Conflicts of interest policy

Purpose

Acta Dermato-Venereologica is committed to maintaining high standards of integrity, transparency, fairness, and independence in scholarly publishing. All individuals involved in the publication process, including authors, reviewers, editors, Advisory Board members, journal staff, and the publisher, must disclose and appropriately manage any conflicts of interest.

This policy applies to submissions, peer review activities, editorial decisions, and relevant post-publication processes.

Definition of a Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest (COI) exists when financial, professional, personal, institutional, or other interests could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence an individual's objectivity, judgement, or responsibilities related to the publication process.

Examples of conflict of interests:

Financial Interests

• Employment by an organization that may benefit from the publication.
• Consultancy agreements.
• Honoraria or speaker fees.
• Stock ownership or options.
• Patents or patent applications.
• Research funding or sponsorship.
• Paid expert testimony.

Professional Interests

• Current or recent collaborations.
• Supervisory relationships.
• Student–supervisor relationships.
• Competitive relationships.

Personal Relationships

• Family
• Close personal relationships.

Institutional Interests

• Affiliation with the same department, institution, research group, or organization.
• Institutional financial interests related to the research results.

Authors

Authors must disclose all relevant conflicts of interest as part of the manuscript submission process and must update their disclosure if circumstances change during the publication process.

Authors must disclose any relevant:

• Financial interests.
• Professional interests.
• Personal relationships.
• Institutional interests.
• Other interests.

If no conflicts exist, authors should provide a statement disclosing this.

Failure to disclose a relevant conflict of interest may result in appropriate editorial action, depending on the nature and significance of the omission and the stage at which it is identified.

Editors

All editors involved in the handling or decision-making process for a manuscript must disclose any relevant conflict of interest before participating in its assessment.

Editors should consider refraining from editorial handling if they:

• Are authors or co-authors of the manuscript.
• Work at the same institution as an author.
• Have a personal or financial relationship with an author.
• Have any other interest that could compromise impartial decision-making.

When an editor has a conflict, responsibility for the manuscript will be assigned to an independent editor with no relevant conflict.

Editors must not use unpublished information for personal benefit.

Reviewers

Reviewers must disclose any relevant conflicts of interest immediately upon invitation or upon discovering such conflicts during review.

Reviewers should decline an invitation if they:

• Have collaborated recently with the authors.
• Have personal relationships with the authors.
• Work at the same institution as the authors.
• Have financial interests related to the manuscript.
• Believe they cannot provide an objective assessment.

Reviewers must:

• Maintain confidentiality.
• Not use unpublished information for personal benefit.
• Conduct reviews objectively and fairly.

Advisory Board

Advisory Board Members are subject to the same conflict of interest requirements as editors and reviewers.

Board members must:

• Disclose relevant conflicts.
• Refrain from participating in editorial decisions where appropriate.
• Avoid influencing editorial decisions involving their own work or interests.

Journal Staff, Publisher, and Journal Owners

Journal staff, publishers, owners and other parties involved in journal governance or administration must respect the journal's editorial independence and must not interfere with editorial decisions for financial, professional, institutional, or personal reasons.

Journal staff who become aware of a conflict of interest must report it to the Editor-in-Chief.

Publishing decisions must remain independent of:

• Advertising relationships.
• Sponsorship arrangements.
• Revenue considerations.
• Ownership or publisher interests.
• Other commercial or institutional interests.

Disclosure Procedures

At Submission

Authors must provide a conflict of interest declaration as part of the submission process.

During Peer Review

Editors and reviewers must disclose relevant conflicts upon invitation to handle a manuscript.

After Publication

If a conflict of interest is identified after publication, authors, editors, reviewers, or readers should notify the journal immediately.

Handling Disclosed Conflicts of Interest

The journal will evaluate disclosed conflicts of interest on a case-by-case basis.

Possible actions include:

• Disclosure without further action.
• Appointment of an alternative editor.
• Selection of alternative reviewers.
• Additional independent review.

The existence of a conflict does not automatically prevent publication. However, all relevant conflicts must be transparently disclosed and appropriately managed.

Investigation of Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest

If a potential undisclosed conflict is identified after submission or publication, the journal may:

• Request explanations and documentation from involved parties.
• Assess the nature and significance of the conflict.
• Evaluate whether the conflict affected the editorial or peer review process.

Conflicts Identified Before Publication

If the manuscript is still under consideration, possible actions may include:

• Reassigning the manuscript to an independent editor.
• Replacing a reviewer where appropriate.
• Disregarding a review affected by a conflict.
• Arranging additional independent peer review.
• Requesting an updated conflict of interest declaration.
• Taking other appropriate editorial action.

Conflicts Identified After Publication

If a potential conflict of interest is identified after publication, the journal will assess whether it affected the transparency, integrity, editorial handling, peer review, or reliability of the published work.

Depending on the findings, the journal may:

• Publish a correction to the conflict of interest statement.
• Replace incorrect disclosure statements.
• Retract the article when warranted.

Investigations will be conducted fairly, confidentially, and in accordance with recognized publication ethics standards.

Submissions from Editorial Team

Manuscripts submitted by individuals who hold an editorial, advisory, or other role within the journal must be handled in a manner that ensures editorial independence and prevents the submitting individual from influencing the assessment or decision-making process.

Where a relevant conflict exists, the following procedures apply:

1. The submitting individual will have no must not participate in the editorial assessment, peer review, or decision-making process for the manuscript.
2. An editor with no conflict of interest will be appointed to manage the submission.
3. The independent editor will oversee reviewer selection, peer review, editorial correspondence, and publication decisions.
4. The submitting individual will not participate in any aspect of the decision-making process.
5. Editorial systems will be configured to restrict access where technically possible.

The final publication decision will be made exclusively by the independent editor.

Publication of Conflict of Interest Statements

All published content must include a conflict of interest statement.

This statement shall appear in all full-text versions of the article, including HTML, PDF, and XML.

Examples:

No Conflict Declared

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Conflict Declared

Conflict of Interest Statement: Author A has received research funding from Organization X. Author B serves as a consultant to Company Y. These relationships have been disclosed and managed in accordance with the journal's Conflict of Interest Policy.

Policy Review

This policy is reviewed periodically and may be updated to reflect evolving standards in publication ethics and scholarly publishing.