The journal is committed to protecting the privacy, confidentiality and personal data of authors, reviewers, editors, readers and other individuals who interact with the journal. Personal data are processed in accordance with applicable data-protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), where applicable, and relevant standards of publication ethics.

 

Personal Data Collected

The journal may collect and process personal data necessary for editorial, publishing and administrative activities, including:

• names and contact details;
• institutional affiliations and professional positions;
• ORCID identifiers and other researcher identifiers;
• information provided during manuscript submission;
• correspondence with the Editorial Office;
• information relating to editorial and peer-review activities;
• declarations of competing interests and funding information; and
• technical or administrative information necessary for the operation of the journal’s publishing systems.

The journal collects only personal data that are relevant and necessary for legitimate editorial, publishing, administrative or legal purposes.

 

Purposes of Processing

Personal data may be processed for the purposes of:

• receiving and processing manuscript submissions;
• administering editorial assessment and peer review;
• communicating with authors, reviewers and editors;
• verifying authorship, affiliations and other publication-related information;
• managing conflict of interest and publication ethics matters;
• producing, publishing, indexing, archiving and preserving scholarly content;
• assigning and maintaining persistent identifiers, including DOIs;
• maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record;
• responding to complaints, appeals and ethical concerns; and
• complying with applicable legal, regulatory or contractual obligations.

Personal data are not used for unrelated commercial purposes.

 

Legal Basis for Processing

Depending on the nature and purpose of the processing, personal data may be processed on the basis of consent, performance of a contract or steps taken at the request of the data subject, compliance with a legal obligation, legitimate interests, or another lawful basis available under applicable data-protection legislation.

Where processing is based on consent, consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous and may be withdrawn in accordance with applicable law. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

Submission of a manuscript does not mean that all processing of personal data is based exclusively on consent.

 

Confidentiality and Access to Personal Data

Access to personal data is restricted to individuals and service providers who require such access for legitimate editorial, publishing, administrative, technical or legal purposes.

In accordance with the journal’s double-blind peer-review policy, identifying information about authors is not normally disclosed to reviewers. Reviewers receive only the information necessary to conduct the scholarly evaluation of the manuscript.

Editors, reviewers, journal staff and other persons involved in manuscript processing are required to respect the confidentiality of information obtained through the editorial and peer-review process.

 

Sharing of Personal Data

The journal does not sell or rent personal data.

Personal data may be shared, where necessary, with service providers or organisations supporting the journal’s legitimate publishing activities, such as manuscript management, website hosting, DOI registration, indexing, digital preservation or other scholarly publishing services.

Personal data may also be disclosed where:

• disclosure is required by law or a competent authority;
• it is necessary to investigate suspected research or publication misconduct;
• it is necessary to protect the integrity of the peer-review or scholarly record; or
• another lawful basis for disclosure exists.

Where information is shared in connection with an ethical investigation, disclosure should be limited to what is reasonably necessary and handled with appropriate regard for confidentiality.

 

Publication of Personal Information

Certain information relating to authors is published as part of the scholarly record. This may include the author’s name, institutional affiliation, ORCID identifier and other bibliographic information associated with the published article.

Contact details may be published where this is necessary for scholarly correspondence, for example for the corresponding author, and where consistent with the journal’s publication procedures.

Personal information that is not necessary for publication will not normally be made publicly available.

 

Data Security

The journal applies appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure, access or misuse.

Access to editorial systems and personal information is restricted according to operational responsibilities and legitimate publishing needs.

 

Data Retention

Personal data are retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which they were collected, subject to applicable legal, contractual, archival and scholarly-record requirements.

Certain information associated with published articles, including authorship and bibliographic metadata, may need to be retained on a long-term or permanent basis in order to preserve the integrity, attribution and accessibility of the scholarly record.

Editorial records may also be retained where necessary for handling disputes, complaints, publication ethics investigations or other legitimate editorial purposes.

 

Rights of Data Subjects

Subject to the conditions and limitations established by applicable data-protection legislation, individuals may have the right to:

• request access to their personal data;
• request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data;
• request erasure of personal data;
• request restriction of processing;
• object to certain types of processing;
• request data portability where applicable;
• withdraw consent where processing is based on consent; and
• lodge a complaint with the competent data-protection supervisory authority.

These rights are not absolute and may be subject to exceptions provided by applicable law. In particular, certain data may need to be retained where necessary to comply with legal obligations, protect legitimate interests or preserve the integrity of the scholarly record.

Requests concerning personal data should be submitted to the Editorial Office at info@jesi.stratum.press.

 

International Data Transfers

Where personal data are transferred to or processed in a country outside the jurisdiction in which they were collected, the journal will apply appropriate safeguards where required by applicable data-protection legislation.

 

Publication Ethics and Personal Data

Personal data obtained through manuscript submission, peer review or publication ethics procedures must be handled confidentially.

Where information needs to be disclosed for the investigation of suspected research or publication misconduct, the journal will seek to limit disclosure to information reasonably necessary for the investigation and will follow relevant COPE guidance and applicable legal requirements.

 

Changes to This Privacy Policy

The journal may update this Privacy and Personal Data Protection Policy where necessary to reflect changes in its publishing practices, technologies or applicable legal requirements. The current version of the policy will be made available on the journal website.