Privacy Policy

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The Centre for Research and Innovation (CRI), publisher of JISDS, recognises the importance of protecting personal information collected through the journal website, editorial management system, correspondence, publishing activities, and related services. This Privacy Policy explains the categories of information that may be collected, the purposes for which it may be used, how it is protected and shared, and how users may contact CRI about their information.

1. Information We May Collect

Information may be collected when a user visits the journal website, creates an account, submits or reviews a manuscript, performs editorial duties, completes a form or questionnaire, subscribes to updates, makes a payment, or corresponds with JISDS or CRI.

Depending on the activity, information may include:

  • name, salutation, email address, telephone number, postal address, affiliation, country, and other contact details;
  • research interests, areas of expertise, ORCID or other researcher identifiers where supplied;
  • submission metadata, including manuscript title, abstract, keywords, author details, suggested reviewers, conflict-of-interest declarations, and manuscript files;
  • peer-review and editorial information, including reviewer reports, editorial correspondence, decisions, and workflow records;
  • billing and payment-related information such as customer name, amount, date, payment method, and transaction references. Payment-card information is handled by third-party payment providers and is not retained by CRI where the provider processes the payment directly;
  • technical information reasonably generated through use of the website or publishing platform, such as account, access, and cookie-related data where applicable.

2. Purposes for Using Personal Information

Personal information may be used for legitimate journal and publishing operations, including:

  • creating and managing user accounts;
  • administering manuscript submission, peer review, editorial assessment, production, publication, and archiving workflows;
  • communicating with authors, reviewers, editors, readers, and other stakeholders;
  • issuing invoices and processing payments;
  • registering DOIs and supplying publication metadata to indexing, abstracting, discovery, preservation, and scholarly infrastructure services;
  • maintaining publication ethics, research-integrity, security, audit, and administrative records;
  • sending legitimate journal updates or targeted manuscript invitations in accordance with the Direct Marketing Policy;
  • responding to legal or regulatory requirements where applicable.

3. Storage and Security

CRI uses reasonable administrative and technical measures intended to protect personal information against accidental loss, alteration, deletion, unauthorised access, or unauthorised disclosure. Access to protected information is limited to individuals who require it for legitimate journal, publishing, technical, financial, or administrative functions.

No method of internet transmission or electronic storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Users should take reasonable steps to protect account credentials and should notify the journal if they become aware of suspected unauthorised access.

4. Sharing and Disclosure

Personal information is not sold or traded as a commercial list. Information may be shared where necessary for journal operations, including manuscript handling, publication, DOI registration, indexing and discovery, digital preservation, payment processing, technical hosting or support, and other legitimate scholarly-publishing services. Information may also be disclosed when required by law or to address serious research-integrity, security, or legal concerns.

5. Confidential Manuscripts and Peer Review

Submitted manuscripts, reviewer identities where protected by the peer-review model, reviewer reports, editorial correspondence, and unpublished research information are treated as confidential and are shared only with individuals or service providers involved in legitimate editorial or publishing functions, subject to the journal's policies.

6. Cookies and Website Functionality

The JISDS website or editorial platform may use cookies or similar technologies necessary for account access, security, session management, website functionality, and user experience. Where a separate Cookie Policy is provided, users should consult that policy for further information.

The journal website may link to or interact with external services, including DOI, indexing, payment, preservation, analytics, or scholarly infrastructure providers. Those services may operate under their own privacy notices and terms. JISDS and CRI are not responsible for the privacy practices of independent external websites.

8. Children

JISDS does not knowingly seek personal information from children for journal publishing services. Where use of the website by a minor requires the consent or supervision of a parent or legal guardian under applicable rules, such consent or supervision should be obtained.

9. Retention

Personal information and publishing records are retained for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which they were collected and for legitimate scholarly-record, contractual, financial, research-integrity, security, preservation, or legal requirements. Some publication and peer-review records may need to be retained to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.

10. Requests Concerning Personal Information

Users may contact CRI to request correction of inaccurate personal information, ask questions about how their information is used, or request access, restriction, or deletion where such action is appropriate and does not conflict with legitimate publication, legal, research-integrity, or record-preservation requirements.

Privacy-related requests may be sent to editorial@crijournals.org. Journal-specific editorial queries may be sent to editorial@crijournals.org.

11. Changes to this Policy

CRI may update this Privacy Policy when publishing practices, systems, services, or legal requirements change. The current version is published on the JISDS website.

Data Retention

Personal and editorial information is retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for journal operations, scholarly-record integrity, legal or accounting requirements, security, and legitimate archiving purposes. Retention periods may differ by category of information, and records required to document editorial decisions or publication ethics may be retained for longer periods where appropriate.

Data Requests and Contact

Subject to applicable law and legitimate scholarly-record requirements, individuals may request access to, correction of, or deletion or restriction of certain personal information held by CRI. Requests should be sent to editorial@crijournals.org. CRI may retain information where necessary to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, or prevent misuse.