Eye Science complies with the position of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) on “Conflict of Interest.” Conflict of interest for authors is defined as “financial and other conflicts of interest that might bias their work.” In the interest of transparency, the ICMJE requires authors to disclose all relationships/activities/interests related to the manuscript content. The ICMJE defines “related” as any relation with for-profit or not-for-profit third parties whose interests may be affected by the content of the manuscript. When an author (or the author’s institution), reviewer, editor, editorial board member has financial or personal relationships with other individuals or organizations that could inappropriately influence his or her actions in a way that creates bias. Financial relationships (e.g., employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patents) are the most easily identifiable conflicts of interest and are most likely to undermine the credibility of the journal, the authors, and the scientific value of the research (http://www.icmje.org/index.html).

All submissions must have the ICMJE Form completed and uploaded for each co-author preferably as part of the initial submission process, but no later than first revision.

Every published manuscript will have a statement, “All authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE disclosures form” followed by either “None of the authors has any conflicts of interest to disclose.” OR “Authors with financial interests or relationships to disclose are listed prior to the references.” Corresponding authors are asked to confirm or update conflict of interest statements as part of the important and final  steps of manuscript acceptance with the journal office, prior to transmittal to the publisher.