Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers and editors must disclose relationships or interests that could reasonably be perceived to affect the work or its assessment.

Relevant interests may include funding, employment, consultancy, retainers, expert-witness work, litigation involvement, shareholdings, advocacy positions, political or institutional roles, and close professional or personal relationships. Legal scholarship should disclose a material connection to a party, regulator, organisation or dispute discussed in the article.

Authors include a declaration even when no competing interest exists. They must also describe the funder’s role in research design, source or data access, analysis, writing and the decision to submit.

Reviewers and editors should disclose conflicts before accepting an assignment and withdraw when impartiality cannot be maintained. Editors do not handle their own manuscripts or those of close collaborators. Disclosure does not automatically prevent publication; the journal assesses whether the relationship can be managed transparently.

Relevant interests discovered after publication may be addressed through a correction and, where necessary, further investigation.