Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest exists when financial, personal, academic, or institutional relationships could influence, or appear to influence, a person's judgment about a manuscript. Plexus Medical Journal requires authors, reviewers, and editors to disclose such conflicts so that they can be managed openly.

Authors must declare all relevant conflicts of interest, including employment, consultancies, grants, honoraria, patents, shareholdings, and personal or professional relationships that could influence the work. Every article includes a Conflict of Interest statement. If there is none, authors write: "The authors declare no conflict of interest."

Reviewers must decline the invitation, or inform the editor, if they:

• work at the same institution as any of the authors;
• have collaborated or published with any of the authors within the last three years;
• have a close personal relationship or rivalry with any of the authors;
• have a financial interest in the subject of the manuscript.

Editors must not handle a manuscript in which they have a conflict of interest; such a manuscript is reassigned to another editor. A manuscript authored by a member of the Editorial Team is handled by an independent editor, and the author-editor has no access to its review.

Undisclosed conflicts found after submission or publication are handled under the Allegations of Research Misconduct policy and may lead to a correction or retraction.