A Declaration of Conflicting Interests policy is meant to deliver a formal policy which a journal might be required to have. It is important for a journal to obtain a conflict of interest statement or conflict of interest disclosure from the concerned submitting or publishing author. The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) expresses in its Guidelines on Good Publication Practice (2003) that: “Conflicts of interest tend to occur when authors, reviewers, or editors have interests which are not completely manifested which might have an effect on their discernment/judgement regarding the publication. These conflicts of interests have been outlined as those, “that when they are disclosed afterwards, they could mislead the concerned reader or even make him/her feel being deceived”.
The research work of many scholars, researchers, and professionals could get affected if they have possible conflicts of interest. Therefore, the journals need to have a formal declaration of conflict of interests which would enable a statement to be continued within the paginated published article. Such a possible conflict of interest could occur through the relationships, faithfulness, or rivalries towards particular groups, organizations or interests. All these reasons might affect an individual’s judgements or actions to a great extent. Such matters become sensitive when these conflicts of interests are personal or may result in selfish actions. Therefore, when any competing interests are proclaimed, all the manuscripts adhered to the journal are assessed fairly and are not automatically declined. Instances of conflicts of interests may include the following, however, it is not an exhaustive list:

• Having received fees for consulting.
• Having received research funding.
• Having been hired by a related company.
• Holding stocks or shares in a company that might be affected by the publication of your paper.
• Having received funds reimbursing you for attending related symposia, or talk.

If there are any conflicts of interests that the reader feels could affect your research you may also wish to declare them. (Please note that it is not expected that details of financial arrangements be disclosed when a competing interest is declared.)

9.1. Conflict of Interests

If any conflict of interest occurs or is identified, the editors might need more information from the author that may include the following points:

1. Acceptance of financial support/sponsorship in their contribution.
2. Any commercial or financial indulgence which may provide the presence of a conflict of interest related to the contribution is disclosed in a covering letter accompanying the contribution. All such potential conflicts of interest will be discussed with the editor as to whether the revelation of such an information with the published contribution is to be made in the journal.
3. If they have signed an agreement with any sponsor of the research reported in the contribution that refrains you from publishing both positive and negative results or which forbids you from publishing this research without prior approval of the sponsor.
4. If they have checked the manuscript submission guidelines to make sure whether the journal requires a Declaration of Conflicting Interests and have complied with the requirements specified where such a policy exists. The Authors are required to fill and sign the Copyright and Author Consent Form upon submitting the manuscript.

9.2. Editor Obligations Regarding Conflict of Interests

The editors or guest editors are bound to observe the same obligations who write an editorial for the journal. When you submit or publish your article in a journal which requires you to declare Conflicting Interests, please include such a declaration at the end of your manuscript after any Acknowledgements and prior to the Funding Acknowledgement, Notes (if relevant) and References, under the heading 'Declaration of Conflicting Interest'. If no conflict exists, please state that 'The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest'.

*Please note, a Conflict of Interest Statement will not appear in journals that do not require a declaration of conflicting interests. Where a declaration is required, the disclosure information should be specific and include any financial relationship that all authors of the article have with any sponsoring organization and the for-profit interests the organization represents, and with any for-profit product discussed or implied in the text of the article.