Acta Health Scientifica ("the journal," "we," "us") is committed to protecting the privacy of authors, reviewers, editors, and readers who use this website. This Privacy Statement explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, and how it is used, stored, and protected.

1. Data We Collect

Depending on your role and interaction with the journal, we may collect:

  • Account information: name, email address, affiliation, country, and ORCID iD provided during registration or manuscript submission.
  • Submission data: manuscript files, cover letters, and related documents submitted by authors.
  • Review data: reviewer comments and recommendations submitted during the peer-review process.
  • Technical data: IP address, browser type, and usage data collected automatically through website cookies for security and analytics purposes.

2. How We Use Your Data

The names, email addresses, and other personal data entered on this site are used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal, namely:

  • Managing the submission, peer-review, editing, and publication workflow;
  • Communicating with authors, reviewers, and editors regarding manuscripts;
  • Sending journal-related notifications (e.g., new issue alerts), where consent has been given;
  • Verifying authorship and maintaining the scholarly record (e.g., via ORCID and DOI registration);
  • Ensuring the technical security and functionality of the website.

Your data will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party without your explicit consent, except as described in Section 3.

3. Sharing of Data with Third Parties

To operate the editorial and publishing process, limited data may be shared with the following categories of third-party services:

  • Plagiarism detection services (e.g., iThenticate, Turnitin), to screen submitted manuscripts for originality;
  • DOI registration agencies (e.g., Crossref), to assign persistent identifiers to published articles;
  • Abstracting and indexing services (e.g., DOAJ and other databases), to make published metadata discoverable;
  • Hosting and IT infrastructure providers, who process data solely to operate and secure the website.

These third parties are only provided with the data necessary to perform their specific function and are expected to handle it in accordance with applicable data protection law. We do not sell or rent personal data to advertisers or unrelated commercial parties.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

Personal data is processed in accordance with the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 (KVKK) and, where applicable to users located in the European Economic Area, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The legal bases for processing include your consent, the performance of the editorial process you have voluntarily engaged in, and our legitimate interest in operating a scholarly publishing platform.

5. Data Retention

Personal data associated with user accounts and submissions is retained for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this statement, including the archival requirements of scholarly publishing. Published articles and their associated metadata (including author names and affiliations) are retained permanently as part of the scholarly record, consistent with standard academic publishing practice.

6. Your Rights

Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to:

  • Request access to the personal data we hold about you;
  • Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data;
  • Request deletion of your account data, where this does not conflict with the journal's obligation to maintain the scholarly record of published work;
  • Withdraw consent to receive non-essential communications (e.g., new issue alerts) at any time.

Requests can be submitted through the journal's Contact page.

7. Cookies

This website uses cookies necessary for core functionality, such as maintaining login sessions. Cookies are not used to track users across other websites or for third-party advertising purposes.

8. Data Security

We implement reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect personal data against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. However, no method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure, and absolute security cannot be guaranteed.

9. Children's Data

This journal's services are intended for use by researchers, academics, and professionals. We do not knowingly collect personal data from individuals under the age of 18.

10. Changes to This Statement

This Privacy Statement may be updated periodically to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. The date of the most recent update will be indicated below.

Last updated: 2026.