Conflict of Interest Policy

A conflict of interest exists when professional judgment concerning the integrity of research could be influenced by a secondary interest, such as financial, personal, institutional, or professional relationships. Transparency is the key requirement.

Authors

Authors must disclose all financial and non-financial relationships that could be perceived as influencing the work, including funding sources, employment, consultancies, patents, and personal relationships. If there is nothing to disclose, the manuscript should state this explicitly.

Reviewers

Reviewers must decline to review a manuscript if they have a recent collaboration with the authors, work at the same institution, have a financial interest, or have any relationship that could affect objectivity. Reviewers must inform the editor of any potential conflict.

Editors

Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest. Such manuscripts are assigned to another editor. Submissions by editors, editorial board members, or SGN Publisher staff are handled by an independent editor, and the author has no access to the review process.

Undisclosed Conflicts

If an undisclosed conflict is discovered after publication, the journal may publish a correction or take further action under the Retraction and Correction Policy.