How to Write a Disclosure Statement for a Research Paper
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A disclosure statement is a mandatory section in modern research papers that tells editors, reviewers, and readers everything they need to know about the conditions under which the research was conducted and reported. In 2026, disclosure requirements have expanded significantly — you now need to declare funding, conflicts of interest, author contributions, data availability, ethical approvals, and in many cases, AI tool use. Getting this section right is not optional — missing or incorrect disclosures are grounds for rejection or post-publication correction.
Types of Disclosures Required in a Research Paper
| Disclosure Type | Required By | Where in Paper |
|---|---|---|
| Conflict of Interest | All major journals; COPE guidelines | After Conclusions, before References |
| Funding Statement | All major journals; most funders | After Conclusions or Acknowledgements |
| Author Contributions (CRediT) | Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, PLOS | After Conclusions |
| Data Availability Statement | Most major journals; some funders | After Conclusions or in Methods |
| Ethical Approval | Papers involving human/animal subjects | In Methods section |
| Informed Consent | Papers involving human participants | In Methods section |
| AI Use Disclosure | Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, Taylor & Francis (2024–2026) | After Conclusions or in Methods |
| Pre-registration | Clinical trials (mandatory); increasingly for other designs | In Methods section (registration number) |
Template: Conflict of Interest Statement
No Conflicts
"The authors declare no conflict of interest."
OR: "The authors declare no competing interests."
With Financial Conflicts
"[Author A] has received speaker fees from [Company X] and holds equity in [Company Y]. [Author B] received a research grant from [Organisation Z] (Grant No. XXXXX). These relationships are disclosed and were reviewed by the institutional conflict of interest committee. The funding organisations had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or the decision to publish."
Template: Funding Statement
With External Funding
"This work was supported by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), India, under the Core Research Grant scheme [Grant No. CRG/2024/XXXXX], and by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) [Grant No. XXXXX]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript."
No External Funding
"This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors."
OR: "This study was supported by institutional funds from [University Name]. No external funding was received."
Template: Author Contributions (CRediT)
"Author A: Conceptualisation, Methodology, Writing – Original Draft. Author B: Data Curation, Formal Analysis, Visualisation. Author C: Investigation, Resources. Author D: Supervision, Funding Acquisition, Writing – Review & Editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript."
Template: Data Availability Statement
Open Data
"The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in [Repository Name] at [DOI/URL], reference number [XXXXX]."
Available on Request
"The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Data are not publicly archived due to [participant privacy / commercial sensitivity / institutional policy]."
All Data in Paper
"All data supporting the findings of this study are included within the article and its supplementary information files."
Template: AI Use Disclosure (2026 Standard)
AI Was Used
"During the preparation of this manuscript, the authors used [AI Tool Name, e.g., ChatGPT-4o / Claude 3.5 / Grammarly] for [specific purpose, e.g., grammar and language editing of the Discussion section / improving readability]. The authors reviewed and edited all AI-assisted content and take full responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the published work. AI tools were not used for data analysis, interpretation, or generation of novel scientific content."
AI Was Not Used
"The authors did not use any AI-assisted technologies in the preparation of this manuscript."
Template: Ethical Approval Statement
Human Participants
"This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of [Institution Name] (Approval No. XXXXX, dated DD/MM/YYYY). Written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to enrolment."
No Human/Animal Subjects
"This study did not involve human participants, human data, or animal subjects. No ethical approval was required."
Check Journal-Specific Requirements
Every journal has specific disclosure requirements that may differ from these templates. Always read the target journal's Author Guidelines and check their specific section on 'Declarations', 'Ethics Statements', or 'Competing Interests' before submission. Journals such as PLOS ONE, BMJ, and Nature have particularly detailed requirements that go beyond the templates above.
Related Reading from Thesis Ace Writers
Need help preparing a complete, compliant manuscript submission package including all required disclosures? Thesis Ace Writers can review and finalise your submission package for any major journal.
Frequently Asked Questions
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A disclosure statement is a section at the end of a research paper (before references) where authors declare: (1) Conflicts of interest — financial or personal interests that could bias the research; (2) Funding sources — who funded the research and grant numbers; (3) Author contributions — what each author specifically contributed (using CRediT taxonomy); (4) Data availability — where the research data can be accessed; (5) Ethical approvals — IRB/ethics committee approval numbers; (6) AI use — whether and how AI tools were used in preparing the manuscript. Disclosure statements are now mandatory in most major journals and are reviewed during peer review.
A funding disclosure statement should include: (1) The name of every funding organisation that supported the research; (2) Grant or contract numbers; (3) The role of the funder — did they have any role in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or decision to publish? If not, say so explicitly. Example: 'This research was supported by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), India, under Grant No. CRG/2024/XXXXX. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.' If the research received no external funding: 'This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.'
A data availability statement tells readers where and how they can access the data underlying the findings of the paper. Options include: (1) Openly available data — data deposited in a public repository (e.g., Zenodo, Figshare, OSF, DRYAD) with a DOI; (2) Available on request — data not publicly archived but available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request; (3) Data not available — due to participant privacy, commercial sensitivity, or legal restrictions; (4) Data available in the article — all data are presented within the paper or supplementary materials. Many journals and funders (including SERB and Wellcome Trust) now require open data deposition as a condition of publication or funding.
As of 2026, most major publishers — Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, Taylor & Francis — require disclosure of AI tool use in manuscript preparation. The disclosure typically covers: use of AI writing assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.) for drafting or editing text; use of AI image generation tools; use of AI-based literature tools (Elicit, Consensus) if they materially shaped the content. AI tools cannot be listed as authors. A typical AI disclosure reads: 'During the preparation of this manuscript, the authors used [Tool Name] to [specific purpose, e.g., improve readability of the introduction]. After using this tool, the authors reviewed and edited the content and take full responsibility for the final manuscript.' If AI was not used, no disclosure is necessary but some journals ask you to confirm this.
CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) is a standardised framework for specifying each author's contribution to a research paper. It uses 14 defined roles: Conceptualisation, Data Curation, Formal Analysis, Funding Acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualisation, Writing – Original Draft, and Writing – Review & Editing. An example CRediT statement: 'Author A: Conceptualisation, Methodology, Writing – Original Draft. Author B: Formal Analysis, Visualisation. Author C: Supervision, Funding Acquisition, Writing – Review & Editing.' CRediT statements are now required by Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, and PLOS journals.