Last updated: March 24, 2026

Conflict of Interest

All journals published by Baishideng Publishing Group (BPG) adhere to the conflict of interest policies established by the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The policies regarding conflicts of interest for authors, editorial board members, peer reviewers, and editors are outlined below.

1 Authors

A conflict-of-interest statement is required for all article and study types. In the interests of transparency and helping reviewers to assess any potential bias in a study’s design, interpretation of its results or presentation of its scientific/medical content, the BPG requires all authors of each paper to declare in the Footnotes section any conflicting interests (including but not limited to commercial, personal, political, intellectual or religious interests) that are related to the work submitted for consideration of publication. In addition, authors are required to click and download the fillable ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest, and fill it in. The Corresponding Author is responsible for filling out and providing this form to the Editorial Office.

Sample wording: [Name of individual] has received fees for serving as a speaker, a [position; such as consultant and/or an advisory board member] for [name(s) of organization(s)]. [Name of individual] has received research funding from [name(s) of organization(s)]. [Name of individual] is an employee of [name(s) of organization(s)]. [Name of individual] owns stocks and/or shares in [name(s) of organization(s)]. [Name of individual] owns patent [patent identifier information (including patent number, two-letter country code, and kind code) and a brief description].

2 Editorial Board Members and Peer Reviewers

Editorial Board Members and Peer Reviewers will have no conflict of interest with any author of the manuscript that they are invited to review, will come from institutions that are different from those of the authors, and will not have published articles as a co-author of any author of the manuscript; if there is any conflict of interest, the Editorial Board Members and Peer Reviewers should immediately decline the invitation for review. If the identification occurs after the paper is reviewed, it will be formally noted that a reviewer reviewed a manuscript despite a potential conflict of interest with one or more of the authors, then such reviewer may be flagged and excluded from the journal’s peer reviewer’s database.

3 Editors

If Editors have any conflicts of interest related to the manuscript, they should disclose them to the Editorial Office. These include financial interests, competitive relationships, or manuscripts authored by themselves, family members, friends, or colleagues. Once a conflict of interest is confirmed, editors are not permitted to participate in the decision-making process for the manuscript.

4 Submission by Editorial Board Members, Peer Reviewers, and Editors

When Editorial Board Members, Peer Reviewers, or Editors submit manuscripts to journals published by BPG, their manuscripts will be sent to external experts for peer review after passing the initial review.