Privacy Policy / Data Protection & Consent Policy

This policy addresses:

• journal account and registration information;
• author, reviewer, and editor information;
• submission and peer-review records;
• editorial correspondence;
• website and technical data;
• publication metadata;
• research-integrity and complaint records;
• participant-identifiable content submitted for publication;
• consent for publication;
• data retention;
• limited disclosure to service providers and scholarly infrastructure; and
• security and breach response.

This policy does not replace the ethical and legal obligations of researchers concerning the collection and processing of research participant data before submission to JPMHR.

Authors and Contributors

Information may include:

• name;
• email address;
• institutional affiliation;
• country;
• professional or academic role;
• ORCID iD;
• biographical information where voluntarily provided;
• authorship and contributorship information;
• funding and competing-interest declarations;
• submission records;
• editorial correspondence; and
• information contained within submitted manuscripts and files.

Reviewers

Reviewer information may include:

• name and contact details;
• institutional affiliation;
• areas of expertise;
• ORCID or other scholarly identifiers where provided;
• review history;
• conflict-of-interest disclosures;
• review reports; and
• editorial correspondence.

Editors and Journal Personnel

Information necessary for editorial appointment, journal administration, professional identification, communication, and governance may be maintained.

Readers and Website Users

JPMHR does not require readers to create an account merely to access published open-access articles. The website may nevertheless process limited technical information necessary for functionality, security, session management, and aggregated usage assessment.

Information may be used to:

• create and administer journal accounts;
• receive and manage manuscript submissions;
• communicate with authors;
• identify and invite suitable reviewers;
• administer peer review;
• manage editorial decisions and revisions;
• prepare accepted articles for publication;
• generate and maintain scholarly metadata;
• support DOI and identifier registration where applicable;
• support indexing, discovery, repository, and preservation workflows;
• manage authorship, funding, and competing-interest information;
• address complaints and appeals;
• investigate credible publication-integrity concerns;
• issue corrections, retractions, and related notices;
• protect platform security;
• maintain essential journal records; and
• comply with legitimate legal or regulatory obligations.

JPMHR does not sell author, reviewer, or reader personal data for commercial marketing or profiling.

Published information may include:

• author names;
• author affiliations;
• corresponding-author information where published;
• ORCID iDs where supplied;
• article title;
• abstract;
• keywords;
• funding information;
• competing-interest statements;
• author-contribution statements;
• data availability statements;
• ethics and consent statements;
• article citation details;
• DOI and other publication metadata; and
• the published scholarly content itself.

Once information forms part of a legitimate published scholarly record, complete deletion may not always be compatible with citation, indexing, archiving, integrity, and record-preservation requirements.

JPMHR does not ordinarily disclose reviewer identities to authors or the public.

Reviewer records may nevertheless be accessible to authorised editors and journal personnel where necessary to:

• administer peer review;
• assess conflicts of interest;
• manage reviewer performance;
• investigate peer-review manipulation;
• handle appeals or complaints; or
• respond to legitimate integrity concerns.

Reviewer identities may be disclosed only where there is a legitimate and proportionate reason, such as a legal obligation or appropriately authorised integrity investigation, and only to the extent reasonably necessary.

Manuscript content should be shared only with persons reasonably involved in:

• editorial screening;
• peer review;
• statistical or specialist assessment;
• production;
• technical administration;
• ethics or integrity assessment; or
• another legitimate journal function.

Editors and reviewers must not use unpublished ideas, data, or findings obtained through the editorial process for personal advantage.

Confidential manuscripts must not be uploaded to unauthorised third-party systems, including generative-AI tools, where confidentiality cannot be adequately protected.

Identifying information should not be published unless its inclusion is scientifically necessary and appropriate consent for publication has been obtained where required.

Potential identifiers include:

• names or initials;
• hospital or medical-record numbers;
• exact addresses;
• telephone numbers;
• email addresses;
• full facial images;
• distinctive tattoos or physical characteristics;
• rare diagnoses;
• specific dates or locations;
• occupation or institutional information;
• family relationships;
• genomic information; and
• combinations of demographic or clinical details that permit re-identification.

Removal of a participant's name does not automatically make the data anonymous.

Data may remain identifiable through:

• dates;
• locations;
• rare conditions;
• images;
• demographic combinations;
• institutional information;
• genetic characteristics; or
• linkage with other datasets.

Coded or pseudonymised data remain potentially identifiable where a key or other realistic means of re-identification exists.

The JHRR benchmark similarly distinguishes true anonymisation from pseudonymisation and notes that a dataset may remain identifiable through rare diagnoses, dates, locations, images, institutional data, or linkage with other sources. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}

Consent for participation in research and consent for publication are related but distinct.

Participation consent does not necessarily authorise public publication of identifiable information.

Consent for publication may be required for:

• case reports;
• clinical photographs;
• medical images containing identifying information;
• videos or audio recordings;
• direct quotations capable of identifying participants;
• detailed case narratives;
• pedigrees;
• rare-condition reports;
• genomic or familial information; or
• other material from which an individual may reasonably be recognised.

Authors should retain appropriate evidence of consent and provide confirmation to JPMHR when requested.

The journal does not ordinarily require publication of the signed consent document itself because that document may contain additional personal information.

Consent should be obtained from an appropriate parent, guardian, legally authorised representative, or other person recognised by the applicable ethical and legal framework.

Where the participant has sufficient understanding, assent or involvement in the publication decision should also be considered where appropriate.

Authors should avoid publishing identifying information unless its scientific or educational value justifies the privacy risk.

Where identifiable case information concerning a deceased person is proposed for publication, authors should consider:

• applicable legal requirements;
• prior consent where available;
• appropriate permission from authorised representatives where relevant;
• effects on surviving relatives;
• genetic or familial implications;
• unnecessary identifying detail; and
• the public-interest or scientific justification for publication.

Particular caution is required for:

• whole-genome sequencing;
• whole-exome sequencing;
• rare genetic variants;
• pharmacogenomic profiles;
• pedigrees;
• biobank-linked information;
• multi-omics datasets;
• rare-disease cohorts;
• familial disease information; and
• clinical-genomic datasets capable of linkage.

Authors should not assume that removal of names renders genomic data anonymous.

Controlled-access repositories may be more appropriate than public release where privacy, consent, ethics, or legal restrictions apply.

Authors should consider whether quotations or descriptions reveal:

• occupation;
• institution;
• geographic location;
• rare experiences;
• family relationships;
• distinctive events;
• professional position; or
• other contextual information that could identify a participant.

The JHRR framework similarly notes that qualitative quotations and contextual descriptions may identify participants even after names are removed. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}

A Data Availability Statement may legitimately state that:

• data cannot be shared publicly;
• data are available only through controlled access;
• data require institutional or ethics approval;
• data may be available upon reasonable request; or
• specific participant-consent restrictions apply.

Authors must ensure that the access route described in the statement is accurate and realistic.

Limited information may be processed through services supporting:

• journal hosting;
• email communication;
• DOI and identifier registration;
• metadata dissemination;
• indexing and discovery;
• preservation where operational;
• similarity screening;
• technical maintenance;
• backup and security;
• payment administration after acceptance; or
• other legitimate scholarly publishing functions.

Only information reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose should be shared.

Public article metadata may be widely distributed through scholarly infrastructure because discoverability and citation are inherent functions of academic publication.

Relevant information may, where justified, be shared with:

• an author's institution;
• a reviewer's institution;
• an ethics committee;
• a research funder;
• another journal or publisher investigating related material;
• a professional regulator;
• a competent authority; or
• an independent expert assisting with an investigation.

Disclosure should be limited to information reasonably necessary for the legitimate inquiry.

Safeguards may include:

• role-based access within the journal platform;
• individual user accounts;
• password protection;
• secure authentication practices;
• HTTPS-encrypted web connections;
• server and application maintenance;
• software updates;
• restricted administrative access;
• backup and recovery procedures;
• logging where operationally appropriate; and
• other reasonable platform-security controls.

No internet-based system can guarantee absolute security. JPMHR therefore treats security as an ongoing risk-management responsibility rather than an absolute guarantee against every possible incident.

Response may include:

• securing affected accounts or systems;
• preserving relevant logs and evidence;
• resetting compromised credentials;
• restricting unauthorised access;
• assessing the information affected;
• determining the likely privacy or security risk;
• notifying affected persons where appropriate;
• notifying relevant service providers or authorities where required;
• restoring clean systems or data; and
• implementing measures to reduce recurrence.

Confidentiality and cybersecurity incidents affecting manuscripts or peer review may also require action under the journal's publication ethics framework.

Cookies may support:

• authenticated user sessions;
• site functionality;
• preference retention;
• security controls; and
• aggregated website usage assessment where enabled.

Users may control cookies through their browser settings, although disabling essential cookies may interfere with login or other platform functions.

JPMHR does not require registration or marketing cookies merely to read publicly available scholarly articles.

Journal communications may include legitimate messages concerning:

• submitted manuscripts;
• peer-review invitations;
• editorial decisions;
• production;
• publication;
• integrity matters;
• journal-account administration; or
• other scholarly functions reasonably connected with the user's relationship to JPMHR.

Personal information collected for editorial purposes should not be repurposed for unrelated commercial marketing without an appropriate basis.

Retention periods may differ according to the type of record.

Records that may require longer retention include:

• published article metadata;
• authorship information;
• licensing records;
• editorial decisions;
• peer-review records where legitimately required;
• integrity investigations;
• complaints and appeals;
• correction and retraction documentation;
• financial records required for legitimate accounting purposes; and
• records required to establish the history of the scholarly publication.

JPMHR does not adopt a single arbitrary retention period for every class of information.

Subject to legitimate scholarly-record, integrity, technical, legal, and administrative requirements, the journal may consider requests to:

• correct inaccurate contact information;
• update affiliation details;
• remove unnecessary duplicate account information;
• disable unused accounts where appropriate;
• clarify how information is being used; or
• address another legitimate privacy concern.

Account closure or deletion does not necessarily require deletion of information that must remain associated with a published article, completed peer review, integrity investigation, financial record, or other legitimate scholarly record.

Where appropriate, JPMHR may update published author-identification information without unnecessarily publicising sensitive personal reasons for the requested change.

Anonymity may require particular consideration where disclosure could create a credible risk to safety, privacy, or legitimate interests.

Anonymity cannot ordinarily be used to conceal authorship for the purpose of avoiding accountability for scholarly claims.

• ICMJE Recommendations
• World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki
• COPE Guidance and Resources
• Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing

Reference to external standards does not imply membership, accreditation, certification, or endorsement unless independently established.