What is a competing interest?

A competing interest, also known as a ‘conflict of interest’, can occur when you (or your employer or sponsor) have a financial, commercial, legal, or professional relationship with other organizations, or with the people working with them, that could influence your research.

Full disclosure is required when you submit your paper to a journal. The journal editor will firstly use this information to inform his or her editorial decisions. They may then publish such disclosures to assist readers in evaluating the article. Or, instead, the editor may decide not to publish your article on the basis of any declared competing interest. You can declare the competing interest in your cover letter or on the manuscript submission form in the journal’s online peer-review system.

Competing interests can be financial or non-financial in nature. To ensure transparency, any associations which can be perceived by others as a competing interest must also be declared.

Examples of financial competing interests include (but are not limited to):

• Employment or voluntary involvement
• Collaborations with advocacy groups relating to the content of the article
• Grants from an entity paid to the author or organization
• Personal fees received by the author/s as honoraria, royalties, consulting fees, lecture fees, testimonies, etc
• Patents held or pending by the authors, their institutions or funding organizations, or licensed to an entity whether earning royalties or not
• Royalties being received by the authors or their institutions
• Stock or share ownership
• Benefits related to the development of products as an outcome of the work

Examples of non-financial competing interests include (but are not limited to):

• Receipt of drugs, specialist equipment, tools, computer programs, digital applications, etc or access to data repositories, archival resources, museum collections, etc by an entity that might benefit or be at a disadvantage financially or reputationally from the published findings.
• Holding a position on the boards of industry bodies or private companies that might benefit or be at a disadvantage financially or reputationally from the published findings.
• Writing assistance or administrative support from a person or organization that might benefit or be at a disadvantage from the published findings.
• Personal, political, religious, ideological, academic and intellectual competing interests which are perceived to be relevant to the published content.
• Involvement in legal action related to the work.

If there are no competing interests to declare, authors should include a statement to the article to confirm that there are no relevant financial or non-financial competing interests to report.

Sponsorship of clinical trials

Authors employed by pharmaceutical companies or other organizations which sponsor clinical trials must declare this as a competing interest.

Authors should adhere to the Good Publication Practice guidelines for pharmaceutical companies (GPP3), which provides guidance to ensure responsible and ethical standards are maintained.

Taylor & Francis journals will not publish articles advertising commercial products.

Disclosure statement

You should also include a relevant disclosure statement with the text of your article. You can do this in conjunction with any acknowledgments and details of funders.

Competing interest: sample disclosure statements

In accordance with Taylor & Francis policy and my ethical obligation as a researcher, I am reporting that I [have a financial and/or business interests in] [am a consultant to] [receive funding from] (delete as appropriate) a company that may be affected by the research reported in the enclosed paper. I have disclosed those interests fully to Taylor & Francis, and I have in place an approved plan for managing any potential conflicts arising from [that involvement].

or

This research is sponsored by [company A] and may lead to the development of products which may be licensed to [company B], in which I have a business and/or financial interest. I have disclosed those interests fully to Taylor & Francis, and have in place an approved plan for managing any potential conflicts arising from this arrangement.

If there is no disclosure, we will then publish the following statement: “No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.”

Further reading

• Taylor & Francis Editorial Policies
• Ethics for authors
• Ethics for editors (Taylor & Francis Editor Resources)