Competing Interest

Authors are required to disclose any interests—directly or indirectly related to the submitted work—that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research or its interpretation. Interests arising within the three years prior to the commencement of the work (including research conduct and manuscript preparation) must be reported. Interests outside this three-year window should also be disclosed if they could reasonably be viewed as affecting the submitted work. Full disclosure ensures a complete and transparent process, enabling readers to form their own judgments about potential bias. Such disclosure does not imply that financial relationships with sponsoring organizations or compensation for consultancy are inappropriate.

Interests to be considered and disclosed include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Funding: Research grants from funding agencies (including grant numbers) and/or research support (e.g., salaries, equipment, supplies, reimbursement for symposia, and other expenses) from organizations that may gain or lose financially through publication of the manuscript.

  • Employment: Recent (during the research project), current, or anticipated employment by any organization that may gain or lose financially as a result of publication. This includes multiple affiliations where applicable.

  • Financial interests: Stocks or shares in companies (including holdings of spouse and/or children) that may gain or lose financially; consultation fees or other remuneration from such organizations; patents or patent applications whose value may be affected by publication. As no fixed threshold determines when a financial interest becomes significant, a practical guideline is: "Any undeclared financial interest that could embarrass the author were it to become publicly known after publication."

  • Non-financial interests: Interests beyond financial ones that could introduce bias, such as professional interests, personal relationships, personal beliefs, editorial or advisory board positions, management roles, writing or consulting for educational purposes, expert witness activities, mentoring relationships, and similar.

Disclosure Requirements by Article Type

Primary research articles and review articles (which present expert syntheses of evidence) both require a disclosure statement. Other article types—such as editorials, book reviews, and comments—may also require a disclosure statement depending on their content. If uncertain, authors should consult the Editor-in-Chief.

Additionally, funding information (as a potential conflict of interest) must be disclosed upon submission via the peer review system. This information will automatically be added to the CrossMark record but will not appear in the manuscript itself. Under the "Summary of Requirements" below, funding should be included in the "Declarations" section.

Summary of Requirements

The above information must be summarized in a statement and included in a section titled "Declarations" placed before the reference list. Other declarations to be included in this section are: Funding, Conflicts of interest/Competing interests, Ethics approval, Consent, Data and/or Code availability, and Author contributions.

If any of this information already appears elsewhere in the manuscript (e.g., in Materials and Methods), it should be repeated in the Declarations section.

Sample Statements

Below are examples of wording that authors may revise and customize as needed. When all authors share the same conflicts (or none) and funding, a single blanket statement is sufficient.

Funding (heading)

  • Partial financial support was received from [...]

  • The research leading to these results received funding from [...] under Grant Agreement No. [...]

  • This study was funded by [...]

  • This work was supported by [...] (Grant numbers [...] and [...])

If no funding:

  • The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.

  • No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this manuscript.

  • No funding was received for conducting this study.

  • No funds, grants, or other support was received.

Conflicts of interest / Competing interests (heading)

  • Financial interests: Author A has received research support from Company A. Author B has received a speaker honorarium from Company W and owns stock in Company X. Author C is a consultant to Company Y.
    Non-financial interests: Author C is an unpaid member of committee Z.

  • Financial interests: The authors declare they have no financial interests.
    Non-financial interests: Author A is on the board of directors of Y and receives no compensation.

  • Financial interests: Author A received a speaking fee from Y for Z. Author B receives a salary from association X, where s/he serves as Executive Director.
    Non-financial interests: none.

  • Financial interests: Authors A and B declare no financial interests. Author C has received speaker and consultant honoraria from Company M and Company N. Dr. C has also received speaker honorarium and research funding from Company M and Company O. Author D has received travel support from Company O.
    Non-financial interests: Author D has served on advisory boards for Company M, Company N, and Company O.

When authors have nothing to declare, the following statements may be used:

  • The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

  • The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

  • All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

  • The authors have no financial or proprietary interests in any material discussed in this article.

Responsibility and Editorial Authority

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the statements provided in the manuscript (see also Authorship Principles). The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to reject submissions that do not comply with the guidelines described in this section. Nusantara Advanced Scholarly Resources (NASR) expects full adherence to these disclosure standards as part of its commitment to publication integrity.