Authors must declare all financial support for their research and any conflict of interest, including directorships, stock holdings, and contracts. In considering whether an interest is conflicting, authors should ask themselves if they would be embarrassed by its subsequent disclosure, if they had not disclosed it originally. Such interests should be considered in conflict, and should be reported as conflicts of interest Aid with technical issues, statistical analyses, photography, or stenography, and advice from colleagues, can also be acknowledged.
The Acknowledgments section also allows authors space to recognize and express appreciation to others (contributors) who have contributed to the study but have not qualified as authors. In this section, list those who have collected data; provided technical assistance; acquired funding; supervised personnel; contributed drugs, reagents, equipment, or study participants; or edited the manuscript for non-intellectual content. The list must include the contributors' affiliations and the specific contributions made by each. The Acknowledgments section is also reserved for authors to thank individuals who have provided general advice or guidance, manuscript review, and technical help. For those helping in preparation of the manuscript, please specify how they assisted (eg, performed substantive or technical editing, copyedited the manuscript, prepared tables or figures, or provided clerical assistance).