Policies on Conflict of Interest

All authors must declare or disclose, in the manuscript, any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscripts.  These include (but not limited to) employment, stock in or ownership of an entity connected to a product described in the paper, paid expert testimony, consultancy for the company or competing companies, honoraria, travel support or patent rights to a drug, instrument or equipment, or benefits derived from the use thereof.  Conflicts of interest also include personal, academic or intellectual relationships.  Where no conflict of interest exists, a written statement should be made to that effect.  To standardize the conflict of interest disclosure, the Journal recommends that authors copy the generated disclosure statement(s) from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest.  Reviewers must also declare their conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the agencies, companies or institutions connected to the manuscripts they review.

For research involving human subjects, authors must express their compliance to Good Clinical Practices (GCP) guidelines.  Certificate of Approval (COA) issued by relevant Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Ethics Committee (EC) must be submitted along with the manuscripts.  In the absence of the COA, the authors have to convince the Editorial Board that the study did not violate any ethical concerns on human subject research.

Research involving animals must comply with institutional, national or internationally accepted standards, and where available, should obtain prior approval from Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.  The manuscript must include the name of the approval ethics committee and the standards that were followed.  When conducting research in animals, the researchers can observe the fundamental principles outlined in the Basel Declaration and the guideline provided by the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS).