Conflict of Intrest
According to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors uniform declaration of competing interests, authors should disclose four types of information:
- Their associations with commercial entities that provided support for the work reported in the submitted manuscript (the time frame for disclosure in this section of the form is the lifespan of the work being reported).
- Their associations with commercial entities that could be viewed as having an interest in the general area of the submitted manuscript (the time frame for disclosure in this section is the 36 months before submission of the manuscript).
- Any similar financial associations involving their spouse or their children under 18 years of age.
- Non-financial associations that may be relevant to the submitted manuscript.
DMJ believes that to make the best decision on how to deal with a manuscript the journal editor should know about any competing interests that authors may have.
We are not aiming to eradicate competing interests as they are almost inevitable. We will not reject papers simply because authors have a competing interest, but these will be declared on the published paper. All authors and corresponding authors must download and complete a copy of the ICMJE COI disclosure form and send a copy to the board.