Privacy Policy

1. Purpose
The Journal of Global Arts Studies (JGAS) respects the privacy of authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, readers, website users, and all individuals involved in the journal’s submission, review, publication, and communication processes.
This Privacy Policy explains how JGAS collects, uses, stores, protects, and manages personal information in connection with the journal website, manuscript submission system, peer review process, editorial communication, publication activities, and related academic services.
The purpose of this policy is to protect personal information, maintain confidentiality, and ensure the responsible handling of data used for legitimate journal-related purposes.

2. Scope
This Privacy Policy applies to personal information collected and processed by JGAS in relation to:
a. manuscript submission;
b. peer review;
c. editorial communication;
d. publication and indexing;
e. website registration and use;
f. journal announcements and academic communication;
g. reviewer and editorial board management;
h. inquiries, complaints, appeals, and ethical investigations.
This policy applies to all users of the JGAS website and journal system, including authors, reviewers, editors, readers, editorial staff, and other registered or unregistered users.

3. Personal Information Collected
JGAS may collect personal information necessary for journal operation and academic publishing purposes.
Such information may include:
a. name;
b. affiliation;
c. academic title or position;
d. email address;
e. postal address, where necessary;
f. country or region;
g. ORCID iD, where provided;
h. telephone number, where necessary;
i. username and account information for the journal system;
j. manuscript submission records;
k. peer review records;
l. editorial correspondence;
m. conflict of interest declarations;
n. funding and ethics declarations;
o. publication metadata;
p. website usage or system log information where applicable.
JGAS collects only the information reasonably necessary for the operation of the journal and the management of scholarly publication.

4. Purpose of Use
Personal information collected by JGAS may be used for the following purposes:
a. managing user registration and journal accounts;
b. receiving and processing manuscript submissions;
c. conducting editorial screening and peer review;
d. communicating with authors, reviewers, editors, and readers;
e. managing revisions, decisions, publication, corrections, retractions, complaints, and appeals;
f. assigning reviewers and editors;
g. maintaining publication records and journal archives;
h. publishing article metadata, including author names, affiliations, and correspondence details where appropriate;
i. registering metadata with indexing, abstracting, DOI, archiving, or scholarly database services where applicable;
j. sending journal announcements, calls for papers, or editorial notices where appropriate;
k. responding to inquiries or requests;
l. investigating ethical concerns or publication misconduct;
m. complying with legal, regulatory, institutional, or publication ethics requirements.
Personal information will not be used for unrelated commercial marketing purposes.

5. Publication of Author Information
For published articles, JGAS may publish information necessary for scholarly identification and citation, including:
a. author name;
b. affiliation;
c. country or region;
d. email address of the corresponding author, where provided for publication;
e. ORCID iD, where provided;
f. funding information;
g. conflict of interest statement;
h. ethics approval statement, where applicable;
i. acknowledgements;
j. article metadata.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that the information submitted for publication is accurate and that any personal information of co-authors or third parties is provided with appropriate permission.

6. Confidentiality of Submissions and Peer Review
JGAS treats submitted manuscripts, peer review reports, editorial correspondence, reviewer identities, author identities in double-blind review, unpublished materials, and ethical investigation materials as confidential.
Access to such confidential information is limited to individuals who need it for legitimate journal-related purposes, including editors, reviewers, editorial staff, and authorized service providers where applicable.
Reviewers, editors, editorial board members, guest editors, and editorial staff must not disclose confidential manuscript or review information to unauthorized persons.
Confidential materials must not be uploaded to external AI tools, public platforms, or third-party systems without explicit authorization from JGAS.

7. Disclosure to Third Parties
JGAS does not sell personal information to third parties.
Personal information may be shared only where necessary for legitimate journal operation, scholarly publishing, legal compliance, or ethical investigation.
Such third parties may include:
a. manuscript submission and journal hosting systems;
b. indexing and abstracting databases;
c. DOI registration agencies;
d. archiving and preservation services;
e. plagiarism or similarity checking services;
f. copyediting, typesetting, or production service providers;
g. academic databases or journal platforms authorized by the journal;
h. institutional or ethics authorities where serious misconduct is investigated;
i. legal or regulatory authorities where required by law.
Any sharing of personal information shall be limited to what is necessary for the relevant purpose.

8. Data Storage and Protection
JGAS makes reasonable efforts to protect personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, loss, misuse, or destruction.
Personal information may be stored in the journal’s online submission system, editorial records, email correspondence, publication files, metadata systems, archives, and related administrative records.
Access to personal information is limited to authorized individuals involved in journal operation and publication management.
While JGAS takes reasonable steps to protect personal information, no online system can guarantee absolute security.

9. Retention of Personal Information
JGAS may retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill legitimate journal purposes, including editorial management, peer review records, publication history, archiving, indexing, ethical investigations, legal compliance, and scholarly record preservation.
Information related to published articles, including article metadata and author information, may be retained permanently as part of the scholarly record.
Information related to rejected or withdrawn manuscripts may be retained for a reasonable period for editorial, administrative, ethical, or legal purposes.

10. Rights of Users
Users may request access to, correction of, or deletion of their personal information, subject to applicable law, journal policy, publication ethics requirements, and the need to preserve the scholarly record.
Requests may be sent to the editorial office.
JGAS may be unable to delete information that must be retained for legitimate reasons, such as published article metadata, peer review records, ethical investigation records, legal obligations, or archival integrity.

11. Website and System Information
The JGAS website or submission system may collect limited technical information necessary for system operation, security, maintenance, analytics, and user access.
Such information may include:
a. IP address;
b. browser type;
c. device information;
d. access date and time;
e. pages visited;
f. system logs;
g. cookies or similar technologies where applicable.
Such information is used to maintain website functionality, improve user experience, protect system security, and support journal operations.

12. Email Communication
JGAS may use email addresses provided by users to send communications related to manuscript submission, peer review, editorial decisions, publication, journal announcements, policy updates, or other journal-related matters.
Users may contact the editorial office if they no longer wish to receive non-essential announcements. However, authors, reviewers, and editors may still receive necessary communications related to active submissions, reviews, editorial duties, or published works.

13. Privacy of Human Participants and Research Subjects
Authors are responsible for protecting the privacy and confidentiality of human participants, interviewees, performers, artists, community members, and other individuals involved in their research.
Manuscripts must not include personal, identifiable, sensitive, or private information without appropriate consent, ethical approval, or legal basis.
Where required, authors must anonymize or de-identify participant information.
The publication of images, photographs, videos, interviews, personal narratives, or performance documentation involving identifiable individuals must comply with applicable consent and ethics requirements.

14. Children and Vulnerable Individuals
If research involves children, minors, vulnerable individuals, or vulnerable communities, authors must obtain appropriate ethical approval and consent according to applicable standards.
JGAS may request additional documentation or clarification before publication.
Personal information of children or vulnerable individuals must be handled with heightened care.

15. International Data Processing
JGAS is an international journal. Personal information may be accessed, processed, stored, or transferred across countries or regions where authors, reviewers, editors, service providers, indexing services, or publishing systems are located.
JGAS will make reasonable efforts to ensure that personal information is handled responsibly and in accordance with this policy

16. Relationship with Other Policies
This Privacy Policy should be read together with the journal’s:
a. Journal Regulations;
b. Editorial and Peer Review Policy;
c. Publication Ethics;
d. AI Ethics Policy;
e. Copyright and Open Access Policy;
f. Data, Image, and Materials Policy;
g. Corrections, Retractions, and Complaints Policy.
Where this Privacy Policy overlaps with other JGAS policies, the stricter confidentiality or data protection standard shall apply.

17. Policy Review
This Privacy Policy may be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect changes in journal operations, legal requirements, editorial systems, indexing standards, privacy practices, and scholarly publishing norms.
The most recent version of this policy shall be made available on the JGAS website.

Last updated: December 1, 2025