1. Confidentiality of Manuscripts (Authors and Reviewers)

The Editorial Board ensures strict confidentiality throughout the entire editorial and peer review process.

Manuscripts are reviewed with due respect for the confidentiality of authors, as trust in the editorial process is fundamental to the dissemination of scholarly research that may affect authors’ professional reputation and academic careers.

Reviewers are also entitled to confidentiality, which is safeguarded by the journal.

Information regarding submitted manuscripts — including receipt, content, review status, reviewer comments, and final editorial decisions — will not be disclosed to third parties, except as required by law.

2. Privileged Nature of Submitted Manuscripts

Submitted manuscripts are considered confidential documents and the intellectual property of the authors.

Reviewers and editorial board members are required to:

• treat manuscripts as confidential material;
• refrain from discussing the manuscript with third parties;
• not use ideas, data, or findings obtained through the peer review process for personal research or advantage;
• not retain copies of manuscripts for personal use;
• destroy or delete all copies after completing the review.

The Editorial Board does not retain copies of rejected manuscripts.

Reviewer comments will not be published or disclosed without the consent of the reviewer, the author, and the Editor.

3. Personal Data Protection

Personal data provided by authors and reviewers — including names, affiliations, email addresses, and ORCID identifiers — are used solely for editorial and publishing purposes.

Such data will not be shared with third parties, except when necessary for publication, indexing, archiving, or as required by applicable law.

4. Consent to Personal Data Processing

Submission of a manuscript constitutes the author’s consent to the processing of personal data for the purposes of editorial handling, peer review, publication, indexing, and archiving.

Personal data processing is carried out in accordance with applicable data protection legislation.