Privacy Statement for SustainaTerra Journal Users
At SustainaTerra, we are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring the security of your personal data. When you register or log in to our platform, you entrust us with information such as your title, full name, email address, and gender. We understand the importance of this data and want to be transparent about how it is collected, used, stored, and safeguarded.
What Data We Collect
During your registration or account creation process, we collect the following personal information:
- Title (e.g., Mr, Ms, Dr, Prof)
- Full Name
- Email Address
- Gender
This data helps us verify your identity, personalize your experience, and communicate important updates regarding your submissions and our journal services.
Privacy Statement for Author Data Collection
At SustainaTerra, we prioritize the privacy and protection of personal and academic data provided by authors during the article submission and publication process. This privacy statement outlines the types of information we collect, how we use and store it, and the measures in place to safeguard it.
What Data We Collect
When submitting an article for consideration, authors are required to provide the following information:
- Article Metadata: Title, abstract, keywords, and current status
- Author Information: First name, last name, title (e.g., Mr, Dr), email address, ORCID iD, institutional affiliation, and country
- Corresponding Author: Email address of the designated corresponding author
- Article Files: Manuscript document and any supplementary files
- Declarations: Confirmation of authorship, originality, ethical approval, plagiarism clearance, consent for publication, data availability, conflict of interest disclosure, and author order agreement
Purpose of Data Collection
The data collected is essential for the editorial and peer review process and ensures transparency, accountability, and proper scholarly communication. Specifically, we use your data to:
- Register and track article submissions
- Communicate with authors regarding submission status and editorial decisions
- Ensure compliance with ethical and publishing standards
- Facilitate indexing, citation, and publication of accepted manuscripts
Data Sharing and Publication
Selected author information (name, affiliation, ORCID, and country) may be published with the article upon acceptance. We do not sell, trade, or rent author data. Data may be shared with reviewers and editors solely for the purposes of peer review and editorial processing.
Data Protection and Security
SustainaTerra implements robust security measures to protect your personal and academic data from unauthorized access, alteration, or disclosure. All data transmissions occur over secure connections, and access is restricted to authorized personnel only.
How We Use Your Data
The personal information you provide is used exclusively for the following purposes:
- To create and manage your user account on SustainaTerra
- To facilitate communication related to manuscript submissions, peer reviews, editorial decisions, and other journal-related activities
- To send important notifications such as password resets, account updates, and service announcements
- To improve our platform and tailor the user experience based on your preferences
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information with third parties.
Authors as Potential Reviewers
Peer review depends on researchers reviewing each other's work. For this reason, the name, institutional affiliation, country, ORCID iD, e-mail address and the keywords of the manuscripts of authors and co-authors may be added to our internal reviewer database, so that editors can invite them to review manuscripts in their field. This is based on the journal's legitimate interest in running peer review, and is limited as follows:
- If you have an account, your choice under “Open to review invitations” is respected: if it is off, you are not offered to editors as a reviewer.
- Co-authors without an account are marked as not having opted in. An invitation is only a request: you can accept or decline it, and ask us not to invite you again.
- You are never invited to review your own manuscript, or a manuscript by someone you have co-authored with in this journal.
- The reviewer database is only visible to the journal's editors. It is not published, not shared with other organisations and not used for marketing.
To change your choice, turn “Open to review invitations” on or off in your profile, reply to any review invitation, or write to contact@sustainaterra.org and we will remove you from the reviewer database.
Service Requests
When you use a request form for language editing, printed copies, advertising or library services, we receive the details you enter (such as your name, e-mail address, organisation, country and, for printed copies, a delivery address and phone number). We use them only to answer and fulfil that request and to keep a record of it. Delivery details are shared with the courier only when an order is shipped. Manuscripts sent for language editing are handled confidentially and are not shared with reviewers or used for any other purpose.
Data Security and Protection
We employ industry-standard security measures to protect your data from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These include:
- Secure server environments with encryption protocols (SSL/TLS) to protect data transmission
- Access controls restricting data access only to authorized personnel
- Regular security assessments and updates to safeguard our systems
Data Retention
Your personal information is retained only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described above or as required by law. Should you choose to delete your account, we will securely erase your data in accordance with applicable regulations.
Your Rights
Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have rights concerning your personal data, including:
- Accessing the data we hold about you
- Requesting correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
- Requesting deletion of your personal data
- Objecting to or restricting certain data processing activities
To exercise these rights or inquire about your data, please contact us at contact@sustainaterra.org.
Article Statistics
To show how often each article is read, we count page views, PDF downloads and unique visitors. Your browser keeps a random identifier so that repeat visits are counted once; we store it only in hashed form. The country of a visit is estimated from its network address on our server; the address itself is not stored or shared. These counts contain no names, accounts or other personal details, and are shown publicly only as totals.
Cookies and Tracking Technologies
Changes to This Privacy Statement
We may update this privacy statement periodically to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. When we do, we will post the updated statement on our website and notify you as appropriate.