Veterinary Evidence strives to uphold the principles of best practice in scholarly publishing, aiming to be transparent about any potential conflicts of interest that may exist during the publication process or after publication.
Authors must declare any potential conflicts of interest at submission, and editors and peer reviewers are prompted to declare any potential conflicts during the editorial process. Editorial Board members are required to declare any competing interests upon invitation to joining the board and annually during their tenure.
What is a conflict of interest?
The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE, 2024) states that:
The potential for conflict of interest and bias 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). Perceptions of conflict of interest are as important as actual conflicts of interest.
Conflicts of interest exist when a situation could be perceived to have an undue influence on a work in progress. Conflicts may be financial, non-financial, professional, contractual, or personal.
Authors, editors, and peer reviewers must ask themselves if there is anything that may bias their judgement when performing the task required of them and to disclose this at the earliest opportunity.
Disclosing interests at submission
It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that all authors have been asked to disclose any conflicts of interest and to collate those disclosures into a statement that accompanies the submission.
Any interest or relationship, financial or otherwise, that might be perceived as influencing an author's objectivity is a potential source of conflict of interest. These must be disclosed when directly relevant or directly related to the work that the authors describe in their manuscript. These include relevant financial, personal, political, or intellectual interests that may bias the work. Conflicts of Interest do not necessarily mean that an author’s work has been compromised.
If the authors have no conflict of interest to declare, they must also state this at submission.
In addition, authors must disclose how the article is funded, with an explanation of the role of the sponsors in article preparation.
All disclosures of potential conflicts of interest made by authors are reviewed by the Associate Editor.
It is always better to disclose any potential conflict so that the editors can determine whether it necessitates disclosure on the article.
Disclosing interests during the editorial process
When Associate Editors are assigned to handle a submission, they are asked to declare any conflicts of interest. Associate Editors should ask themselves if there is anything that may bias their judgement when performing the task required. If Associate Editors are employed at the same institution as any of the authors or have been a recent collaborator (defined as people who have co-authored a paper or were a principal investigator on a grant with any of the authors within the past 48 months) or are related to the author, then they should declare it. If Associate Editors are unsure about a potential competing interest that may prevent them from being the Associate Editor, then they should raise this with the editorial office.
Veterinary Evidence operates a double anonymised peer review process, so peer reviewers are not aware of authors’ identities. Nonetheless, peer reviewers must declare any potential conflicts of interest or to decline the request to review should they not have the relevant expertise.
If reviewers can identify the author(s), they must notify the editorial office and also state whether any of the authors are colleagues, relatives or recent collaborators (defined as people who have co-authored a paper or were a principal investigator on a grant with any of the authors within the past 48 months), in which case they must declare it and decline the request to review the paper.
For more information see our Guidelines for reviewers.
Interests coming to light after publication
If a conflict of interest comes to light after publication, the journal will consider what actions need to be taken, including a possible correction or retraction. See our Corrections and retractions policy.
Anyone who suspects an undisclosed interest in relation to an article published in Veterinary Evidence should inform the journal at editorial-office@veterinaryevidence.org.
Editor-in-Chief as an Author
If the Editor-in-Chief submits a paper to Veterinary Evidence, it follows the journal’s standard peer-review process with the following adjustments:
The following statement must be included in the Conflict of Interest section of the submission:
The author is also the Editor-in-Chief of Veterinary Evidence.
If the paper is accepted, the Conflict of Interest statement in the published article will include:
The author is also the Editor-in-Chief of Veterinary Evidence. This paper underwent a rigorous peer-review process, including a minimum of two external reviewers. The identity of the Associate Editor handling the paper was not disclosed to the author, and the final acceptance decision rested with the Associate Editor acting as Editor-in-Chief.
Editorial Board Member as an Author
If an Editorial Board member submits a paper, it follows the standard peer-review process with the following adjustment:
The submission’s Conflict of Interest section must include:
The author(s) is a member of the Editorial Board of Veterinary Evidence.
If the paper is accepted, the published Conflict of Interest statement will include:
The author(s) is a member of the Editorial Board of Veterinary Evidence. This paper underwent a rigorous peer-review process, including a minimum of two external reviewers. The identity of the Associate Editor handling the paper was not disclosed to the author, and the final acceptance decision rested with the Editor-in-Chief.
For an example, see: https://www.veterinaryevidence.org/index.php/ve/article/view/153
Additionally, all author disclosures of potential conflicts of interest are reviewed by the Editor to assess any potential bias.
See our Corrections and retractions policy for more information.
Updated: 12/03/2025