Conflict of Interest Policy

Transparency in scientific publishing is essential to preserving academic integrity. Therefore, REMUS requires the clear and timely declaration of any potential conflict of interest that may influence, or give the impression of influencing, the content, opinion, editing, or publication of a manuscript.

A conflict of interest arises when there is a financial, professional, institutional, or personal relationship that may compromise the objectivity of the author, reviewer, or editor in relation to the submitted manuscript.

Conflicts may include:

• Financial: funding, consultancies, grants, stock ownership, patents.
• Academic or institutional: cross-affiliations, academic rivalries, previous evaluations.
• Personal: family relationships, friendships, or antagonisms with authors, reviewers, or editors.

All authors must declare any conflict of interest at the time of manuscript submission, using a Conflict of Interest Declaration form. This declaration will be reviewed by the Editorial Board and, if deemed relevant, published with the article. 

If there is no conflict of interest, it must be expressly stated:

"The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest."

Reviewers should refrain from reviewing a manuscript if there is a conflict of interest that compromises their impartiality. They should communicate any potential conflicts to the reviewing editor as soon as they receive the invitation to review. If appropriate, the manuscript will be reassigned to another reviewer.

Editorial Board members should recuse themselves from making editorial decisions on manuscripts in which they have a personal, academic, or professional relationship with the authors. Decisions will be delegated to another editor unrelated to the case.

Deliberate omission or falsification of the conflict of interest declaration may result in rejection of the manuscript, retraction of a published article, and suspension of future collaboration with the journal.