Conflicts of Interest

Our conflict of interest policy applies to all individuals involved in the peer review and decision-making process for submitted manuscripts. This includes the authors, the Editor-in-Chief, the Editors, Editorial Board Members, and Reviewers. The primary goal of this policy is to ensure that all potential conflicts of interest are identified, disclosed, and appropriately managed.

Authors

The corresponding author is required to declare on behalf of all authors any actual or potential conflicts of interest during the submission process. This can be done either in the cover letter or within the field “Comments for the Editor. All papers which are published are also required to have a Conflict of Interest Statement at the end in which all possible and actual conflicts are declared. Possible conflicts of interest include both actual and perceived conflicts. These may arise when an author has personal, professional, financial, or institutional connections that could influence, or appear to influence, the study and its interpretation. For further details on what may constitute a conflict of interest, please consult the ICMJE and EASE guidelines.

Editors

In situations where an Editor — including the Editor-in-Chief — has a conflict of interest regarding a submitted paper, that Editor will be removed from the entire review and decision-making process for that paper. This includes situations where the Editor or Editor-in-Chief has a direct role in the submission or maintains a personal or professional tie to any of its authors.

Editors assigned to a submission are required to inform the Editor-in-Chief immediately if a potential conflict of interest exists. Examples include handling papers from current or former students, current colleagues, recent collaborators, or individuals with whom the Editor holds or has recently held a joint grant. In such cases, a new Editor will be assigned to the paper, and the conflicted Editor will take no further part in the editorial process for that submission.

Reviewers

When assigning reviewers to a paper, the responsible Editor will ensure that selected reviewers do not have a conflict of interest with any of the authors. Any reviewer exclusions specified by the authors will be respected. Reviewers are expected to declare any possible or actual conflicts of interest related to papers they are invited to review, and they must decline to review if such a conflict exists. Conflicts of interest include personal, professional, financial, or institutional relationships with one or more of the authors. A conflict may also arise when the manuscript is closely related to the reviewer’s own current work.

If a reviewer believes that a conflict of interest may exist, they should inform the Editor so that the situation can be assessed and, if necessary, the reviewer replaced for that submission.

Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest

If at any point during the review or production process it is suspected or discovered that a conflict of interest has not been disclosed, please notify the Editorial Office at Laura.Lenz@interpore.org so that we can investigate and take the necessary corrective steps. During this process, we will refer to the COPE guidelines. The investigation may involve contacting the author(s), reviewer(s), or assigned Editor, and, if required, the relevant institution. The review or production process may be put on hold until the matter is fully examined and resolved. Resolution may also require the authors to submit a signed conflict of interest statement.

If an undisclosed conflict of interest is identified after publication, the same investigative procedure will be followed and may result in post-publication actions. These may include issuing a correction or