Conflicts of Interest

Authors must describe any direct or indirect financial interest they may have in the subject matter of a submitted manuscript, and they must authorize the RSNA to publish this financial disclosure with the article if deemed appropriate by the editor. The Society’s financial disclosure policy is as follows: “Each author shall describe (a) any direct financial interest that author has in the subject matter discussed in the submitted manuscript, and (b) any affiliation or financial involvement that author has with or in any organization having a direct financial interest in the subject matter discussed in the submitted manuscript. Such information will be held in the confidence of the journal editor during the review process. If necessary, in the editor’s view, this information may be shared with reviewers. The submission of a manuscript to Radiology grants permission for RSNA to publish the financial information described above, or an appropriate summary thereof, with the manuscript if the manuscript is accepted for publication.”

Please note that financial interest also includes financial support of an author’s study by industry. In such an instance, information should be included at the beginning of the Materials and Methods section of the text. Authors should indicate (a) the name of the industry providing support for the study, (b) the type of support (financial, provision of equipment or contrast agents, etc), and (c) that the authors had control of the data and information submitted for publication. For authors who are employees of or consultants to the industry providing support, it must be clearly stated that the nonemployee or nonconsultant authors had control of the data and information that might present a conflict of interest for the other employee or consultant authors. Statements regarding control of data and information are also needed for any authors who are employees of or consultants to an industry whose products are being evaluated in the study, even if the industry did not support the study.

Any other nonfinancial conflict of interest should also be disclosed to the editor, with the understanding that the information may be published if deemed appropriate by the editor.

Conflict of interests also apply to members of the Radiology Editorial Board and to Radiology reviewers. Members of the editorial board are asked to sign a conflict of interest disclosure statement, disclosing any financial or other interest that may bias their objectivity when performing their duties as a member of the editorial board. Reviewers should state explicitly (in the Comments for Editor section of the review) whether there are conflicts of interest that could bias their review of a given manuscript. Reviewers should not review a manuscript if they believe they are unable to provide an unbiased review. Also, any individual who has reviewed a manuscript should not use for personal interest or gain the knowledge of the manuscript contents obtained prior to its publication.