Data Retention Policy

                                                                                                                                           Last revised: 12 January 2026

Personal data associated with manuscript submissions, peer review, and editorial correspondence is stored only for as long as required to maintain the scholarly record and fulfill indexing, archiving, and legal obligations.

Retention periods:
• Manuscript submission data: kept permanently as part of the scholarly record
• Reviewer data and correspondence: up to 5 years after completion of the review
• User accounts: active until manually deleted or after 3 years of inactivity
• Email and communication records: 3 years
• Website analytics and cookies: temporary session-based unless otherwise stated

After the retention period expires, all personal information is securely deleted from the journal system.

This policy complies with COPE, GDPR, and best practices in scholarly publishing.