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Declarations of interest

[fixed, level 1 heading]

Authors should report any present or past affiliations or other involvement in any organization or entity with an interest in the review that might lead to a real or perceived conflict of interest. Situations that might be perceived by others as being capable of influencing a review author’s judgements include personal, political, academic and other possible conflicts, as well as financial conflicts. Authors must state if they have been involved in a study included in the review.

See also

 

Financial conflicts of interest cause the most concern, and should be avoided, but must be reported if there are any. Any secondary interest (such as personal conflicts) that might unduly influence judgements made in a review (concerning, for example, the inclusion or exclusion of studies, assessments of the validity of included studies or the interpretation of results) should be reported.

 

If there are no known conflicts of interest, this should be stated explicitly, for example, by writing ‘None known’.