Editorial board disclosure policy

(Last updated January 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: Scientific Director, (0.5FTE) Memphasys Ltd 30 Richmond Road, Homebush West, NSW 2140, Australia, Chief Scientific Officer, CellOxess, 830 Bear Tavern Road, Ewing, NJ 08628 USA, Consultant, Organon, 30 Hudson Street, Jersey City, NJ 07302, USA. Personal fees: Advisory Board, The Ferring Institute of Reproductive Medicine (FIRM) and the Institute of Stem Cell and Regeneration (ISCR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Intellectual property: Pending patent with the Found Animals Foundation on non-surgical sterilization of domestic animals. Use of CYB medium for the transportation and storage of sperm US6130034A/ PCT/GB1995/002635. Sperm cell separation by electrophoresis US8123924B2. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Associate Editor, Human Reproduction, Editorial Board Member, Basic and Clinical Andrology and Reproductive Biomedicine Online.
 
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 – Financial activities: Research Grant Auckland Medical Research Foundation, Research Grants Health Research Council of New Zealand, Research Grant Royal Society of New Zealand. Personal fees: Consultant on a Department of Defence grant hosted at Yale University; Honorarium as Editor of Trophoblast Research. Intellectual property: NZ provisional patent 783607 Method for patterning thin films. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Chair, Publications Committee American Society for Reproductive Immunology; Editor, Trophoblast Research; Editorial Board Member, Placenta and American Journal of Reproductive Immunology.
 
Steve Charnock-Jones – Non-financial support: equipment and reagents from Roche. Intellectual property: Method of determining risk of fetal size abnormality, PCT/GB2020/053312.
 
Djurdjica Coss – Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Associate Editor for Biology of Reproduction.
 
Joëlle Dupont – Financial activities: I received the following funding for research projects: Academic institutions: ANR (Agency National Research from French government) and also from Région Centre Val de Loire. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Editorial Board Member, Livestock Science.
 
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: Co-owner of Cooley Biotech, manufacturer of culture media. Personal fees: Storer Lecturer, University of California Davis. Non-financial support: Society for the Study of Reproduction, International Embryo Technology Society – travel support from both. Intellectual property: Use of interferons to enhance fertility in farm animals; US Patent No. 4,997,646, issued March 5, 1991. Inventors: PJ Hansen, K Imakawa, RM Roberts, WW Thatcher. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Editor, Plos One, CABI Agriculture & Bioscience; Editorial Board, Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology.
 
Karla Hutt – Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Associate Editor for Human Reproduction.
 
Greg Johnson – Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Editorial Boards of Placenta and Domestic Animal Endocrinology.
 
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: grant funding from NIH. Personal fees: Honoraria for serving as a grant proposal reviewer for several national agencies in the US. Intellectual property: Patent pending on the use of cumulus granulosa cell biomarkers are predictors of embryo quality and pregnancy outcomes. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Society for the Study of Reproduction Publications Committee Chair, Editorial Board, Frontiers in Endocrinology, Treasurer, Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine.
 
Vasantha Padmanabhan – Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Editorial Board Member, Molecular Cellular Endocrinology, Environmental Health Sciences and Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease.
 
Karen Schindler – Financial activities: NIH research grants. Personal fees: Services on NIH study sections; honoraria from seminars. Non-Financial Support: Travel expenses to meetings. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Recommending publication decisions for Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology.
 
Andy Vail – Financial activities: I have undertaken paid consultancy work for HFEA on several occasions to inform their Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee. The nature of the work has been review of clinical trial evidence for ‘add on’ therapies that feeds into their ‘traffic light’ system for public information (https://www.hfea.gov.uk/treatments/treatment-add-ons/). Total fees in last 36 months have been £20,000 and paid to my institution, University of Manchester, for my time. Involvement with other peer-reviewed publications: Statistical editor for the 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
  • Ian Brewis
  • Trudee Fair
  • Niamh Forde
  • Natalie Hannan
  • Jason Knott
  • Jacqueline Maybin
  • Tom Moore
  • Chris Price
  • 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).