According to the guidelines of the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Council of Science Editors, and the World Association of Medical Editors, conflicts of interest in scientific publications refer to "situations in which financial or personal considerations may compromise, or have the appearance of compromising, a researcher's professional judgment in conducting or reporting research."

The IJIIM journal requires authors to declare all conflicts of interest related to their work. The submitted manuscript must include a "Conflict of Interest" section at the end of the manuscript, listing all financial and non-financial matters. Where authors do not have a conflict of interest, they must clearly indicate this with a statement such as "The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest."