Conflict of Interest and Disclosure Policy

Avicenna Journal of Clinical and Translational Medicine

AJCTM is committed to transparency and editorial independence in scholarly publishing.

All individuals involved in manuscript preparation, review and publication must disclose financial and non-financial relationships that could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, their professional judgment.

1. Financial Conflicts of Interest

Relevant interests may include:

Employment and consultancy relationships
Research grants and industry sponsorship
Honoraria and speaking fees
Shareholding or financial investments
Patents, royalties and licensing interests
Paid expert testimony
Other financial relationships relevant to the work

2. Non-Financial Conflicts

Non-financial interests may include personal relationships, institutional affiliations, professional rivalries, academic competition, advisory positions and other circumstances that may affect independence or create a perception of bias.

3. Author Disclosure Requirements

All authors must disclose relevant relationships and activities during manuscript submission.

The corresponding author is responsible for collecting disclosures from all coauthors and ensuring the manuscript contains an accurate statement.

The Editorial Office may request the ICMJE Disclosure Form or additional clarification where necessary.

Suggested declaration when no conflicts exist

The authors declare no competing financial or non-financial interests relevant to this work.

4. Funding and Sponsor Involvement

All financial and material support must be acknowledged accurately.

Authors should disclose the role of funders or sponsors in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation and the decision to submit for publication.

If funders played no such role, this should be explicitly stated.

Study sponsors must not impose undisclosed restrictions on investigators' access to data or independent reporting of scientifically valid findings.

5. Reviewer Conflicts of Interest

Reviewers must declare relevant competing interests before agreeing to evaluate a manuscript.

Reviewers should decline an assignment when impartiality or confidentiality cannot be appropriately maintained.

6. Editorial and Publisher Conflicts

Editors and editorial staff must disclose relationships that could compromise independent editorial judgment.

Editors with a relevant conflict must not participate in evaluation or decision-making for the affected manuscript.

Submissions from editorial-board members, publisher-associated individuals or close professional collaborators must be assigned to appropriately independent handling editors.

Ownership, institutional influence or the payment of publication charges must not determine editorial acceptance.

7. Management of Disclosed Conflicts

Disclosure does not necessarily disqualify a manuscript from consideration.

AJCTM may manage a relevant conflict through additional disclosure, independent editorial assignment, reviewer replacement, or other proportionate safeguards.

8. Undisclosed Interests

Concerns about incomplete or misleading disclosure will be considered fairly. The Editorial Office may seek additional information from the individuals involved.

Material undisclosed conflicts may result in editorial action, correction of published disclosures, or further investigation where warranted.