Guidelines for declaring conflicts of interest
What constitutes a conflict of interest?
A conflict of interest is any action or interest that may influence or appear to influence the impartiality, review or publication process for research or non-research articles submitted to REGEPE Entrepreneurship and Small Business Journal.
Conflicts of interest may arise from financial or non-financial sources, professional or personal motivations. These conflicts can occur within institutions, organisations or other individuals.
It is a requirement of REGEPE that all potential conflicts of interest are declared. This is an integral part of transparent research reporting.
Failure to declare a conflict of interest may result in the immediate rejection of a manuscript. If an undisclosed conflict of interest comes to light after publication, REGEPE will act in accordance with COPE guidelines and issue a public notification to the community.
Please find below some detailed guidelines on the assessment and declaration of conflict of interest for the submission and publication of papers to REGEPE.
What to declare
All individuals involved in the peer review process, including authors, editors, reviewers, and readers, must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that may arise within five years of conducting the research under consideration or preparing the article for publication.
Additionally, any interests that may be considered competing according to the aforementioned definition must be disclosed, even if they occurred outside the five-year period.
Financial Conflicts of Interest
Financial conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Ownership of stocks or shares;
- Paid employment or consultancy;
- Board membership;
- Patent applications (pending or actual), including individual applications or those belonging to the institution with which the authors are affiliated and from which the authors may benefit;
- Research grants (from any source, restricted or unrestricted);
- Travel grants and honoraria for speaking or attending meetings;
- Gifts.
Non-financial Conflicts of Interest
Non-financial competing interests include, but are not limited to:
- Acting as an expert witness
- Membership of a government or other advisory board
- Relationship (paid or unpaid) with organizations and funding bodies, including non-governmental organizations, research institutions or charities
- Membership of lobbying or advocacy organizations
- Writing or consulting for an educational company
- Personal relationships (e.g. friend, spouse, family member, current or former mentor, adversary) with individuals involved in the submission or evaluation of an article Such individuals may include authors, reviewers, editors, or members of REGEPE's editorial board
- Personal convictions related to the topic of an article may also affect the publication process. Examples of such convictions include political, religious, ideological, or other beliefs that could influence the content or presentation of the article
- Please be advised that the submission of previously published versions of the work at scientific events such as congresses, symposia, meetings, and others is an acceptable practice. However, if the congress subsequently publishes the full article, this will be identified as a similar work in the report. In this regard, REGEPE recommends that authors provide the full reference (APA 7th) at the time of submission to indicate that the work has already been published.
Who should declare conflicting interests?
Authors:
At the time of submission, authors must list all competing interests relevant to the research submitted. Examples may include, but are not limited to:
- Names of all funding sources
- Description of the funder's role in the design of the study, collection, analysis and interpretation of the data, writing of the paper, and/or decision to submit for publication
- Whether they have acted as expert witnesses in relevant legal proceedings
- Whether they have served or are currently serving on a committee of an organization that may benefit from the publication of the article
- If they are part of the editorial team (Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editor, Executive Editor, Assistant Executive Editor, Associate Editors, Editorial Policy Committee, National Scientific Editorial Board, Foreign Scientific Editorial Board, Ethics Committee) of the journal to which they are submitting. REGEPE ACCEPTS these members to submit manuscripts to the journal, but they must inform the editor of this condition in the “Comments for the editor” field.
- REGEPE DOES NOT ACCEPT submissions from members of the Board of Directors of the Publisher, i.e. the Board of Directors of the Associação Nacional de Empreendedorismo e Gestão de Pequenas Empresas - ANEGEPE with the exception of members of its Fiscal Council.
Editors and reviewers:
It is the responsibility of editors and reviewers to declare any potential conflicts of interest and, if necessary, to disqualify themselves from involvement in the evaluation of a manuscript.
The following are examples of situations that may necessitate an editor or reviewer's recusal from the peer review process:
- They are employed by the same institution or organization as the author, currently or recently
- They have collaborated with an author, currently or recently
- They have published with an author during the last five years
- They have held fellowships with an author, currently or recently
- They have a financial relationship with the company that funded the research
- They have a personal relationship with an author that prevents them from evaluating the manuscript objectively
Readers:
In accordance with the REGEPE commenting policy, all individuals posting comments on articles published in this journal are required to declare any competing interests (financial or non-financial) at the time of posting.
Editorial Actions and Decisions:
- REGEPE editors must consider all conflicting interests during the review process and ensure that any relevant interests are declared in the published article;
- REGEPE editors will not publish commissioned articles or any other non-research articles if they are aware of a competing interest that, in their judgment, could introduce bias or a reasonable perception of bias;
- REGEPE editors do not consult reviewers who have conflicting interests that, in the opinion of the editors, could interfere with impartial review.
