Privacy Policy
PenScholar aims to collect information only for legitimate publishing and operational purposes, use it transparently, protect it appropriately, limit access where possible, and respect applicable privacy rights. No system can guarantee absolute security, and this policy does not claim otherwise.
1. Who We Are
PenScholar Journals is a scholarly publishing platform for research in the social sciences and humanities.
The legal entity operating PenScholar Journals, its registered address, and its dedicated privacy contact are being finalized and will be published here once confirmed. In the meantime, privacy-related questions can be sent through the Contact page.
2. Information We Collect
PenScholar collects only the categories of information its websites and publishing workflows actually use:
Contact Form Information
Name, email address, reason for contact, the journal your enquiry relates to (if selected), subject, and message, when you use the Contact form.
Author & Manuscript Information
Name, institutional affiliation, ORCID iD (where provided), and declarations such as conflicts of interest, funding, and data availability, collected as part of preparing and submitting a manuscript. See Author Guidelines.
Reviewer Information
Name, email, institutional affiliation, areas of expertise, research keywords, and ORCID iD (where provided), if you express interest in reviewing. See Reviewers.
Technical Information
Standard web log information, such as IP address and browser type, generated by visiting PenScholar’s websites.
3. Publishing & Editorial Information
Academic publishing workflows involve processing information relating to authors, editors, reviewers, manuscripts, peer review, editorial correspondence, and publication records.
When an article is published, some information becomes part of the public scholarly record — for example, author names, affiliations, ORCID iDs, article metadata, acknowledgements, funding statements, and conflict of interest declarations. Which fields are made public depends on the specific journal’s publication model.
4. How We Use Personal Information
- Process manuscript submissions
- Manage peer review
- Communicate with authors, reviewers, and editors
- Publish scholarly content
- Maintain journal websites
- Respond to enquiries and provide support
- Prevent abuse and maintain security
- Comply with applicable legal obligations
5. Cookies & Similar Technologies
PenScholar’s websites do not currently set analytics, marketing, or preference cookies. If cookies or similar technologies strictly necessary for core site functionality are introduced, or if additional categories such as analytics cookies are added, this section will be updated to describe them accurately.
6. When We Share Information
Information is not shared arbitrarily. It may be shared in limited circumstances, such as:
- With service providers who help operate PenScholar’s websites and publishing systems
- With a DOI registration service, where a journal registers a DOI for a published article
- With ORCID, where an author or reviewer provides an ORCID iD, to verify and link the identifier
- Where required by applicable law
7. Third-Party Services
PenScholar’s specific third-party service providers are being finalized. As providers are configured, this section will list each one along with its purpose, the information it processes, and a link to its own privacy policy.
8. Publishing System
Manuscript submissions, reviewer activity, editorial communication, and publication workflows may be processed through a journal’s submission system. Each journal’s submission link is provided on its own page and on Submit Manuscript.
9. Data Retention
Personal information is retained only for as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected, subject to legal, editorial, and record-keeping requirements. Operational personal information (such as a contact enquiry) is generally retained for a shorter period than publication records — the scholarly record of a published article, including author and editorial metadata, may require long-term preservation regardless of any later account or contact request.
10. Data Security
PenScholar uses reasonable technical and organizational measures intended to protect personal information, such as access controls and secure hosting practices. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and this policy does not claim to guarantee absolute security.
11. Your Privacy Rights
Depending on applicable law and your circumstances, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, or object to the processing of your personal information, and to request a copy of it. Not every right applies in every situation.
Publication records that form part of the scholarly record — such as a published article’s author and editorial metadata — may need to be retained even where other personal information is deleted, in order to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record.
To ask about exercising a privacy right, use the Contact page.
12. External Links
PenScholar’s pages may link to external websites and services, including ORCID, DOI registration services, institutional websites, external repositories, and indexing and abstracting services. These external sites and services are governed by their own privacy policies, which PenScholar does not control.
13. Changes to This Privacy Policy
This policy may be updated as PenScholar’s services, technology, or applicable legal requirements change. A revision date and, where useful, a summary of changes will be shown here once this policy is formally issued.
14. Contact Us
A dedicated privacy contact will be published here once confirmed. In the meantime, privacy-related questions can be directed through the Contact page.