Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal's website will be used exclusively for the purposes of the journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or disclosed to any other party, except where necessary for the proper operation of the journal, where required by law, or where explicitly authorized by the individuals concerned.

1. Collection of Personal Information
This journal collects only the personal information necessary for the registration of users, submission and evaluation of manuscripts, editorial communication, publication of scholarly articles, and administration of the journal's activities. Such information may include names, email addresses, institutional affiliations, professional titles, usernames, and other details voluntarily provided by authors, reviewers, editors, and registered readers. Users are expected to provide accurate information when creating an account, submitting a manuscript, reviewing an article, or communicating with the editorial office. The journal does not intentionally request personal information that is unrelated to its academic and publishing activities.

2. Purpose of Data Processing
Personal information is processed exclusively for legitimate editorial, academic, administrative, and publishing purposes. These purposes include managing user accounts, receiving and processing manuscript submissions, communicating with authors and reviewers, coordinating the peer-review process, making editorial decisions, publishing accepted articles, maintaining publication records, and responding to inquiries concerning the journal. Personal data may also be used to send notifications directly related to a user's participation in the journal, including manuscript status updates, editorial decisions, requests for revisions, review invitations, publication announcements, and essential administrative communications. The journal will not use personal information for unrelated commercial activities, unsolicited advertising, marketing campaigns, or purposes incompatible with those for which the information was originally collected.

3. Confidentiality and Disclosure to Third Parties
The journal respects the confidentiality of personal information and does not sell, rent, trade, distribute, or otherwise disclose users' personal data to third parties for commercial purposes. Access to personal information is restricted to individuals who require such information to perform their editorial, reviewing, technical, or administrative responsibilities. This may include authorized editors, editorial assistants, reviewers, and technical administrators, depending on their respective roles and the requirements of the publishing process. Personal information may be processed by service providers whose technical services are necessary for operating the journal's website, maintaining its publishing platform, delivering communications, or supporting the publication process. Such processing is limited to what is necessary for the relevant service and is subject to appropriate confidentiality and data-protection safeguards. Information may also be disclosed where required by applicable law, a competent judicial authority, or another legally authorized body. Any such disclosure will be limited to the information necessary to comply with the relevant legal obligation.

4. Information Associated with Published Articles
Certain information provided by authors may become part of the permanent scholarly record when an article is published. This may include authors' names, institutional affiliations, ORCID identifiers, email addresses designated for publication, article titles, abstracts, keywords, acknowledgements, and other bibliographic or scholarly metadata. Published articles and their associated metadata may be made freely available through the journal's website, indexing services, bibliographic databases, scholarly search engines, and other academic discovery platforms. This dissemination is an essential part of scholarly publishing and open access. Authors should therefore distinguish between personal information intended for publication and contact details supplied exclusively for editorial communication. The journal will not intentionally publish private contact information unless its publication is appropriate for the stated purpose, has been authorized where necessary, or is otherwise legally justified.

5. Peer Review and Editorial Confidentiality
Personal information relating to authors, reviewers, and editors will be handled in accordance with the journal's editorial procedures and applicable peer-review model. Manuscripts submitted for evaluation, reviewers' reports, editorial correspondence, and information concerning editorial decisions will be treated as confidential, except where disclosure is necessary for the editorial process, authorized by the relevant parties, required by law, or consistent with the journal's published policies. Reviewers must not use unpublished manuscript information for personal advantage or disclose confidential material obtained through the review process. Similarly, editorial personnel are expected to handle submissions and associated personal information responsibly and to respect the confidentiality of editorial communications.

6. Data Storage, Security, and Retention
Personal information is stored within the journal's publishing and administrative systems and is subject to appropriate technical and organizational measures designed to protect it against unauthorized access, accidental loss, alteration, misuse, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, account permissions, software maintenance, security monitoring, backups, and other safeguards appropriate to the nature of the information and the technical environment in which it is processed. Personal data will be retained for as long as reasonably necessary to administer the journal, maintain editorial and publication records, meet applicable legal or administrative obligations, resolve disputes, and preserve the integrity of the scholarly record. Because academic publishing requires the long-term preservation of articles, bibliographic metadata, and certain editorial records, some information may need to be retained after a user ceases to participate in the journal. Retention will be subject to applicable data-protection requirements.

7. User Accounts and Personal Data Rights
Registered users may request information about the personal data held about them and, where applicable, request its correction, updating, restriction of processing, or deletion. Requests concerning personal information should be submitted to the journal's editorial office or the person responsible for administering the journal's website. The journal will consider such requests in accordance with applicable law and the legitimate requirements of scholarly publishing. The deletion of an account or the removal of certain personal information may be subject to limitations where the information is necessary to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record, document editorial decisions, satisfy legal obligations, or establish, exercise, or defend legal claims. Where applicable, users may also exercise their rights to object to processing, withdraw consent for processing based on consent, request data portability, or lodge a complaint with the competent data-protection supervisory authority.

8. Cookies and Technical Information
The journal's website may use cookies and similar technical mechanisms that are necessary for its operation. These may support user authentication, session management, navigation, security, and the proper functioning of the online journal management and publishing system. The website's hosting infrastructure may also process technical information, such as IP addresses, browser details, access times, and server logs, for operational, diagnostic, and security purposes. Any additional cookies or tracking technologies, if used, should be disclosed in accordance with applicable legal requirements. Personal information obtained through technical mechanisms will not be used for unrelated purposes.

9. Communications and User Preferences
The journal may contact registered users regarding matters directly connected with their accounts, submissions, reviews, editorial assignments, or published work. Users may manage available notification preferences through their accounts or contact the editorial office to request changes where appropriate. Communications that are necessary to administer an active submission, fulfill an editorial responsibility, or comply with legal obligations may continue where permitted by applicable law. The journal does not intend to use registered users' contact details to distribute unsolicited commercial messages or to provide mailing lists to external organizations.

10. External Websites and Scholarly Services
The journal's website may contain links to external websites, institutional repositories, scholarly databases, indexing services, DOI registration agencies, and other academic resources. Published articles and associated metadata may also be transmitted to or collected by external services to facilitate indexing, citation, archiving, and scholarly discovery. These external services operate under their own privacy policies and data-protection practices. The journal cannot assume responsibility for the independent processing of personal information by external websites or organizations, and users are encouraged to consult the relevant privacy notices when accessing such services.

11. Changes to This Privacy Notice
This privacy notice may be revised from time to time to reflect changes in the journal's editorial procedures, publishing platform, technical infrastructure, or applicable legal requirements. The current version will be made available on the journal's website. Users are encouraged to consult this page periodically to remain informed about how their personal information is collected, used, stored, and protected.

12. Contact Information
Questions, concerns, or requests relating to personal information and privacy should be directed to the journal's editorial office or the person responsible for the administration of the journal's website. Requests will be reviewed and addressed in accordance with applicable data-protection legislation and the journal's operational requirements. By registering with the journal or providing personal information through its website, users acknowledge that their information will be processed for the purposes described in this notice, subject to the applicable legal basis for each processing activity and the rights available to them under relevant law.