A competing interest (often called a conflict of 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). It may arise for the authors of MSP Journals when they have a financial interest that may influence, probably without their knowing, their interpretation of their results or those of others.

We believe that, to make the best decision on how to deal with a paper, we should know about any competing interests that authors may have, and that if we publish the article readers should know about them too. We are not aiming to eradicate such interests; they are almost inevitable. We will not reject papers simply because you have a conflict of interest, but we want you to make a declaration on whether or not you have competing interests. Please include a declaration of competing interests at the end of the text of your manuscript.
Competing interests can include any of the following examples:

Financial competing interests

Financial competing interests 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 to 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 participation at meetings
• Gifts

Non-financial competing interests

Non-financial competing interests include but are not limited to:

• Acting as an expert witness
• Membership in a government or other advisory board
• Relationship (paid or unpaid) with organizations and funding bodies including nongovernmental organizations, research institutions, or charities
• Membership of lobbying or advocacy organizations
• Writing or consulting for an educational company
• Personal relationships (i.e. friend, spouse, family member, current or previous mentor, adversary) with individuals involved in the submission or evaluation of a paper, such as authors, reviewers, editors, or members of the editorial board of a MSP journal
• Personal convictions (political, religious, ideological, or other) related to a paper's topic that might interfere with an unbiased publication process (at the stage of authorship, peer review, editorial decision-making, or publication)