Privacy statement

The VJ publications wishes to disclose information to you regarding the manner in which the publisher handles your personal information. Data that pertains to an individual and can be used to identify them, whether directly or indirectly, is referred to as personal information. This may comprise information such as names, contact details, (online) identification data, online identifiers, or other particular characteristics of the individual. Unless otherwise stipulated by applicable law, it is not defined as information that is anonymised, de-identified, or aggregated.

VJ Publications is the official publisher of the International Journal of Advanced Medicine and Public Health, and the personal information collected by VJ Publications through the various web pages of the Publishing unit is controlled by VJ Publications, 1st Floor, 16, Jeevanandam Street, Karaikal, India – 609602. More about the journal and its editorial board is on the About the Journal page.

• Name and contact details, such as first and last name, email address, postal address, email, and telephone number of all the authors
• Work-related information, such as job title and other employment or education information
• Account credentials, such as passwords and other security information, for authentication and access
• Usage information, such as behavioural information about how you navigate within our Services and which elements of our Services you use the most and information regarding the goods and/or services you wish to order, wish list, preferences, interests, etc.
• Audio and visual information, including your voice and image as captured in photographs, videos, or audio recordings, may be used if you attend our events (online or in person) or leave us a message. We will obtain your consent before recording, as required by applicable law. Any other information shared by you through our websites, apps, eStores, and other products and services, including web chat communications.

• We collect your personal information when you register in the journal during the submission of the data, when you make a purchase, or when you communicate with us through the web chat or message options.
• We will collect information or data from third-party websites, such as information on third-party websites or other information you may have made publicly available, or information provided by third-party sources, including but not limited to government entities and data resellers

What we store, and why

• A session cookie (PHPSESSID) — how the site knows you are signed in as you move from page to page. It holds no personal information itself, only a random identifier, and it is discarded when you sign out or close your browser. Without it you could not stay signed in at all.
• A “remember me” cookie (ijamph_remember) — set only if you tick the “Remember me” box when signing in, and only then. It keeps you signed in for 30 days. Signing out deletes it.
• A layout preference (journal_view) — remembers whether you last viewed an issue as cards or as a list. Set only when you click that switch. It holds one word.
• A reading-view preference — kept in your browser’s local storage, not sent to us at all. Set only when you turn on the reader-friendly view on an article.

What we do not store

• No analytics of any kind — we do not measure or record how you browse.
• No advertising, and no advertising or marketing cookies.
• No tracking pixels, fingerprinting, or profiling.
• No third-party content. Every font, script, stylesheet and image on this site is served from our own server, so no other company is contacted when you open a page and no other company receives your IP address.

Why you are not asked to accept cookies

Consent is required for cookies that are not necessary — the ones that measure, profile or advertise. We do not set any. What we do set is either strictly necessary to provide the service you asked for by signing in, or switched on by your own deliberate click, and both are exempt from the consent requirement under the European ePrivacy rules and their equivalents elsewhere. A banner asking you to approve them would be asking a question that does not arise.

If we ever add anything that does require consent, we will ask for it properly before it is set, and this section will say so.

Refusing or removing them

• Every browser lets you view, block and delete cookies for a site through its own privacy or site-settings panel. Clearing this site’s data removes all of the above.
• The two preferences and the “remember me” cookie can simply be left unset — do not tick the box, do not use the switches.
• Blocking the session cookie will stop you signing in, because that cookie is what a signed-in session is. Everything readable without an account — the published articles, the archive, this statement — will still work.

Personal information is utilised for the purposes for which it was collected and may be further utilised for official or other legitimate purposes. For instance, we will utilise the information you submit to address your service request if you use our service contact form or web chat on our website. This information could be used further to enhance the quality of our customer service process.

Lawfulness of the processing is one of the main principles relating to the processing of your personal information - we apply the following legal processing grounds (as permitted under applicable data protection laws) where the applicable data protection laws require us to have a ground in place:

• Processing is required to execute a contract successfully or to make official preparations before entering into a contract.
• Processing is mandatory for our legitimate interests or legitimate use, as permitted by applicable data protection laws, such as improving the quality of our products and services.
• Processing is required to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or the processing is otherwise permissible under the relevant data protection laws.
• with the consent you have granted during the submission or subscription.

Depending on how you interact with the Service and us, we may use your personal information for the following purposes:

• Managing and providing access to and use of our Services, in addition to managing our correspondence with you and our business. This processing is a prerequisite for the successful completion of a contract.
• Making improvements and enhancing our existing and new products and services, such as streamlining our websites or customising your experience with our Services by inviting you to participate in surveys or analysing website traffic. For the sake of our legitimate interests, this processing is essential.
• Recruiting, which includes the evaluation of employment applicants. This processing is intended to be conducted before the execution of a contract or with your explicit assent.
• Offering online communities, including conversation rooms, web chats, forums, message boards, and news groups. This processing is essential for the fulfilment of a contract or the protection of our legitimate interests. Please be advised that any information that is disclosed in chat rooms, forums, message boards, and other online groups is public. We urge you to exercise caution when disclosing personal information in these forums, as it may be shared with other users. Please refrain from disclosing any information in these public forums that you believe to be confidential or proprietary, that you do not wish to be publicly available, or that you are prohibited from disclosing.
• Other general business support purposes, such as procurement, financial and fiscal management, risk and compliance management, and external reporting. For the purpose of complying with a legal obligation to which we are subject, for purposes that are otherwise permissible under applicable data protection laws, or for our legitimate interests, this processing is necessary.

Your personal information will be processed to the extent required to accomplish our obligations, comply with legal requirements, and achieve the purposes for which it is collected, in accordance with our data retention policies and the relevant data protection laws. We will take all reasonable measures to remove your personal information from our systems and records when it is no longer required, or to store it in a format that does not allow for individual identification, such as anonymisation.

To safeguard your data, we have established an internal framework of policies and reasonable security standards that are strictly upheld across all of our journals. Furthermore, we restrict access to personal information by our employees, business partners, service providers, and third-party service providers to only those who require it. To ensure the confidentiality and integrity of your personal information and its processing, we implement appropriate technical and organisational measures, including policies and procedures, IT security measures, and other measures, in compliance with the law.

We make every effort to safeguard our systems, sites, applications, and information from unauthorised access, use, modification, and disclosure. However, we cannot guarantee that any information will be immune to unauthorised access during transmission or storage on our systems, given the inherent nature of the Internet as an open global communications medium and other risk factors.

Additionally, you are responsible for safeguarding personal information. We advise against reusing passwords across multiple websites or applications, and you should not share any username, password, or other authentication data with anyone. It is crucial to update your credentials periodically. Please get in touch with us as indicated below if you have any reason to suspect that your username or password has been compromised.

The journal won't use your personal data for automated decision-making, which can lead to legal effects that are found to be concerning to you or that significantly affect you. However, we use your personal data to offer you content and services that may be of interest to you.

• Right of access ('an overview of your personal information'): You have the right to obtain a summary or overview of the personal information that we process and/or to confirm that we have personal information about you.
• Right of rectification ('correct your personal information'): you have the right to request that we update, rectify, or complete your personal information if it is inaccurate or incomplete.
• "Right to erasure" (right to be forgotten): You have the right to request that we erase your personal information to the extent permitted by the relevant law. In certain instances, we may be unable to accommodate your request, such as when processing is required to fulfil a legal obligation or fulfil a contract. In certain instances, the Services require your personal information. Failure to furnish us with this information may result in your inability to utilise or access the Services or specific Service features.
• Right to data portability (transfer of personal information): You can request that we deliver your personal information directly to you. This applies to certain specialised personal information that is processed through automated means and with your consent, or in accordance with a contract you have with us. We will transfer your personal information to another party of your choice, upon your request, provided it is technically feasible.
• Right to processing restriction: the right to request that we prevent or restrict the processing of your personal information that we retain formally for a specific period of time, or for an indefinite period. In certain instances, we may be unable to accommodate your request, such as when processing is necessary to fulfil a legal obligation or when we can provide a compelling legitimate justification for our rejection.
• Right to object: the right to object to the processing of your personal information. The reasons for an objection should relate to your particular situation and be related to processing based on the legitimate interest condition. We will then no longer process the personal information unless we can demonstrate compelling reasons to do so. In certain circumstances, you have the unconditional right to object; for instance, in the context of direct marketing activities.

You have the right to withdraw your consent to the processing of your personal information at any time. For example, if you have previously consented to us informing you about our Services, you have the right to withdraw this consent at any time. The lawfulness of the processing of your personal data before the withdrawal will not be affected. Please refer to the Contact us section below for any enquiries regarding the handling of your personal information or to exercise your rights (if applicable).

You may reach out to us at editor@ijamph.com if you have any enquiries about the manner in which we handle your personal information or intend to exercise one of your rights. In accordance with the applicable data protection laws and the timeframes specified by those laws, we will address your request.

You have the right to file a complaint with your local Data Protection Authority if you believe we are unresponsive or disagree with our data privacy practices, subject to applicable law.

Please verify your identity and provide any additional information that will help us gain a more comprehensive understanding of your request. We will explain any refusal to grant your request, regardless of its extent. Our full postal address, telephone number and editorial contacts are listed on the About the Journal page, and you can also write to us directly through the contact form.