IJEMR follows COPE and ICMJE principles requiring transparent declaration and appropriate management of financial and non-financial conflicts of interest.

A conflict of interest exists when a relationship, activity or personal interest could reasonably be perceived as influencing—or appearing to influence—professional judgement, research conduct, peer review or editorial decision-making.

Disclosure does not necessarily prevent publication or participation. Failure to disclose a relevant conflict may, however, result in rejection, correction, retraction or other editorial action.

1. Authors

All authors must disclose relevant financial and non-financial relationships or activities connected to the submitted work.

Examples include:

• research grants, funding or sponsorship;

• employment, consultancy, advisory roles or board membership;

• paid speaking, travel support, gifts or honoraria;

• stock ownership, patents or commercial interests;

• personal, professional or institutional relationships;

• political, ideological or advocacy interests relevant to the work; and

• involvement of a sponsor in study design, data collection, analysis, manuscript preparation or publication decisions.

Authors must include a Conflict of Interest Statement in their manuscript.

Where no conflict exists, authors should state:

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Authors must also disclose all funding sources and describe the funder’s role, if any.

2. Reviewers

Reviewers must disclose conflicts before accepting an invitation and decline review where an independent assessment is not possible.

Conflicts may include:

• current or recent collaboration with an author;

• employment at the same institution;

• personal, academic, financial or professional rivalry;

• supervisory, mentoring or close collegial relationships; or

• a financial or ideological interest in the manuscript’s findings.

Reviewers must not use confidential manuscript information for personal, commercial or professional benefit.

3. Editors and Editorial Board Members

Editors and Editorial Board members must disclose relevant interests and recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where a conflict exists.

An editor must not make decisions on a manuscript authored by:

• themselves;

• a family member or close personal associate;

• a current or recent collaborator;

• a current or recent student, supervisor or mentee; or

• a person from the same department or institution where impartiality could reasonably be questioned.

Such submissions will be assigned to an independent editor. The conflicted editor will not access reviewer selection, reports, discussion or the final decision beyond what is necessary for system administration.

4. Journal, Publisher and Advertising Interests

Advertising, sponsorship, commercial partnerships and journal revenue must not influence editorial decisions, peer review, acceptance, rejection or publication timing.

Any sponsored content must be clearly labelled and separated from editorial content. Advertisers must not receive confidential information about authors, reviewers or manuscripts.

5. Disclosure and Management

The Editor will assess disclosed interests and determine an appropriate management approach, which may include:

• publication of a disclosure statement;

• assignment to an independent editor or reviewer;

• exclusion from the review or decision process;

• additional independent peer review; or

• refusal of the submission or role where the conflict cannot be adequately managed.

6. Undisclosed Conflicts

If an undisclosed conflict is identified before publication, review or publication may be paused while the matter is investigated.

If identified after publication, IJEMR may publish a correction or expression of concern, retract the article where justified, or take other steps necessary to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record.