Declaration of Conflicts of Interest

Transparency is a fundamental pillar of scientific communication. Consistent with this principle, MedEst Journal requires all authors to explicitly declare any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the submitted work. A conflict of interest is understood as situations in which the authors, their institutions, or the study funders have personal, professional, or financial relationships that could bias, or could be perceived as likely to bias, the interpretation of the results or the editorial process.

Authors must declare in their manuscripts whether any conflicts of interest exist in relation to the research results presented. This declaration must include, in a detailed yet concise manner, any links with commercial entities, non-governmental organizations, governmental institutions, or any other party with an interest in the study's findings. Examples of conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to: receiving research funding, serving on advisory boards, holding shares or equity in companies related to the study topic, receiving consulting or speaking fees, or holding patents related to the work.

Authors are solely responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the information provided in this statement. The deliberate omission of a relevant conflict of interest is considered a serious ethical breach and may lead to the rejection of the manuscript, the retraction of a published article, or notification of the case to the authors' affiliated institutions for appropriate disciplinary action.

The conflict of interest statement constitutes an independent and mandatory section within the scientific article. This section will be published alongside the article, thereby ensuring the transparency of the process and allowing readers to have a complete view of the context in which the results were generated. In the event that there are no conflicts of interest to declare, authors must explicitly state this using the phrase: "The authors declare no conflicts of interest related to this work."

Compliance with this requirement is essential for initiating the peer review process. Manuscripts that do not include a complete conflict of interest statement signed by all authors will be returned to the authors for correction before being considered for evaluation.