Policy on Conflict of Interest

It is mandatory for authors to declare the existence or not of conflicts of interest, as the reliability of the peer review process and the credibility of published articles depend in part on how conflicts of interest are managed during writing, peer review and decision-making by editors. The conflict of interest may be of a personal, commercial, political, academic or financial nature.

Conflicts of interest may arise when authors, evaluators or editors have interests that, apparent or not, may influence the preparation or evaluation of manuscripts.

To make a well-informed decision on a manuscript, it's important to be aware of the authors' competing interests. It's not necessarily about eliminating these interests, as they are often unavoidable. It's worth noting that manuscripts won't be rejected solely due to a conflict of interest.

If there are no conflicts of interest related to the study, you should simply transcribe the note below and add it in the designated field: "There were no conflicts of interest to carry out this study." It's important to note that information about any potential conflicts of interest related to the authors will be included at the end of the published article. If authors are unsure about what may constitute a conflict of interest, they should contact the editorial secretary of the Brazilian Journal of Occupational Therapy.

In this way, it is expected:

Authors: When submitting a manuscript, they are responsible for recognizing and disclosing financial or other conflicts that may have influenced their work. They must acknowledge all financial support for the work and other financial or personal connections in relation to the research.

Reviewers: must inform the editors about any conflicts of interest that may affect their judgment of the manuscript. They should also declare themselves unqualified to review specific manuscripts if they think it necessary. If the reviewers do not mention any potential conflicts, it may mean that there are conflicts that have not been disclosed or that there are no conflicts at all. Therefore, reviewers are requested to provide statements of competing interests, which will be used to assess the value of peer reports.

Editors: They must declare potential conflicts of interest in evaluating manuscripts, as well as act to prevent conflicts of interest involving authors and reviewers from compromising ethical standards in publication.