Privacy statement

The "Journal of Human Rights,Gender Studies & Social Justice" is committed to protecting the privacy and personal data of authors, reviewers, editors, readers, and other users of the journal’s services. Personal data are processed only for legitimate purposes connected with the journal’s scholarly publishing activities and in accordance with applicable data-protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), where applicable.

 

Personal data we process

The journal may process personal data provided by registered and non-registered users, including:

• names and contact details;
• institutional affiliations and professional information;
• email addresses;
• ORCID iDs and other researcher identifiers;
• information submitted during manuscript submission, peer review, and editorial correspondence;
• authorship and contributorship information;
• declarations concerning conflict of interest, funding, and research ethics;
• technical information necessary for the operation, security, and administration of the journal’s website and submission system.

Only personal data that are reasonably necessary for editorial, peer-review, publication, communication, administrative, legal, ethical, or scholarly-record purposes are processed.

 

Purposes of data processing

Personal data may be processed for the following purposes:

• managing manuscript submissions and editorial correspondence;
• organising and administering peer review;
• communicating editorial decisions and requests for revision;
• publishing author names, affiliations, researcher identifiers, and other bibliographic information associated with published articles;
• maintaining the integrity and provenance of the scholarly record;
• registering and maintaining publication metadata and persistent identifiers;
• investigating allegations of research or publication misconduct;
• responding to complaints and appeals;
• maintaining records required for editorial, ethical, legal, or administrative purposes;
• ensuring the security and proper functioning of the journal’s website and publishing infrastructure.

Personal data will not be used for purposes incompatible with those for which they were collected unless there is an appropriate legal basis for doing so.

 

Publication of author information

Information necessary to identify authorship and ensure the integrity of the scholarly record, including authors’ names, institutional affiliations, ORCID iDs, and relevant bibliographic information, is published together with accepted articles and forms part of the permanent scholarly record.

The corresponding author’s contact information may also be published where this is part of the journal’s publication practice.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that personal information concerning research participants, contributors, or other third parties is included in a manuscript only where there is an appropriate ethical and legal basis for its publication.

 

Confidentiality of editorial and peer-review data

Information relating to submitted manuscripts is treated as confidential.

Access to such information is restricted to persons who require it for legitimate editorial or publishing purposes, including editors, authorised Editorial Board members, reviewers, and relevant publishing or technical personnel.

Under the journal’s double-blind peer-review model, reviewers’ identities are not disclosed to authors, and authors’ identities are concealed from reviewers to the extent reasonably possible during the peer-review process.

Personal data obtained through the peer-review and editorial process must not be used for private, commercial, or research purposes unrelated to the journal’s legitimate activities.

 

Sharing of personal data

The journal does not sell personal data.

Personal data may, however, be disclosed to service providers or other organisations where such processing is necessary for the operation of the journal and scholarly publishing process. These may include providers of manuscript-management systems, website hosting and technical services, DOI and metadata registration services, indexing and archiving services, and other infrastructure used in scholarly communication.

Personal data may also be disclosed where necessary to investigate suspected research or publication misconduct, protect the integrity of the scholarly record, comply with a legal obligation, or respond to a lawful request from a competent authority.

Only data reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose should be disclosed.

 

Data retention

Personal data are retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which they were collected and in accordance with applicable legal, editorial, ethical, and scholarly-record requirements.

Certain information relating to published articles, authorship, editorial decisions, peer review, corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, ethical investigations, or other elements of the scholarly record may need to be retained for an extended period or permanently in order to preserve the integrity, transparency, and reliability of the academic record.

 

Rights of data subjects

Subject to applicable data-protection legislation and any relevant legal limitations or exemptions, individuals may have the right to:

• obtain information about the processing of their personal data;
• request access to their personal data;
• request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data;
• request erasure of personal data in circumstances where the right to erasure applies;
• request restriction of processing;
• object to certain forms of processing;
• receive personal data in a portable format where the right to data portability applies;
• withdraw consent where processing is based on consent, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal; and
• lodge a complaint with the competent data-protection supervisory authority.

These rights are not absolute and may be subject to limitations provided by applicable law. In particular, requests for erasure, rectification, or restriction may be limited where retention of information is necessary to comply with legal or ethical obligations, establish or defend legal claims, protect research integrity, or preserve an accurate scholarly record.

 

Research participants and personal data

Authors are responsible for ensuring that personal data relating to research participants have been collected, processed, stored, and reported in accordance with applicable legislation, institutional requirements, and recognised research-ethics standards.

Where identifiable personal information, images, recordings, case descriptions, quotations, or other potentially identifying material are included in a publication, authors must obtain appropriate consent for publication unless another lawful and ethically acceptable basis applies.

Authors should anonymise or pseudonymise research data where appropriate and should avoid publishing information that could unnecessarily identify individual participants.

 

Data security and privacy by design

The journal and its publisher take reasonable organisational and technical measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, loss, or destruction.

Data-protection considerations are taken into account when developing and maintaining editorial and publishing procedures and technical systems, in accordance with the principle of data protection by design and by default where applicable.

Where a personal-data breach occurs, the journal and/or the relevant data controller will take appropriate action in accordance with applicable data-protection legislation, including notification to the competent supervisory authority or affected individuals where legally required.

 

Contact regarding personal data

Questions, requests, or concerns regarding the processing of personal data by the "Journal of Human Rights,Gender Studies & Social Justice" may be submitted to: jhrgssj@veruspublishing.co.uk

Requests concerning personal data will be considered in accordance with applicable data-protection legislation and the journal’s obligations to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record.