Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 01/09/2025

1. Introduction

Welcome to the International Society That Learn Journal (ISTLJ) website (“we”, “us”, “our”). We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring that your personal data is handled in a safe and responsible way. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, how we protect it, and what your rights are — whether you are a visitor to our site, an author, reviewer, editor, or subscriber to our blog/newsletter.

2. What information we collect

We may collect different kinds of personal information depending on how you interact with our site and services:

  1. Information you provide directly

    • When you register as an author, reviewer, or editor in our peer review system: name, affiliation, email address, postal address, phone number, ORCID or other researcher identifiers.

    • When you submit a manuscript or article: your contact information, manuscript files, metadata (title, abstract, keywords), declarations (conflict of interest, ethics approval, copyright transfer), peer review comments or reviewer identity (as applicable).

    • When you subscribe to a newsletter or blog updates: your name and email address.

    • When you contact us via forms or email: any personal data you include in your message.

  2. Information collected automatically

    • Log data from your browser or device when you visit or navigate our website (e.g. IP address, browser type, operating system, referrer URL, pages visited, timestamps).

    • Cookies and similar tracking technologies to help us improve the website, analyze trends, administer the site, track users’ movements, and gather demographic information.

  3. Third-party data

    • We may receive data about you from institutional systems (e.g. university repositories), indexing services, or via authentication services (such as ORCID or institutional logins), with your consent or per institutional agreements.

3. How we use your information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

  • To operate and manage the journal’s submission, peer review, editorial, and publication processes.

  • To communicate with authors, reviewers, and readers (e.g. to notify submission status, send reviewer requests, share journal news or blog updates).

  • To provide you with services you request (such as article submission, newsletter subscription, access to journal content).

  • To improve our website and services, analyze usage, and personalize the user experience.

  • To comply with legal obligations, for example, archiving, research data policies, or responding to legitimate requests by authorities.

  • To monitor and prevent fraud or misuse of our services or website.

4. Legal basis for processing / Consent

Depending on the context and applicable data protection laws:

  • We process your personal data to fulfill contractual obligations (e.g. managing article submissions, reviewer agreements).

  • We may process data based on your consent (for example, to send you newsletters or blog updates).

  • We may also process data to comply with legal obligations or legitimate interests (e.g. website security, preventing misuse, analytics).

When you provide personal data or consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time, whenever it is not needed for a contractual or legal obligation.

5. Data sharing and disclosure

We do not sell your personal data. We may share your information in the following ways:

  • With service providers who assist us in operating the website or journal systems (e.g. hosting providers, submission management platforms, email service providers). These are bound by confidentiality obligations and may only use your data for the purposes we specify.

  • With indexing services, repositories or aggregators, when you have submitted an article or opted in to make your article openly available (e.g. metadata, abstracts, author names and affiliations).

  • If required by law or court order, or to protect the rights, property or safety of ISTLJ, its users, or third parties.

  • In anonymized or aggregated form, for statistical or reporting purposes.

If we transfer your personal data internationally (for example, to cloud servers or service providers located outside Türkiye), we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data in accordance with applicable law.

6. Data retention

We will retain your personal information only for as long as needed to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, including:

  • The duration of the peer review and publication process for submitted manuscripts.

  • As required for long-term access to published articles, archiving, and compliance with open access or institutional repository policies.

  • For the period necessary to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

Once personal data is no longer needed, we will securely delete or anonymize it.

7. Security

We take reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. However, no method of transmission over the internet or storage system is completely secure. While we strive to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. Your rights and choices

Depending on where you are located and applicable privacy laws, you may have certain rights regarding your personal data, such as the right to:

  • Access, correct, or update your personal data.

  • Request the deletion or anonymization of your personal data, subject to legal or contractual retention obligations.

  • Restrict or object to certain processing activities (e.g. direct marketing, analytics).

  • Withdraw your consent to processing, where consent was relied upon.

  • Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you believe your rights under applicable data protection laws have been violated.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights or have questions about our processing of your personal data, please contact us (see below).

9. Cookies and tracking technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to:

  • Recognize returning visitors and personalize user experience.

  • Analyze site usage and performance, so we can continuously improve our website.

  • Enable functionality requests by users, such as staying logged in or remembering preferences.

You can manage or disable cookies via your browser settings. Note that disabling certain cookies may affect your ability to use some features of the journal submission or peer review systems.

10. Children’s privacy

Our website is intended for adult users (authors, reviewers, editors, researchers, and general readers). We do not knowingly collect personal data from children (under the age of 13 or under the age required by applicable jurisdiction). If we learn that we have collected personal data from a child without appropriate consent, we will take steps to delete that information as soon as possible.

11. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Effective Date” at the top of the policy and post the updated version on our website. Significant changes will be highlighted or notified to users (for example, via journal/blog announcements or email, where applicable).

12. Contact information

If you have any questions, concerns or requests about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, please contact:

International Society That Learn Journal
Email: editor@ogrenen.net
Address: İstiklal Mah. İstiklal Cad. Pamukkale Denizli TÜRKİYE
Website: https://www.ogrenen.net/index.php/istlj