What is a conflict of interest?

We consider conflicts of interests when there is any financial, commercial, legal or professional relationship with other organizations or with people working with them that have the potential of influencing the topic or content of the website.

These often take the form of (but not limited to):
• employment, fees or honoraria
• sponsorship or grants
• sponsored product reviews
• accommodation and attendance at paid conferences

What impact do conflicts of interests have?

Conflicting interests may result in under-reporting of negative information about the other party or over assessing the advantage of one party over the others. They are often not conscious attempts at presenting only parts of the truth but they are happening nonetheless. For example, one could mention the sponsor of this content when the opportunity arises, even though that content is not sponsored in any way. They might choose their products in the stores or frame a photo in such a way their products are highly visible. The criticism of the company is often tampered in a subconscious attempt not to upset the people who provided a good of material value.

Conflicts of interest introduce reporting bias. At the basis the questions, we are speaking about ethics. It has been documented that even receiving pens and notepads can influence opinions, even though they are not perceived of goods of worth. Rather than picking and choosing what we consider are actual influences on our content, we decided to follow the guidelines for medical journals when it comes to conflicts of interest and disclose all potential conflicts of interests

What is disclosed?

All relationships with aquarium-related companies that are described above and with a cumulated monetary value of over €50.00 for one calendar year. For products, the value is estimated from prominent stores at the time of the exchange. This includes products sent for testing and returned.

The disclosure covers at minimum 5 years, but longer potential conflicts of interest may be reported if deemed relevant. The disclosure also extends to members of the immediate family.

The article authors are responsible to disclose their personal conflicts of interest as they see relevant for the article they are contributing.

Not included here are specifically: publicly available discounts, products won in public competitions, items donated or sold by private persons, items bought with our resources. Also not disclosed are items that are not aquarium related and are not mentioned on this website.

Year

2015 to present

Potential Conflict of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.