What Authors Must Disclose

BCPHR requires every manuscript to include a complete set of disclosures at the time of submission. These disclosures protect research integrity, give readers the context to evaluate findings, and align BCPHR with COPE, ICMJE, WAME, and the 16 Principles of Transparency. Manuscripts that arrive without complete disclosures will be returned for completion before peer review begins.

The Seven Disclosures

1. Author Contributions

Every manuscript must include a contributions statement specifying which author was responsible for which aspect of the work: conception, design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, drafting, and revision. BCPHR follows the CRediT taxonomy (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) and the ICMJE four-criterion authorship standard. Student contributors must be appropriately recognized.

2. Conflicts of Interest

All authors must disclose any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest that could be perceived as influencing the research, including grants, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, patents, or personal relationships. If no conflicts exist, the manuscript must include the statement "The authors declare no conflicts of interest." Editors and reviewers are also required to declare conflicts.

3. Ethical Approval

Research involving human or animal subjects must have been approved by an institutional review board (IRB), research ethics committee, or equivalent body before data collection began. The manuscript must name the approving body and provide the protocol approval number. Studies must align with the Declaration of Helsinki for human subjects and the Animal Welfare Act for animal subjects.

4. Informed Consent

For human subjects research, the manuscript must confirm that all participants underwent an informed consent process and that documentation is on file. For research involving identifiable individuals (photographs, case studies), authors must obtain and retain written consent for publication, and may be asked to provide copies of consent forms.

5. Funding Sources

All sources of funding must be disclosed, including grants (with grant numbers), contracts, fellowships, and in-kind support. The role of funders in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and the decision to submit must be specified. If the research received no funding, the manuscript must state "This research received no specific funding."

6. Data Availability

All applicable manuscripts must include a data availability statement describing where the data underlying the findings is held, the conditions of reuse, and how qualified researchers may access it. BCPHR encourages deposition of data in public repositories with persistent identifiers. If data cannot be shared due to privacy or legal restrictions, the manuscript must state this explicitly and explain why.

7. Positionality

BCPHR requires positionality statements in all submissions. Positionality statements describe the authors' backgrounds, perspectives, and potential biases, enabling readers to understand the context and motivations behind the research. This is particularly important for qualitative research, community-based research, and research on marginalized populations. Positionality is part of BCPHR's commitment to transparency and reflexivity in public health scholarship.

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