Most journals require a set of standard manuscript declarations that ensure ethical compliance, transparency, and proper credit attribution before publication.
Core Declaration Requirements
Authorship and Contribution Statements
Journals typically ask all authors to confirm their contributions using frameworks like CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy). Each author must verify they've reviewed the final manuscript and approved submission. This prevents ghost authorship and ensures accountability for the published work.
Competing Interests and Funding
You must disclose any financial relationships, institutional affiliations, or personal connections that could influence your research interpretation. This includes industry funding, consulting fees, stock ownership, or patent applications. Funding sources should be listed with grant numbers, and you'll need to state whether funders influenced study design or data interpretation.
Ethics Approvals
For human subjects research, you'll declare Institutional Review Board (IRB) or ethics committee approval with reference numbers. Animal studies require similar approvals from ethics committees, including confirmation of humane treatment protocols. Clinical trials need registration numbers from databases like ClinicalTrials.gov.
Data and Material Availability
Increasingly, journals require statements about whether data, code, or materials are publicly available and where readers can access them. If data cannot be shared due to privacy or proprietary restrictions, you must explain why.
Consent and Permissions
For case studies or identifiable patient information, you'll need written informed consent. If you've reproduced figures, tables, or substantial text from other publications, you must provide copyright permissions.
AI and Generative Tool Usage
Many journals now require disclosure of AI tools used during research or writing, specifying which tasks they assisted with (data analysis, language editing, etc.).
Practical Tips
Check your target journal's author guidelines early—requirements vary significantly. Some journals provide declaration templates or checkboxes during online submission. When writing your manuscript, tools like WisPaper's TrueCite automatically verify citation formatting and help ensure proper attribution, reducing the risk of inadvertent plagiarism that could complicate your declarations. Keep all approval letters, consent forms, and correspondence organized in a dedicated folder for quick reference during submission.
