Privacy and Personal Data Protection Policy
1. Purpose and Scope
The International Journal of Multidisciplinary Inquiry (IJMI) is committed to protecting personal information and maintaining appropriate standards of privacy, confidentiality, and responsible data management throughout its scholarly publishing activities.
This policy explains how personal information may be collected, used, stored, disclosed, and protected in connection with manuscript submissions, peer review, editorial administration, publication, and the operation of the journal's online platform.
IJMI is published by EDULINK EDUCATION CONSULTANCY, Malaysia, which is responsible for the journal's publishing administration.
The journal seeks to manage personal information in accordance with applicable Malaysian legal requirements, including the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA), as amended, where applicable, and relevant principles of responsible scholarly publishing.
This policy applies to authors, reviewers, editors, editorial advisors, registered website users, and other individuals who communicate or interact with IJMI.
2. Personal Information Collected
IJMI may collect personal information necessary for legitimate editorial, administrative, and publishing purposes.
Such information may include names, email addresses, institutional affiliations, professional positions, academic qualifications, areas of research expertise, ORCID identifiers, and other information voluntarily provided during registration or manuscript submission.
The journal may also collect information associated with manuscript submissions, editorial assignments, peer review activities, correspondence, publication records, and administrative transactions.
Where necessary for financial administration, relevant payment information, invoice references, billing details, and transaction records may be collected and maintained.
The journal's online platform may also process technical information associated with website access, account authentication, and system operation.
IJMI seeks to limit the collection of personal information to what is reasonably necessary for its scholarly publishing and administrative activities.
3. Purposes of Personal Data Processing
Personal information collected by IJMI may be used for manuscript submission and processing, editorial assessment, peer reviewer identification and assignment, communication with authors and reviewers, and the preparation and publication of accepted scholarly articles.
Information may also be used to administer user accounts, maintain publication records, issue invoices and receipts, respond to inquiries, address complaints, and fulfil legitimate legal or administrative obligations.
Academic and professional information may be used to assess an individual's suitability for editorial or peer review responsibilities.
Where appropriate, information may also support the journal's efforts to maintain accurate authorship attribution, publication metadata, and scholarly indexing records.
Personal information will not be used for unrelated commercial marketing activities without an appropriate lawful basis or authorization.
4. Author and Reviewer Confidentiality
IJMI operates a double-blind peer review process and recognizes the importance of protecting confidential manuscript and reviewer information.
During peer review, the journal seeks to prevent the disclosure of author and reviewer identities to one another, subject to the information provided in submitted documents and the limitations of the review process.
Reviewer identities, confidential recommendations, editorial correspondence, and unpublished manuscript materials will be handled with appropriate professional discretion.
Access to confidential editorial information will be limited to individuals who require it for legitimate journal responsibilities.
Editors, reviewers, and other individuals involved in manuscript evaluation must not disclose confidential information or use unpublished research materials for unauthorized personal or professional purposes.
The journal may disclose relevant information where reasonably necessary to investigate publication misconduct, comply with legal obligations, or address substantial concerns affecting research integrity.
5. Online Journal Management System
IJMI uses an online journal management platform to administer manuscript submissions, editorial workflows, peer review, and publication activities.
Registered users may be required to provide account information and authentication credentials to access relevant functions.
The platform may maintain records of manuscript submissions, editorial decisions, reviewer assignments, communications, and related activities.
Access to information is managed according to assigned user roles and the operational requirements of the publishing process.
Users are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their account credentials and should notify the journal if they suspect unauthorized access to their accounts.
IJMI will seek to maintain appropriate administrative and technical safeguards to protect information processed through its online platform.
6. Publication of Author Information
When an article is accepted and published, certain author information becomes part of the public scholarly record.
This information may include author names, institutional affiliations, ORCID identifiers, corresponding author contact details where provided for publication, and relevant acknowledgements or declarations.
Such information may be included in article files, journal webpages, publication metadata, indexing records, and scholarly discovery services.
Authors should ensure that information intended for publication is accurate and that they are authorized to disclose any personal information relating to other individuals.
Once an article has been published and its metadata disseminated to external scholarly services, the journal may not be able to control every subsequent reproduction or indexing of that information.
Requests to correct published author information will be considered in accordance with the journal's editorial and corrections procedures.
7. Disclosure to Service Providers and Third Parties
IJMI may engage authorized service providers to support website hosting, manuscript management, information technology, publication production, payment processing, and other legitimate publishing operations.
Personal information may be processed by such providers where necessary for the delivery of these services and subject to applicable confidentiality, security, and legal requirements.
Publication metadata may be shared with scholarly indexing services, repositories, identifier registration agencies, and other academic discovery platforms where appropriate.
Information may also be disclosed where required by law, a competent regulatory authority, or a legitimate investigation concerning research or publication integrity.
IJMI does not sell personal information to third parties for commercial advertising purposes.
Where personal information is transferred or accessed across national borders, the journal will seek to ensure that the arrangements comply with applicable data protection requirements.
8. Data Security and Access Controls
IJMI recognizes the importance of protecting personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, loss, or misuse.
The journal will seek to apply reasonable organizational and technical safeguards appropriate to the nature of the information and the risks associated with its processing.
These safeguards may include role-based access restrictions, account authentication, controlled administrative permissions, system maintenance, and appropriate arrangements with technology service providers.
Individuals granted access to personal information through their editorial or administrative responsibilities are expected to handle such information confidentially and use it only for authorized purposes.
Although reasonable safeguards are maintained, no internet-based information system can guarantee absolute security.
Suspected personal data incidents will be assessed and addressed according to their seriousness and any applicable legal notification obligations.
9. Data Retention and Disposal
IJMI may retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to support legitimate editorial, publishing, financial, legal, and administrative purposes.
Manuscript and peer review records may be retained to preserve the integrity of editorial decisions, respond to publication-related concerns, and maintain appropriate scholarly publishing documentation.
Published article metadata and bibliographic records may be preserved as part of the continuing scholarly record.
Financial records may be retained in accordance with applicable accounting, taxation, and other legal requirements.
Where personal information is no longer required for a legitimate purpose and no continuing retention obligation applies, the journal will seek to arrange its appropriate deletion, anonymization, or secure disposal.
Retention decisions will take account of applicable legal requirements, institutional responsibilities, and the practical needs of maintaining an accurate publication record.
10. Rights and Requests Concerning Personal Information
Individuals may contact IJMI to inquire about personal information held by the journal or to request access, correction, or other action concerning their information, subject to applicable legal requirements and exemptions.
Requests will be assessed according to the nature of the information, the identity and authority of the requesting individual, and the journal's legitimate editorial and administrative obligations.
The journal may require reasonable verification of identity before processing requests involving personal information.
Certain records, including confidential peer review materials, information concerning other individuals, and published scholarly records, may be subject to restrictions on access, alteration, or deletion.
Where applicable law provides additional rights concerning personal data processing, IJMI will address requests in accordance with those requirements.
The journal will seek to respond to legitimate requests within the periods required by applicable law or, where no specific period applies, within a reasonable administrative timeframe.
11. Cookies and Website Functionality
The IJMI website may use cookies or similar technical mechanisms necessary for account authentication, session management, website functionality, and the operation of its online journal management system.
Such mechanisms may help maintain user sessions, support secure access, and enable the website to function effectively.
Additional technical information may be processed by the website hosting environment for security, maintenance, and operational purposes.
Where optional analytics or other non-essential tracking technologies are introduced, IJMI will assess the need for appropriate disclosures and user choices in accordance with applicable requirements.
Users may manage cookies through their browser settings, although restricting certain cookies may affect access to website functions.
12. Research Participant Data
This privacy policy concerns personal information processed through IJMI's publishing activities and does not replace the ethical and legal responsibilities of authors conducting research involving human participants.
Authors remain responsible for protecting participant confidentiality, obtaining appropriate consent, complying with research ethics requirements, and ensuring that personal or sensitive research information is handled lawfully.
IJMI does not require authors to disclose identifiable participant information or confidential research materials where such disclosure would violate legitimate ethical, legal, or institutional obligations.
Research data availability and sharing arrangements are governed by the journal's Data Availability and Research Transparency Policy and other applicable ethical requirements.
13. Privacy Concerns and Policy Review
Questions or concerns regarding the collection, use, disclosure, retention, or protection of personal information should be directed to IJMI through the official contact information provided on its website.
The journal will assess privacy-related concerns and take appropriate administrative or corrective action where warranted.
IJMI may revise this policy to reflect developments in Malaysian data protection requirements, scholarly publishing practices, information technology, and the journal's operational arrangements.
This policy should be read alongside IJMI's Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement, Peer Review Policy, Data Availability and Research Transparency Policy, and other relevant journal requirements.
