Conflict of Interest Statements for Natural Resources for Human Health

Definition of Conflict of Interest
A conflict of interest (COI) arises when authors, reviewers, or editors have interests that could unduly influence their responsibilities. These conflicts could be financial, personal, intellectual, professional, political, or religious in nature.

Authors

Disclosure of Interests: Authors must disclose all potential conflicts of interest that could influence the outcomes or interpretations of their manuscript. This includes but is not limited to, financial interests such as honoraria, educational grants, membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest, and paid expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements.

Financial Support: Authors should identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the manuscript and briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Acknowledgment of Contributions: Authors should acknowledge all individuals and organizations that have contributed substantially to the work but are not authors and disclose any potential conflicts of interest related to these contributions.

Mitigating COI: If a potential conflict of interest is identified, authors must indicate how it was managed or mitigated.

Reviewers
Impartiality: Reviewers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that could bias their review of a manuscript. If a reviewer feels unable to be impartial, they should notify the editor and recuse themselves from the review process.

Confidentiality: Reviewers must treat the manuscript as confidential and must not use the information for their benefit or the benefit of others or to disadvantage or discredit others.

Integrity: Reviewers must provide an objective and constructive review, avoiding personal criticism of the author(s).

Editors
Disclosure: Editors who make final decisions about manuscripts must have no personal, professional, or financial involvement in any of the work they are handling.

Decision Making: Editors should recuse themselves from handling manuscripts if they have conflicts of interest related to the articles under consideration. This may include relationships with authors, companies, or institutions connected to the work.

Transparency: Editors should ensure transparency in the process by publicly disclosing any conflicts of interest related to the manuscripts they handle, and by publishing corrections if conflicts are found after publication.

Institutional Responsibilities
Policy Adherence: Natural Resources for Human Health expects all participants in the publication process to adhere to these conflict of interest policies to maintain integrity and trust in the scientific process.

Conflict Management: The journal will manage disclosed conflicts of interest by seeking advice from the editorial board, consulting with independent experts, or other means as necessary to ensure that decisions are fair and unbiased.

Public Disclosure
Conflicts of interest and funding sources will be disclosed in the published article. If an undisclosed conflict is discovered after publication, a correction or retraction will be published as appropriate.

These guidelines ensure that the publication process for Natural Resources for Human Health remains transparent, fair, and unbiased, maintaining the trust of the scientific community and the public.