Editorial board disclosure policy

(Last updated December 2023)
 
All editors responsible for recommending or making publication decisions are requested to disclose on an annual basis any potential conflict of interest, including current or recent financial relationships with any commercial entity whose products or services may be contained in the journal content.
 
The following competing interests were disclosed:
 
John Aitken – Financial activities: Paid Consultancies for Organon, CellOxess and Memphasys Ltd. Personal Fees: Consulting fees. Non-financial support: Equipment from Memphasys. Intellectual property: Several provisional patents submitted – all pending. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Associate Editor, Human Reproduction and Andrology.
 
Mariano Buffone – Financial activities: My lab is funded by a grant from Male Contraceptive Initiative (MCI). I currently hold shares in a company, “Fecundis”. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Editorial Board member of Molecular Reproduction and Development and Molecular Human Reproduction.
 
Larry Chamley – Personal fees: Honoraria as Editor, Trophoblast Research. Intellectual property: NZ Provisional Patent #776,784: NGR Broderick, M Kazemzadeh, CL Hisey, W Xu, 'SERS Substrate and Sensing System' (2021); NZ Provisional Patent #783,607: NGR Broderick, M Kazemzadeh, CL Hisey, W Xu, M Martinez-Calderόn, LW Chamley, 'Method for Patterning Thin Films' (2021); PCT Patent #PCT/NZ2022/050070: M Kazemzadeh, NGR Broderick, W Xu, LW Chamley, M Martinez-Calderόn, CL Hisey, 'Substrates, Methods of Patterning Thin Films, and Their Use' (2022). Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Editor, Trophoblast Research (supplment to Placenta), Chair Publications Committee American Society for Reproductive Immunology.
 
Steve Charnock-Jones – Financial support: I have received or have current grant support from the MRC, BBSRC, Wellcome Trust, Wellcome Leap and NIHR. I have collaborative projects with Illumina, Roche Diagnostics, Cambridge Epigenetix and Sphere Fluidics. Non-financial support: Roche diagnostics have provided laboratory equipment. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: editorial board member, Physiological Reviews.
 
Djurdjica Coss – Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Associate Editor for Biology of Reproduction.
 
Joëlle Dupont – Personal fees: Reproduction and Livestock Journal honoraria. Non-financial support: Bursary from SRF to assist to attend the Fertility congress. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Reproduction and Livestock Journal.
 
Niamh Forde – Personal Fees: Grant panel member for FCT (Portugal) and NCN (Poland). Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: SRF Council member. Editor for Animal Bioscience and Technology. Guest editor for Animal for the IRRS conference proceedings.
 
Steve Franks – Financial activities: Trustee, Genesis Research Trust (Imperial College; unpaid). Personal fees: Fee for grant review panel membership, Swedish Research Council 2020. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Senior Editor, Endocrine Connections.
 
Robert Gilchrist – Financial activities: Work in my laboratory is support by grants and fellowships from the National Health and Medicial Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia. My lab receives collaborative research funds from City Fertility Centre Global Pty Ltd, and a scholarship from Virtus Health. I am a co-founder, co-director and shareholder of Anlagen Pty Ltd. Personal fees: I receive consultancy fees from City Fertility Centre Global Pty Ltd, and have received honoraria from CooperSurgical, Cook Medical and Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences. Non-financial support: International travel paid to attend CooperSurgical Scientific Advisory Board Meeting. Intellectual property: Patents: Gilchrist RB, Hussein T, Thompson JG, 'Modulation of granulosa cell apoptosis', WO 2007/009166A1, granted in Australia, patent number 2006272440; Albuz FK, Gilchrist RB, Thompson JG, 'Methods for the collection and maturation of oocytes', National Phase entry in Australia (2010246918), Canada (2,761,535), China (201080030583.2), Europe (10774437.7), India (9566/DELNP/2011), Japan (2012-510073), South Korea (10-2011-7030001) and the USA (13/320,245); Gilchrist RB, Chan K, Ledger WL, Milne-Robertson DM, Riepsamen AH, 'Gamete-secreted growth factors', PCT/AU2018/050064.
 
Peter Hansen – Financial activities: ownership of Cooley Biotech, a company engaged in manufacture of embryo culture media. Intellectual property: a US patent (now expired) for use of interferons to improve fertility. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Editor, Plos One, CABI Agriculture & Biosciences; Editorial Board, Journal of Animal Science and Technology.
 
Karla Hutt – Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Associate Editor for Human Reproduction.
 
Gregory A Johnson – Financial activities: I am involved with the following research grants: Roles of fructose and glucose in growth and development of ovine and porcine conceptuses; Glutaminolysis provides TCA cycle intermediates necessary for proliferation in the conceptus trophectoderm of pigs; Chronological understanding of bovine conceptus development in early to mid-gestation; Metabolic adaptation of conceptuses to a hypoxic environment; Arginine and Creatine kinase: key roles in conceptus development; Nutraceutical modulation of placental growth and function; Dietary requirements of hybrid striped bass for biosynthesizable amino acids; Laser capture microdissecton (LCM) system for animal research; Impact of dietary glutamate on the development of gut mucosal immunity in hybrid striped bass; Biosynthesis and nutritional roles of glycine in hybrid bass. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Editorial Boards of Placenta and Domestic Animal Endocrinology, Veterinary Science and Reproduction in Domestic Animals.
 
Aileen Keating – Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Director on the board for Society for the Study of Reproduction; Associate Editor, Biology of Reproduction.
 
Noora Kotaja – Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Editorial Board, Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, Editorial Review Board, Environmental Epigenetics.
 
Holly LaVoie – Financial activities: NIH research grant P20GM103499. Personal fees: Honoraria for Grant Review panels for NIH and NIFA USDA. Non-financial support: SRF travel Bursary. Intellectual property: Methods Using Cumulus Cells for Identification of Viable Oocytes, Publication number: 20200049716, patent pending. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: SSR Publication Committee, Past-Chair.
 
Rina Meidan – Personal fees: I receive occasional honoraria for evaluating grant proposals, mainly for European institutions. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: I am an editorial board member of Reproductive Biology and Reproduction, Fertility and Development.
 
Tom Moore – Financial activities: I hold patents, research grants, and equity in UCC spinout company. These are managed by UCC COI regulations. Personal fees: Employed by UCC. Non-financial support: Occasional expenses paid or reimbursed for meeting/conference attendance. Intellectual property: Two patents pending around use of PSG proteins in therapy. These are licensed to a UCC spinout company that I founded and hold equity in. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Irish Society of Human Genetics board member.
 
Vasantha Padmanabhan – Financial activities: recipient of NIH grants. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Editorial Board Member, Molecular Cellular Endocrinology, Environmental Health Sciences and DOHAD Journal.
 
Koji Sugiura – Financial activities: The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Journal of Reproduction and Development, Animal Science Journal.
 
Karen Schindler – Financial activities: NIH and ASRM research grants. Personal fees: occasional honoraria from speaking opportunities. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: SSR member and committee chair for Women in Reproductive Science; board of reviewing editors, Biology of Reproduction.
 
Andy Vail – Financial activities: Undertake paid ad hoc advisory work to summarise the evidence base for treatment 'add-ons' for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. All payment to my employer, The University of Manchester. Personal fees: Employer also receives 'per manuscript fees' for my editorial work for the journal Reproduction. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Editorial work for Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility Review Group.
 
Rao Veeramachaneni – Personal fees: Currently employed as Professor of Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University, USA. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Andrology, American Society of Andrology.
 
Joachim Wistuba – Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Associate editor, Molecular Human Reproduction; Editorial Board Member, Andrology.
 
The following editors reported no competing interests:
  • Nathalie Beaujean
  • Trudee Fair
  • Natalie Hannan
  • Jason Knott
  • Noora Kotaja
  • Jacqueline Maybin
  • Christopher Price
  • Deborah Sloboda
  • Paula Stein
  • Karl Swann
  • Hongmei Wang
  • Kaiping Yang
 
Bioscientifica staff and freelancers working on the journal reported no conflicts of interest. Article authors' declarations are stated in each journal article. Referees must disclose any competing interests before agreeing to review any submission. For more information on the journal’s ethical policy, please read the ethical guidelines.
 
This policy follows the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journals Editors (ICMJE) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).