Conflict of Interest

MEDICA (International Medical Scientific Journal) is committed to ensuring objectivity, transparency, fairness, and independence throughout the research, editorial, peer-review, and publication processes. The journal expects all authors, reviewers, editors, and other parties involved in scholarly publishing to disclose any relationships or circumstances that may influence, or reasonably appear to influence, their professional judgment.

A conflict of interest occurs when financial, professional, institutional, personal, academic, or other relationships may influence, or appear to influence, the conduct, evaluation, interpretation, or reporting of research. Conflicts of interest may be actual, potential, or perceived and must be disclosed to ensure transparency and maintain the credibility of scholarly publications.

Authors

Authors must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest relevant to their research. These may include financial support, research funding, employment, consultancy, honoraria, institutional affiliations, commercial interests, patents, personal relationships, or other circumstances that could influence the research findings or their interpretation.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all co-authors have disclosed relevant conflicts of interest and that the information provided is accurate and complete. Any changes or newly identified conflicts must be communicated to the editorial office before publication.

Reviewers

Reviewers must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest before accepting a review assignment. Such conflicts may include financial relationships, academic competition, professional collaboration, institutional affiliations, personal relationships, or other circumstances that could compromise their impartiality.

Reviewers should decline review assignments when their independence or objectivity may be compromised. If a conflict becomes apparent after accepting an assignment, the reviewer must promptly inform the editor so that appropriate action can be taken.

Editors

Editors must maintain editorial independence and avoid handling manuscripts when personal, professional, institutional, financial, or other relationships could influence their judgment or compromise the fairness of the editorial process.

Editors must disclose relevant conflicts of interest and withdraw from handling affected manuscripts when necessary. Such manuscripts must be assigned to an independent editor who can manage the review and decision-making process objectively and fairly.

Disclosure Statement

Authors must include a clearly identified Conflict of Interest Statement or Disclosure Statement in their manuscripts, even when no conflicts of interest exist. The statement must accurately reflect the circumstances of all authors and any relationships relevant to the submitted research.

When no conflicts of interest exist, authors may use the following statement:

“The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest relevant to this research.”

If conflicts of interest exist, authors must disclose them clearly and provide sufficient information to allow readers and editors to understand their potential relevance to the research.

Management of Conflicts of Interest

Disclosure of a conflict of interest does not automatically result in manuscript rejection. The Editorial Board will assess the nature and potential impact of the disclosed conflict and determine appropriate measures to maintain an independent, objective, and fair evaluation process.

Depending on the circumstances, MEDICA may request additional information, assign an independent editor or reviewer, require clarification of the disclosure statement, or implement other safeguards to protect editorial independence and research integrity.

Failure to disclose a relevant conflict of interest may result in further investigation and appropriate editorial action, including a request for correction, manuscript rejection, or post-publication action when warranted.

MEDICA (International Medical Scientific Journal) is committed to transparent disclosure and impartial decision-making in accordance with applicable publication ethics standards and the relevant recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).