Privacy Statement

The Herald of the National Children's Medical Center respects the privacy of authors, reviewers, editors, readers, registered users, and other individuals who interact with the journal and its online platform.

Personal information is collected and processed only where reasonably necessary for the journal’s scholarly publishing, editorial, administrative, technical, security, communication, preservation, and related legitimate functions.

Personal information collected through the journal website is not used for unrelated commercial purposes and is not sold to advertisers or other third parties.

This Privacy Statement concerns personal information processed through the journal website and publishing workflow. Privacy and confidentiality requirements relating to patients and research participants are governed separately by the journal’s Research Ethics Policy.

Information We May Collect

Depending on how an individual interacts with the journal, the journal platform may collect or process information such as:

  • name and surname;
  • email address;
  • username and account information;
  • institutional affiliation;
  • department and professional position;
  • country or location information provided by the user;
  • ORCID iD or other scholarly identifiers;
  • correspondence and contact information;
  • manuscript submission information;
  • authorship and contributorship information;
  • reviewer interests and areas of expertise;
  • editorial and peer-review records;
  • conflict-of-interest and funding declarations;
  • information voluntarily entered into a user profile;
  • technical information reasonably necessary for operation, security, and administration of the website.

The journal seeks to collect only information reasonably necessary for the relevant publishing or platform function.

Purposes of Processing

Personal information may be used to:

  • create and manage user accounts;
  • receive and process manuscript submissions;
  • communicate with authors;
  • identify and invite suitable reviewers;
  • administer peer review;
  • support editorial decision-making;
  • communicate with editors and Editorial Board members;
  • manage revisions and publication;
  • prepare and maintain article metadata;
  • register and maintain persistent identifiers such as DOI;
  • support indexing, discovery, archiving, and preservation where applicable;
  • investigate publication-ethics or research-integrity concerns;
  • issue corrections, retractions, or other post-publication notices;
  • maintain security and technical operation of the journal platform;
  • maintain the integrity and reliability of the scholarly record;
  • send legitimate journal communications where appropriate.

Personal information should not be processed for purposes incompatible with those for which it was collected without an appropriate basis.

Authors and Contributors

Information provided by authors during submission may be used for editorial processing, peer review, publication, scholarly communication, metadata registration, indexing, preservation, and maintenance of the scholarly record.

Certain information is intended to become public when an article is published. This may include, where applicable:

  • author names;
  • affiliations;
  • country;
  • ORCID iDs;
  • authorship and contributorship information;
  • correspondence information designated for publication;
  • funding information;
  • conflict-of-interest declarations;
  • other information required as part of transparent scholarly reporting.

Authors should not enter unnecessary sensitive personal information into manuscript metadata or public profile fields.

Reviewers

Reviewer information is processed for purposes of reviewer selection, invitation, peer review, editorial administration, integrity verification, and maintenance of appropriate editorial records.

Because the journal operates a double-anonymous peer-review system, reviewer identities and confidential review information are not disclosed to authors as part of the normal peer-review process.

Reviewer information may be accessible to authorized editorial personnel where necessary for journal operations, integrity, conflict-of-interest management, or other legitimate editorial purposes.

Reviewer contact details must not be used for unrelated commercial marketing.

Editors and Editorial Board Members

Personal and professional information concerning editors and Editorial Board members may be processed for journal governance, editorial management, peer-review administration, communication, conflict-of-interest management, and public identification of the journal’s editorial structure.

Professional information intended for public display may include names, editorial roles, institutional affiliations, countries, ORCID iDs, or other appropriate scholarly profile information.

Public and Confidential Information

The journal distinguishes between information intended for public scholarly communication and information that should remain confidential.

Information forming part of the published scholarly record may remain publicly available on a long-term basis.

Confidential information may include:

  • passwords and authentication information;
  • non-public contact information;
  • confidential reviewer information;
  • internal editorial correspondence;
  • unpublished manuscripts;
  • confidential conflict-of-interest information;
  • internal ethics or misconduct investigation materials;
  • other information not intended for public disclosure.

Access to confidential information should be limited to persons who require it for legitimate journal functions.

Peer-Review Confidentiality

Submitted manuscripts and materials connected with peer review are treated as confidential.

Editors, reviewers, and other authorized individuals must not use confidential manuscript information for personal advantage or disclose it without authorization, except where disclosure is necessary for legitimate editorial, legal, ethical, or research-integrity purposes.

The journal’s more detailed confidentiality obligations are described in its Publication Ethics and Reviewer Policy.

Website Operation and Technical Data

The journal platform may process technical information reasonably necessary to operate and secure the website, maintain user sessions, diagnose technical problems, prevent misuse, and generate legitimate usage information.

Where cookies, analytics technologies, or comparable tools are used, their use should be consistent with applicable privacy and data-protection requirements.

If non-essential analytics, advertising, or tracking technologies are introduced, the journal should disclose their use and apply appropriate consent or preference mechanisms where required.

Third-Party Service Providers and Scholarly Infrastructure

Certain information may be processed or transmitted to trusted service providers or scholarly infrastructure where this is necessary for legitimate publishing functions.

Depending on the service used, these functions may include:

  • website hosting;
  • email delivery;
  • DOI and metadata registration;
  • ORCID-related services;
  • indexing and discovery;
  • repository services;
  • digital preservation;
  • technical support.

Only information reasonably necessary for the relevant function should be transferred.

Use of external services does not authorize those services to use journal data for unrelated purposes outside their applicable terms and legal obligations.

Marketing Communications

Personal information obtained through manuscript submission, peer review, or editorial participation must not be improperly repurposed for unrelated commercial advertising.

Journal-related direct communications, including calls for papers or publication announcements, should follow the journal’s Advertising and Direct Marketing Policy.

Where recurring non-essential promotional communications are used, recipients should be provided with a reasonable method to express that they no longer wish to receive them.

Necessary communications concerning an active submission, peer review, editorial process, integrity matter, correction, or other journal activity are not ordinary marketing communications.

Disclosure of Personal Information

The journal does not disclose personal information to third parties merely for unrelated commercial purposes.

Information may be disclosed where reasonably necessary:

  • to perform legitimate journal and publishing functions;
  • with the individual’s authorization;
  • to protect the integrity of the scholarly record;
  • to investigate suspected misconduct or serious ethical concerns;
  • to comply with a lawful requirement;
  • to protect the rights, safety, or security of the journal, its users, or other persons.

Disclosure should be limited to information reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose.

Data Security

The journal and its technical service providers seek to apply reasonable administrative and technical safeguards to protect personal information against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure.

Access to administrative and confidential editorial information should be restricted according to legitimate roles and responsibilities.

No internet-based information system can guarantee absolute security; therefore, security arrangements should be reviewed and updated as the journal’s technical infrastructure develops.

Data Retention

Personal information is retained for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and for legitimate scholarly, editorial, integrity, technical, contractual, or legal requirements.

Different categories of information may require different retention periods.

Information forming part of the permanent scholarly record — including published author information, article metadata, correction or retraction records, and other essential publication information — may need to be preserved on a long-term basis.

Confidential editorial information should not be retained longer than reasonably necessary unless continued retention is justified by publication integrity, dispute resolution, legal obligations, or preservation of an appropriate editorial audit trail.

Account Information and Requests

Registered users should keep their account and profile information reasonably accurate.

Subject to applicable requirements and limitations associated with maintaining the scholarly record, individuals may contact the journal regarding:

  • inaccurate personal information;
  • updating account information;
  • questions about how their information is used;
  • requests concerning non-public personal information;
  • concerns about privacy or unauthorized disclosure;
  • preferences concerning non-essential journal communications.

Requests should be sent to the journal through the contact details published on its Contacts page.

A request to remove personal information does not necessarily require deletion of information that must legitimately remain in the published scholarly record, integrity records, or other records that the journal is required to preserve.

Published Scholarly Record

Privacy rights must be balanced with the journal’s responsibility to maintain a reliable scholarly record.

Once information has lawfully become part of a published scholarly article or essential publication metadata, it may need to remain publicly available for purposes of authorship attribution, citation, transparency, corrections, retractions, archiving, and preservation.

Changes to the published scholarly record are therefore managed through appropriate editorial and post-publication procedures rather than by undocumented deletion.

Research Participants and Patient Information

This Privacy Statement primarily governs personal information processed through the journal’s website and editorial workflow.

It does not replace the ethical requirements governing patient and research-participant information.

Identifiable patient information, clinical images, pediatric participant data, genetic information, consent for publication, and research confidentiality are governed by the journal’s Research Ethics Policy and related ethical requirements.

Policy Updates

The journal may revise this Privacy Statement when its publishing processes, technical infrastructure, services, or applicable requirements change.

Material revisions should be reflected transparently on the journal website.

The publicly available version of this Privacy Statement represents the journal’s current policy.

Policy Application

This Privacy Statement applies to personal information processed in connection with the journal website, user accounts, manuscript submission, peer review, editorial management, publication, scholarly communication, and related journal functions.

It should be read together with the journal’s:

  • Publication Ethics;
  • Research Ethics Policy;
  • Reviewer Policy;
  • Editorial Governance and Editorial Independence Policy;
  • Advertising and Direct Marketing Policy;
  • Research Data Policy.

The journal’s guiding principle is to process personal information lawfully, transparently, proportionately, securely, and only for legitimate scholarly publishing purposes, while preserving confidentiality and the integrity of the scientific record.


ISSN 2181-3353 (Online)