Conflict of Interest Checker
Enter the primary author in Field 1, then list potential reviewers in Field 2. The tool searches each database for papers co-authored between the primary author and any of the listed reviewers.
What is a conflict of interest check in peer review?
A conflict of interest (COI) in academic publishing arises when an author and a suggested reviewer share a close professional relationship — most commonly recent co-authorship — that could bias the review. Journals routinely screen for these conflicts, and undeclared ones are a frequent cause of reviewer rejection or post-publication concerns.
How the conflict of interest checker works
This free conflict of interest checker searches five major scholarly databases — PubMed, CrossRef, OpenAlex, Google Scholar and Web of Science — for prior co-authorship between your primary author and each potential reviewer. It looks for shared papers that signal a reviewer COI, so you can avoid suggesting reviewers an editor would reject.
How to use the COI checker
- Enter the primary author — type the manuscript's corresponding author. You can paste names in any common format (e.g. "Michael Frost", "Frost MJ", or "Frost, M").
- Add the reviewer names — one per line. These are the reviewers you plan to suggest or want to vet.
- Run the check — the tool queries each database and lists any co-authored papers it finds, grouped by reviewer and by source.
- Review the results — any shared publication is a potential conflict of interest you should disclose to the editor or use to pick a different reviewer.
Because missing a genuine conflict is worse than flagging a possible one, the checker errs toward surfacing potential matches on a shared surname and initial. Always confirm a flagged match refers to the same researcher before acting on it.