Competing interests

In the interests of transparency and to help readers form their own judgements of potential bias, TECHNOLOGY CENTER PC require authors to declare any competing financial and/or non-financial interests in relation to the work described.

Definition. For the purposes of this policy, competing interests are defined as financial and non-financial interests that could directly undermine, or be perceived to undermine the objectivity, integrity and value of a publication, through a potential influence on the judgements and actions of authors with regard to objective data presentation, analysis and interpretation.

Financial conflicts of interest include any of the following:

  • Funding: Research support (including salaries, equipment, supplies, and other expenses) by organizations that may gain or lose financially through this publication. A specific role for the funder in the conceptualization, design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript, should be disclosed.

  • Employment: recent (while engaged in the research project), present or anticipated employment by any organization that may gain or lose financially through this publication.

  • Personal financial interests: Stocks or shares in companies that may gain or lose financially through publication; consultation fees or other forms of remuneration (including reimbursements for attending symposia) from organizations that may gain or lose financially; patents or patent applications (awarded or pending) filed by the authors or their institutions whose value may be affected by publication. For patents and patent applications, disclosure of the following information is requested: patent applicant (whether author or institution), name of inventor(s), application number, status of application, specific aspect of manuscript covered in patent application.

Non-financial competing interests:

Non-financial competing interests can take different forms, including personal or professional relations with organizations and individuals. We would encourage authors and referees to declare any unpaid roles or relationships that might have a bearing on the publication process. Examples of non-financial competing interests include (but are not limited to):

  1. Unpaid membership in a government or non-governmental organization.
  2. Unpaid membership in an advocacy or lobbying organization.
  3. Unpaid advisory position in a commercial organization.
  4. Writing or consulting for an educational company.
  5. Acting as an expert witness.

The absence of conflicts of interest or their presence is stated in the manuscript.

The authors give a form of conflict of interest. The form is not published in the public domain and can only be provided upon request (for example, during a double-blind review process), if this does not violate the confidentiality of the data presented in the form.

We recognize that some authors may be bound by confidentiality agreements. In such cases, in place of itemized disclosures, we require authors to state: "The authors declare that they are bound by confidentiality agreements that prevent them from disclosing their competing interests in this work."

We do not require authors to state the monetary value of their financial interests.

If the reviewer has any conflict of interest on the peer-reviewed manuscript, he/she should inform the publisher about it. In this case, the manuscript will be submitted for reviewing to another expert.

A conflict of interest can be identified at the stage of double blind peer review (peer review of the manuscript) or after publication. In this case (in accordance with the COPE schemes «What to do if a reviewer suspects undisclosed conflict of interest in a submitted manuscript» and «What to do if a reader suspects undisclosed conflict of interest in a published article»):

  • The editors will contact the corresponding author to clarify the existence of an unspecified conflict of interest.
  • An investigation will be conducted based on the justifications of the author (s) and the reviewer or reader who has declared a conflict of interest.

If the investigation reveals a conflict of interest, it will be added to the monograph. Or, appropriate corrections will be made according to the manuscript's retraction policy.