TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Overview

• What conflicts of interests are Authors required to declare?
• Financial Interests
• Non-financial
• How should authors make this declaration?

Overview

Sage follows COPE and ICMJE guidance on the declaration of conflicts of interest by authors, reviewers, and editors. A conflict of interest is defined as any direct or indirect interest that might influence the reading, assessment of or conducting of the research reported in the submission. Any interests within a five-year period prior to beginning the research are considered relevant, although authors must disclose interests outside this time frame if they may have influenced the research. 

What conflicts of interests are Authors required to declare?

Authors are required to disclose any direct or indirect interests that relate to their submission to any Sage journal so that the editor, reviewers and readers may be able to make informed judgements about any potential bias in the research process, writing or publication. The following interests may present a conflict and should be declared upon submission: 

Financial Interests

• Grants from a funding agency, a commercial entity or any type of payment to authors from organisations that are likely to benefit financially from the research 
• Employment with or affiliation to an organisation that has an interest in the research and/or is likely to benefit from its publication and dissemination 
• Stocks, shares, patents or patent applications or other forms of financial holdings that are likely to benefit from the publication and dissemination of the research 
• Consulting fees, reimbursement or any other payments made to authors for conducting the research 
• Close relatives who may financially benefit from the publication and dissemination of the research 

Non-financial

• Affiliation to an organisation that will have an interest in the outcome such as members of a research advisory board, steering or advisory committees, associations or honorary affiliations 
• Membership of organisations or scientific societies that undertake advocacy work 
• Ideology, beliefs, thoughts, faith relevant to the research topic 
• Activism or other advocacy work related to the research  
• Political leanings or legal action relevant to the research or its potential outcome  
• Research competition, previous personal disagreements, close working relationships with editors, editorial board members 
• Editorial responsibilities or membership of the editorial board of the journal 

How should authors make this declaration?

Your declaration of conflicting interests it should be added under the heading ‘Declaration of conflicting interests’ after any Acknowledgments and before Funding, Notes and References. Please see the submission guidelines for more information. If there are no conflicting interests, we’ll publish this statement: ‘The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article’.

In your Contributor Agreement you will be asked to certify that:

• All financial support is acknowledged in your article.
• Any commercial or financial arrangements related to your article have been discussed with your Editor, who will advise whether details should be declared.
• You have not signed an agreement with any sponsor that might compromise the impartial reporting of data.

Submissions will be evaluated fairly and will not necessarily be rejected when any conflicting interests are declared. If a relevant conflict that was not declared by authors becomes apparent at any time during the peer review or publishing process, the Editor reserves the right to reject the submission. Sage will follow COPE guidelines for any conflicts that come to light post-publication.