Conflict of Interest

To maintain the highest level of transparency and objectivity in the peer-review process, the Management Issues in Healthcare System (MIHS) requires all Editors and Reviewers to declare any competing or conflicts of interest (COI) before handling a manuscript.

Definition of a Conflict of Interest:

A conflict of interest exists when professional judgment concerning a primary interest (such as the validity of research) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain, personal relationships, or professional rivalries). These can be:

• Financial: Grants, funding, employment, or stock ownership related to the research or authors.
• Personal: Close personal relationships, family ties, or personal disputes with the authors.
• Professional: Recent co-authorship (within the last 3 years), working at the same institution, or being a direct mentor/mentee to the authors.

Guidelines for Reviewers:

• Declaration: Reviewers must immediately declare any potential COI to the handling editor upon receiving a review invitation.
• Recusal: If a significant conflict exists (e.g., you work at the same institution as the author, or have recently collaborated with them), you must decline the invitation to review.

Guidelines for Editors:

• Recusal: Editors must not handle manuscripts for which they have a conflict of interest. The manuscript must be reassigned to another editor or an independent Editorial Board member.
• Submissions by Editors: If an Editor or the Editor-in-Chief submits a manuscript to the journal, the peer-review process will be handled entirely by an independent member of the Editorial Board. The submitting editor will have no access to the review process or reviewer identities in the journal management systems.