Conflicts of Interest, Fudning, and Financial Disclosure Policy

All authors must disclose any conflicts of interest, including financial or personal relationships with individuals, companies, or organizations that could inappropriately influence or be perceived to influence their work. Such disclosure promotes transparency and helps maintain trust in published research.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST:

  1. Financial conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patents or patent applications, research funding, and sponsored or reimbursed travel.
  2. Relevant financial interests arising during the three years preceding the start of the submitted work should be disclosed. Authors should also disclose any other current or relevant personal or professional relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the submitted work.
  3. Authors must complete the Conflict-of-Interest Declaration and Author Agreement Form available on the journal website.

The completed form may be submitted through either of the following channels:

o  Uploaded directly through the journal's online submission system; or

o  Submitted by email to the Editorial Office at jsmdc@sihs.org.pk.

  1. Authors must provide a Conflict-of-Interest Statement for Publication in the manuscript under the heading “Conflict of Interest” at the end of the manuscript.
  2. JSHMDC publishes a conflict-of-interest statement with all published manuscripts. The statement reflects the disclosures provided and verified during the editorial process.

Where no conflict exists: A joint statement naming all authors is sufficient, for example:
“All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest, financial or otherwise, that could influence the integrity, objectivity, or validity of their work.”

Where a conflict exists: The relevant author(s) should be identified and the nature of the conflict clearly described, for example:
“Author X received research funding from Company Y.”

 FUNDING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE:

Authors must disclose all sources of financial support related to the submitted work, including research grants, institutional funding, and commercial or other sponsorship.

The funding or financial disclosure statement should be included in the manuscript under the heading “Funding and Financial Disclosure,” at the end of the manuscript.

  • Where funding/ grant was received: The source of funding and, where applicable, the funding organization name and grant number should be stated. For example:
    “This study was supported by a research grant from [Funding Organization], Grant No. [XXXX].”
  • Where no specific funding/grant was received: This should be stated explicitly, for example:
    “This study received no specific funding from any public, commercial, or non-profit funding organization.”

Authors must disclose the role of the funder, where applicable. State whether the funder had any involvement in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or the decision to submit for publication. If the funder had no such involvement, state this explicitly.

FAILURE TO DISCLOSE:

Failure to disclose a relevant conflict of interest or funding source may result in appropriate editorial action, which may include requesting clarification or correction, rejection of the manuscript, publication of a correction or expression of concern, or retraction of a published article, as appropriate. Such cases are handled in accordance with the Correction, Retraction and Expression of Concern Policy of JSHMDC and relevant COPE guidelines