A competing interest for a scholarly journal is anything that interferes with, or could reasonably be perceived as interfering with, the full and objective presentation, review, or publication of research findings, or of articles that comment on or review research findings. Competing interests can be financial, professional, or personal; hidden or declared; actual or perceived.
Competing interests can be held by authors, their employer (whether academic institution, commercial company, or other), sponsors of the work, reviewers, and editors. They can arise in a relationship with an organization or another person.
The Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences (MJMS) is committed to making all scientific and medical research freely accessible; it is equally important to ensure that the research is as free from bias as possible, and is seen to be so.
The editors of a MJMS may decide not to publish papers, either original research articles or any others, when we believe the competing interests are such that they may have compromised the work or the analyses or interpretations presented in the paper.
Authors must declare to the editors of MJMS all competing interests with people or organizations that might reasonably be perceived as relevant and that arose within five years of the commencement of the work described or, if not original research, of the article being written. The editors will make the final decision, if necessary after discussion with peer reviewers, about whether any declared competing interests are likely to have substantially compromised the work. No decision on papers submitted to MJMS will be made until the competing interests of all authors are declared. We will publish all relevant positive and negative statements of competing interests.
Examples of competing interests include, but are not limited to:
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Financial
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Stock ownership
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Paid employment
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Board membership
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Patent applications (pending or actual)
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Research grants (from whatever source)
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Travel grants and honoraria for speaking or participation at meetings
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Gifts
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Personal
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Membership of lobbying organizations
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Relationship with editors, or the editorial board of a MJMS, or with possible reviewers of the paper
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Professional
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Acting as an expert witness
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Membership of a government advisory board
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Relationship with organizations and funding bodies
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Writing for an educational company
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If authors know that organizations or institutions that have provided support for the work or for authors' salaries have received any grants from other institutions or companies that have been involved or have an interest in the work described, such information should be declared. Institutions should also declare any relevant patents, both pending and actual. The role of all funding sources in the work should be described, including whether they were involved in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Reviewers should consider whether any of the above applies to them and declare any such competing interests. If they feel they cannot review a paper because of such a competing interest, they should tell us. They should also declare any association with the authors of a paper.
Both professional and academic editors should consider whether any of the above competing interests are relevant to them and the manuscript under consideration. If so, they should decline to handle the paper.