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This conflict of interest (COI) policy recognizes that Editors may be working scientists and hence may be potential Medical Physics authors. Its purpose is to ensure that editorial decisions involving Medical Physics papers coauthored by an Editor or one of his/her close colleagues are fair and unbiased. To this end, the Editors will be bound by the following policies:
- Apparent Conflicts of Interest (COI) include, but are not limited to, the following: Manuscripts coauthored by an Editor, by an Editor's recent or current trainee, by an individual who reports directly or indirectly to an Editor, by a coinvestigator on a grant supporting an Editor, by a relative of an Editor, or by any other individual whose publication success might influence a decision that could materially benefit an Editor. Participation with authors in advisory committees, coauthoring a consensus report with a Med Phys author, or past COI which have inactive for at least one year, are generally not considered COI.
- Whenever a manuscript is received that poses a potential material COI with an Editor, the Editor-in-Chief will assign it to an Editor who has no COI with the authors.
- Whenever an accepted manuscript is a candidate for special recognition (e.g., for cover art, Editors' Choice, or award nomination) by virtue of Associate Editor recommendation or manuscript ratings, the prioritization and selection of articles for that that recognition category will be made by an Editor who has no material COI with any of the authors of the articles under consideration.
- Each Editor has the obligation to screen each assigned article for COI and to request that the Editor-in-Chief reassign the article if he or she identifies a material COI.
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