analysis/writing/submission). Examples of competing interests include, but are not limited to:

1. Financial
   • Have ownership in an equity or enterprise that would benefit from the publication
   • Sit on a committee of an organization that would benefit from the publication
   • Would directly/indirectly receive income as a result of publication
   • Have received funding to conduct the research
2. Personal
   • Editor is a family member, professional/business partner, or former Ph.D. student
   • Editor is collaborator in past 48 months
   • Editor is co-editor in past 24 months

Authors should report a competing interest if a reasonable person with all relevant facts would question their impartiality.