A competing interest is anything that interferes with the presentation, peer review, editorial decision-making, or publication of articles submitted to PPP.

Competing interests can be financial or non-financial, professional, or personal.

Competing interests can arise in relationship to an organisation or another person.

It is a requirement of PPP that all potential competing interests are declared. Failure to declare competing interests can result in immediate rejection of a  manuscript. If an undisclosed competing interest comes to light after publication, PPP will take action in accordance with its Retraction Policy Guideline.

What to declare

All potentially competing interests must be declared if they occurred within five years of conducting, or preparing for publication, the research under consideration. A full list is provided below.

Interests outside the 5-year time frame must also be declared if they could reasonably be perceived as competing according to the definition above.

Financial competing interests

Financial competing interests include but are not limited to:

• Paid employment or consultancy.
• Board membership.
• Research grants (from any source, restricted or unrestricted).
• Travel grants and honoraria for speaking or participation at meetings.
• Gifts.

Non-financial competing interests

Non-financial competing interests include but are not limited to:

• Membership in a government or other advisory board.
• Relationship (paid or unpaid) with organisations and funding bodies including. nongovernmental organisations, research institutions, or charities.
• Membership of lobbying or advocacy organisations.
• Writing or consulting for an educational company.
• Personal relationships (i.e. friend, spouse, family member, current or previous mentor, adversary) with individuals involved in the submission or evaluation of a paper, such as authors, reviewers, editors, or members of the editorial board of PPP.
• Personal convictions (political, religious, ideological, or other) related to a paper’s topic that might interfere with an unbiased publication process (at the stage of authorship, peer review, editorial decision-making, or publication).

Who must declare competing interests?

Authors

At the time of submission, authors must state what competing interests are relevant to the submitted research. These may include but are not limited to:

• Names of all funding sources.
• Description of funder’s role in the study design; collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; writing of the paper; and/or decision to submit for publication.
• Whether they have served or currently serve on the editorial board of PPP.

Editors and reviewers

Editors (professional or academic) and reviewers must declare their own competing interests and if necessary disqualify themselves from involvement in the  assessment of a manuscript.

Common reasons for editors and reviewers to disqualify themselves from the peer review process may include but are not limited to:

• They work at the same institution or organisation as an author, currently or recently.
• They collaborate with an author, currently or recently.
• They have published with an author during the past five years.
• They have held grants with an author, currently or recently.
• They have a personal relationship with an author that does not allow them to evaluate the manuscript objectively.

Readers

Anyone who comments on published PPP articles must declare all competing interests (financial or non-financial) at the time of posting the comment.

Editorial actions and decisions

PPP editors must take all competing interests into account during the review process and ensure that any relevant ones are declared in the published article.

PPP editors will not publish commissioned or any other non-research articles if they are aware of a competing interest that, in their judgment, could introduce bias or a reasonable perception of bias.

PPP editors do not consult reviewers who have  competing interests that, in the editors’ judgment, could interfere with unbiased review.