Cellular & Molecular Intelligence (CMI) operates on the principle that transparency is the foundation of trust in scientific publishing. To maintain objectivity, all participants in the publication process, including authors, reviewers, and editors, must disclose any professional, personal, or financial relationships that could be perceived as influencing their judgment.

A conflict of interest (COI) exists when an individual’s secondary interests, such as financial gain, personal relationships, professional rivalry, or academic position, could reasonably be seen to influence their primary obligation to scientific integrity.

Conflicts of interest may be financial or non-financial in nature.

Financial conflicts of interest may include, but are not limited to:

• Research funding or grants

• Employment or consultancy

• Honoraria or speaking fees

• Patents or patent applications

• Ownership of stocks or shares

• Other financial investments

• Receipt of consulting fees or honoraria

Non-financial conflicts of interest may include:

• Advisory or leadership roles in organizations

• Institutional or professional affiliations

• Board memberships

• Close personal relationships

• Professional or academic competition

• Professional rivalries

• Strong intellectual, ideological, or academic positions that may affect interpretation of results

Authors are required to fully disclose all relevant conflicts of interest and funding sources in a dedicated Conflict of Interest, Declaration, or Disclosure Statement section within the manuscript.

Transparent disclosure allows readers, reviewers, and editors to evaluate potential sources of bias and understand the financial or professional context behind the research.

If authors have no competing interests to declare, they should include the following statement:

“The authors declare that they have no competing interests.”

or

“The authors declare no conflicts of interest.”

Reviewers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest to the editors before accepting an invitation to review.

If a reviewer has a personal or professional connection to the authors, or a financial stake in the outcome of the study, they must recuse themselves from the review process to ensure a fair and unbiased evaluation.

Editors who have a conflict of interest regarding a specific submission must delegate the handling of that manuscript to another member of the editorial board.

This ensures that editorial decisions are made with complete independence and that all decisions remain fair, unbiased, and objective.

In cases where editorial staff are direct employees of the Publisher, rigorous safeguards are in place to prevent bias.

Mandatory Reporting: Employee-editors must disclose all competing interests, whether financial or non-financial, as they arise and through an annual declaration.

Publication Restrictions: Employee-editors are generally discouraged from submitting original research to the journal. In exceptional cases, such as research conducted prior to employment, the submission must be disclosed to the Editor-in-Chief, and the review process must be handled with absolute independence from the author-employee.

Anti-Corruption: Editorial staff are strictly forbidden from using non-public information acquired through their work for personal or financial gain.

CMI maintains a strict policy of financial transparency. Authors must clearly disclose all sources of financial support received for the conduct of the research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.

Funding sources may include, but are not limited to:

• National, international, or private research grants

• Internal funding from universities, hospitals, or research institutes

• Financial support from pharmaceutical, biotech, or medical device companies

• Support from non-profit organizations or private foundations

For each funding source, authors must provide the full name of the funding agency and the specific grant or award number, where applicable.

Authors must describe the role of the funding organization or sponsor, if any, in the following aspects of the study:

• Study design

• Data collection

• Data analysis and interpretation

• Interpretation of data

• Manuscript preparation

• Decision to submit the manuscript for publication

If the funding source had no involvement in any of these aspects, this should be explicitly stated in the manuscript.

Authors may use the following statement where applicable:

“The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.”

Clear disclosure allows the scientific community to assess potential influences on the research. Failure to disclose relevant conflicts of interest or funding sources is considered a serious breach of publication ethics and may result in rejection of a manuscript or the issuance of a post-publication correction.