Competing Interests

We are committed to transparent and bias-free research. To ensure that all publications are as open as possible all authors, reviewers and editors are required to declare any interests that could appear to compromise, conflict or influence the validity of the publication. This process is designed to reinforce the readers' trust in the research data.

Please declare any competing interests that you have. A conflict of interest must be declared if there is any reason why the information or the interpretation of information being produced may be influenced by a personal or financial relationship with other organisations or individuals, or if these relationships could be reasonably perceived from other people as having influencing objective data or decision-making. Everyone involved in the submission, editorial processing, peer review and publication should declare any competing interests that they may have as early as possible.

Competing interests can take the form of both financial and non-financial relationships. The declaration of such relationships helps to ensure that academic rigour is maintained and that publications cannot be accused of undue bias or misinformation.

Examples of competing interests:

• receipt of payment, in any form, from an organisation or individual related to the subject matter
• ownership of stocks or shares in organisations directly related to the subject matter
• known relationships that will hinder impartiality (e.g. colleagues, family, mentor, previous supervisor/student)
• political, religious, ideological interests

Individuals (authors, reviewers and editors) must declare if they have had a previous relationship with someone/an organisation relevant to the submission that could be deemed to influence decision making.