AMQ encourages to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you to review the good practice guidelines on the COPE website https://publicationethics.org/

A conflicting interest is anything that fairly interferes with, or could be perceived as interfering with, the presentation, peer review, editorial decision-making, or publication of research submitted to AMQ. Conflicting interests can be personal, political, professional, or financial. They can be related to another person, an institution or an organization. Editors, authors, and peer reviewers should disclose interests that might appear to affect their ability to present or review work objectively. Thus, everyone involved in the peer review process, must declare all potentially conflicting interests that occurred within 3 years of conducting the research under consideration, or preparing the article for publication.

Omission of declaration of conflicting interests can result in immediate rejection of a manuscript. If an undisclosed conflicting interest comes to light after publication, AMQ will act in accordance with COPE guidelines and issue a public notification to the community.

Authors

Authors must list all conflicting interests relevant to the submitted research, at the time of submission. Examples may include:

1. Names of all funding sources

2. 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

3. Whether they have served or currently serve on the editorial board of the journal to which they are submitting

Editors and reviewers

Editors and reviewers must declare their own conflicting interests, and if necessary disqualify themselves from the assessment of a manuscript.

Examples to recuse themselves from the peer review process may include:

1. They work at the same institution or organization as an author, currently or recently (last 3 years)

2. They collaborate with an author, currently or recently (last 3 years)

3. They have published with an author during the past 3 years

5. They have held grants with an author, currently or recently (last 3 years) 
6. They have a financial relationship with the company who funded the research
7. They have a personal relationship with an author that does not allow them to evaluate the manuscript objectively

Editors and journal staff as authors

Editors or board members will not be involved in editorial decisions about their own scholarly work. When editors and editorial team members are authors or have contributed to a manuscript, they are excluded from publication decisions.

Editorial Actions and Decisions

AMQ editors will take all conflicting interests into account during the review process and ensure that any relevant ones are declared in the published article.

AMQ editors will not publish research articles if they are aware of a conflicting interest that, in their judgment, could introduce bias or a reasonable perception of bias.

AMQ editors will not consult reviewers who have conflicting interests that, in the editors' judgment, could interfere with unbiased review.