Privacy Policy

1. Policy Statement

This Privacy Policy explains how Impaxon collects, uses, stores, protects, and processes personal information obtained through manuscript submission, peer review, editorial management, journal publishing, website use, and related publishing activities.

By using Impaxon websites or submitting information to our journals, users acknowledge that their information may be processed in accordance with this policy.

2. Scope

This policy applies to authors, corresponding authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, guest editors, readers, website visitors, conference participants, and any other individuals who interact with Impaxon or its publishing services.

3. Information We Collect

Depending on the services used, Impaxon may collect information such as:

• Name and professional title;
• Institutional affiliation;
• Email address;
• Postal address where required;
• ORCID iD and researcher identifiers;
• Biography and areas of expertise;
• Reviewer interests and editorial information;
• Manuscript files and supplementary materials;
• Publication history and correspondence;
• Technical information generated through website use.

4. How We Use Personal Information

Personal information is used only for legitimate publishing purposes, including manuscript processing, peer review, editorial decision-making, publication, indexing, production, communication, customer support, website administration, and maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record.

Information may also be used to improve publishing services, investigate publication ethics concerns, comply with legal obligations, and maintain secure publishing systems.

5. Manuscript Submission Information

Information provided during manuscript submission is used to administer editorial workflows, communicate with authors, coordinate peer review, publish accepted articles, register metadata with indexing services, assign Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), and maintain publication records.

Correspondence relating to manuscript processing may be retained as part of the publication record.

6. Reviewer Information

Reviewer information is used solely for editorial management, reviewer selection, peer review administration, recognition where applicable, quality assurance, and communication regarding review activities.

Reviewer identities are handled in accordance with the journal's Peer Review Policy and are not disclosed except where the review model or reviewer consent permits.

7. Editorial Board Information

Information provided by editors and editorial board members is used for journal administration, editorial communication, publication governance, website presentation, and editorial management.

Publicly displayed editorial information is limited to professional details relevant to editorial responsibilities.

8. Website Usage Information

When users access Impaxon websites, technical information such as browser type, operating system, IP address, referring pages, device information, and website usage statistics may be collected automatically to improve website performance, security, and user experience.

Such information is generally analysed in aggregate and is not used to identify individual users unless required for security, fraud prevention, or legal compliance.

9. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Impaxon websites may use cookies or similar technologies to support essential website functionality, user preferences, authentication, security, performance monitoring, and analytics.

Users may control or disable cookies through their browser settings, although doing so may affect certain website features.

10. Sharing of Personal Information

Impaxon does not sell personal information. Personal information may be shared only where necessary to support legitimate publishing activities, including editorial management, production services, DOI registration, indexing, hosting, technical support, legal compliance, or other services directly related to scholarly publishing.

Any sharing of information is limited to the extent reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose.

11. Data Retention

Personal information is retained only for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including editorial processing, publication records, legal compliance, research integrity, dispute resolution, and journal administration.

Published article metadata and publication records may be retained permanently as part of the scholarly record.

12. Data Security

Impaxon takes reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, disclosure, or destruction.

However, no online system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Users are responsible for ensuring that information they submit is accurate and that account credentials, where applicable, are kept confidential.

13. International Data Processing

As an international scholarly publisher, Impaxon may process or store information in countries other than the user's country of residence, including where hosting, editorial, technical, indexing, or production services are located.

Where information is processed internationally, Impaxon aims to handle personal data in accordance with applicable privacy and data protection requirements.

14. User Rights

Subject to applicable law, individuals may request access to their personal information, correction of inaccurate information, restriction of processing, deletion of information, or clarification regarding how their information is used.

Some information may need to be retained where required for publication records, legal obligations, research integrity, editorial accountability, or the preservation of the scholarly record.

15. Third-Party Services

Impaxon may use third-party services for hosting, manuscript management, DOI registration, indexing, email communication, analytics, security, payment processing where applicable, and other publishing-related functions.

Third-party services process information according to their own privacy practices and only for purposes connected to the relevant publishing activity.

16. Publicly Available Information

Certain information becomes publicly available as part of the publication process. This may include author names, affiliations, ORCID iDs, email addresses where provided for correspondence, funding information, acknowledgements, conflict of interest statements, article metadata, and published content.

Once published, article metadata and scholarly records may be distributed to indexing databases, repositories, libraries, Crossref, search engines, and other scholarly discovery services.

17. Children's Privacy

Impaxon publishing services are intended for researchers, authors, reviewers, editors, readers, and academic professionals. The website and publishing services are not directed to children.

Where research involves children or minors as participants, authors must comply with the Human Research Ethics Policy.

18. Contact

Questions about this Privacy Policy or requests relating to personal information may be sent through the official contact details provided on the Impaxon website.

19. Changes to this Policy

Impaxon may revise this policy periodically to reflect changes in privacy practices, legal requirements, publishing operations, technology, or scholarly communication standards.