A conflict of interest exists when professional judgement about a manuscript could be influenced, or could reasonably be seen to be influenced, by a secondary interest. Conflicts may be financial (employment, consultancies, grants, shares, fees) or non-financial (personal relationships, academic competition, institutional or political interests).

Authors

All authors must declare any potential conflict of interest at submission. Conflicts of interest and funding sources are stated on the title page, never in the anonymised manuscript, to preserve double-anonymous peer review. We recommend using the ICMJE disclosure form. If there is no conflict, the title page should state: "The authors declare no competing interests."

Reviewers

Reviewers must decline an invitation if they have a conflict of interest, including if they work at the same institution as the authors, have collaborated with them in the past three years, or have a personal or financial relationship with them. In case of doubt, reviewers should contact the Editorial Office at editorial@populacejournal.org before accepting.

Editors

Editors declare their competing interests when they join the journal and update them every year. They must declare any conflict and withdraw from handling any manuscript in which they have an interest. Such manuscripts are reassigned to an independent editor. Editors' own submissions are handled as described in the Peer Review Policy.

Undisclosed conflicts

If an undisclosed conflict is discovered after publication, the journal will follow COPE guidance, which may lead to a correction or, in serious cases, a retraction. See our Corrections and Retractions policy.