THE GUIDANCE ON COMPETING INTERESTS

A competing interest exists when professional judgment concerning a primary interest (such as patients' welfare or the validity of research) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain or personal rivalry).

We believe that readers should be told when competing interests exist. Competing interests are almost inevitable and we do not aim to eradicate them. But we do want to publish whether or not you have one.

Currently, we restrict our requests to financial interests, and answering yes to any of the following questions means that you have a competing interest that you should declare.

1. Have you in the past five years accepted the following from an organization that may in any way gain or lose financially from the results of your study or the conclusions of your review, editorial, or letter?

Reimbursement for attending a symposium?
A fee for speaking?
A fee for organizing education?
Funds for research?
Funds for a member of staff?
Fees for consulting?

2. Have you in the past five years been employed by an organization that may in any way gain or lose financially from the results of your study or the conclusions of your review, editorial, or letter?

3. Do you have any patent or hold any stocks or shares in an organization that may in any way gain or lose financially from the results of your study or the conclusions of your research article, review, editorial, or letter?

4. Do you have any other competing financial interests? If so, please specify them in your article.

If you do have competing interests please add a statement to your submission.

It might, for example, state:

Competing interests: RS has been reimbursed by Shangri La Products, the manufacturer of elysium, for attending several conferences; TD has been paid by Shangri La Products for running educational programs and has his research registrar paid for by the company; JS has shares in the company.

If you have none, please add a statement to your article:

Competing interests: None.

Although we are restricting ourselves to asking directly about competing financial interests, you may want to disclose other sorts of competing interest that would embarrass you if they became generally known after publication. The following list provides some examples.

(a) A close relationship with, or a strong antipathy to, a person whose interests may be affected by publication of your paper.

(b) An academic link or rivalry with somebody whose interests may be affected by publication of your paper.

(c) Membership of a political party, affiliation with a government agency, anti-doping organization, national Olympic Committee or special interest group whose interests may be affected by publication of your paper.

(d) A deep personal or religious conviction that may have affected what you wrote and that readers should be aware of when reading your paper.

If you want to declare such a competing interest then please add it to your statement.