Disclosure of Financial and Non-Financial Relationships and Activities, and Conflicts of Interest

The potential for conflict of interest and bias exists when professional judgment concerning a primary interest (such as patients’ welfare or the validity of research) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain). 

Financial relationships (such as employment, consultancies, stock ownership or options, honoraria, patents, and paid expert testimony) are the most easily identifiable, the ones most often judged to represent potential conflicts of interest and thus the most likely to undermine the credibility of the journal, the authors, and science itself. Other interests may also represent or be perceived as conflicts, such as personal relationships or rivalries, academic competition, and intellectual beliefs. 

Authors must consider and disclose their relationships and activities when fulfilling their roles in the process of article publication.

When authors submit a manuscript of any type or format authors are responsible for disclosing all relationships and activities that might bias or be seen to bias their work. Each author must sign a copy of the Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form and submit it at the time of manuscript submission. DOWNLOAD Conflict of Interest Form

The ICMJE has developed a Disclosure Form to facilitate and standardize authors’ disclosures. Journal of Ophthalmology encourage our authors to use this form. To use the form: 1. Download the form to your computer;  2. Open the form in Adobe Acrobat Reader, fill it out and then save it to your computer; 3. Submit the form directly to the Journal of Ophthalmology when submitting your manuscript. DOWNLOAD ICMJE Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form