Privacy Policy
PANCHAL: International Journal of Archaeology & Cultural Heritage is committed to protecting the privacy, confidentiality, and responsible handling of personal information associated with its scholarly publishing activities.
This Privacy Policy explains how information relating to authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, researchers, website users, and other individuals interacting with the journal may be collected, used, stored, processed, shared, and protected.
Personal information is processed only for legitimate scholarly publishing, editorial, administrative, technical, communication, archival, and legal purposes. PANCHAL does not sell personal information or provide personal data to unrelated third parties for independent commercial marketing purposes.
Sale of Personal Data: Prohibited
Peer-Review Model: Double-Blind Peer Review
Data Safeguards: Administrative, Organizational, and Technical Measures
Privacy & Data Protection Policy
PANCHAL processes personal information only where reasonably necessary for journal administration, manuscript submission, peer review, editorial communication, publication, website operation, preservation of the scholarly record, and related academic publishing activities.
The journal seeks to collect only information relevant to these functions and to handle such information responsibly, confidentially, and proportionately.
Information associated with scholarly publication may remain part of the permanent academic record where continued retention is necessary for attribution, indexing, citation, publication integrity, archiving, correction, retraction, or other legitimate scholarly purposes.
Information We May Collect
Depending on how an individual interacts with PANCHAL, the journal or its publishing platform may collect information including:
• Name, title, and professional designation.
• Email address and other contact information.
• Institutional affiliation.
• Department, organization, university, museum, research institute, or employer details.
• Country or geographic affiliation.
• Academic position or professional role.
• ORCID iD or other researcher identifiers.
• Author biography and research interests.
• Reviewer expertise and subject areas.
• Editorial or reviewer assignments.
• Manuscript submission information.
• Authorship and contributorship details.
• Manuscript files and supplementary materials.
• Correspondence associated with submission, peer review, revision, and publication.
• Reviewer comments and editorial decisions.
• Funding information.
• Conflict-of-interest declarations.
• Ethics approval, permissions, permits, or research-related declarations where applicable.
• Copyright and licensing information.
• Publication metadata.
• Account registration information.
• Login-related and authentication information handled by the journal platform.
• IP address and technical connection information.
• Browser, device, operating system, and technical usage information.
• Website activity necessary for security, troubleshooting, authentication, and system administration.
• Information voluntarily provided through forms, messages, or correspondence.
Only information reasonably necessary for scholarly publishing, journal management, communication, security, and related services should be collected.
Purpose of Data Processing
Personal information may be processed for legitimate journal operations including:
• Creating and managing journal user accounts.
• Receiving and managing manuscript submissions.
• Identifying authors and contributors.
• Communicating editorial decisions and revision requests.
• Managing peer-review assignments.
• Inviting qualified reviewers.
• Verifying reviewer expertise and identity where appropriate.
• Maintaining the confidentiality of the double-blind peer-review process.
• Supporting editorial assessment and decision-making.
• Processing revised manuscripts.
• Managing copyediting, proofreading, production, and publication.
• Generating article metadata.
• Registering scholarly identifiers and publication information where applicable.
• Publishing author names, affiliations, biographies, ORCID identifiers, and other approved publication information.
• Maintaining the permanent scholarly publication record.
• Managing corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, and other post-publication actions.
• Responding to author, reviewer, editor, or reader inquiries.
• Detecting potential misuse, fraud, spam, or unauthorized access.
• Maintaining website functionality, security, reliability, and performance.
• Supporting journal indexing, discovery, preservation, archiving, and scholarly communication.
• Meeting applicable legal, ethical, institutional, or scholarly publishing obligations.
Confidentiality and Peer Reviewer Privacy
PANCHAL follows a double-blind peer-review process.
During peer review, the identities of authors and reviewers are intended to remain concealed from one another in accordance with the journal's review policy.
Reviewer identities, reviewer reports, internal editorial discussions, confidential correspondence, and unpublished manuscript materials are treated as confidential information and should not be publicly disclosed except where disclosure is required by law, necessary for an authorized investigation, or otherwise permitted under applicable journal policy.
Submitted manuscripts and unpublished research information must not be used by editors, reviewers, or other authorized participants for personal, commercial, competitive, or unauthorized academic advantage.
Reviewers are responsible for protecting confidential manuscript information made available to them during the review process.
Sharing of Personal Information
PANCHAL may disclose limited personal information where reasonably necessary to perform legitimate scholarly publishing functions.
Information may be shared with:
• Authorized journal editors and editorial staff.
• Assigned peer reviewers.
• Editorial board members where necessary for manuscript assessment.
• Publishing platform and website service providers.
• Hosting and technical infrastructure providers.
• Copyediting, proofreading, typesetting, or production personnel.
• DOI registration or scholarly metadata services where applicable.
• Indexing, abstracting, discovery, preservation, and archiving services.
• Institutional repositories or scholarly preservation systems where applicable.
• Research-integrity or publication-ethics bodies where serious misconduct concerns require appropriate consultation.
• Legal or regulatory authorities where disclosure is required by applicable law.
Only information reasonably necessary for the relevant function should be shared.
PANCHAL does not sell author, reviewer, editor, reader, or account information to commercial organizations for unrelated advertising or independent marketing purposes.
Data Security
PANCHAL seeks to use reasonable administrative, organizational, and technical safeguards to protect personal information from:
• Unauthorized access.
• Unauthorized disclosure.
• Accidental loss.
• Misuse.
• Alteration.
• Destruction.
• Unauthorized copying.
• Improper account access.
• Other inappropriate processing.
Access to journal-management information should be limited to individuals who require such access for legitimate editorial, administrative, technical, or publishing functions.
However, no online platform or electronic storage system can guarantee absolute security. Users are also responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their own account credentials and for taking reasonable precautions when accessing the journal platform.
Data Retention
Personal information is retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, subject to scholarly publishing, legal, ethical, administrative, archival, and research-integrity requirements.
Certain records may need to be retained for extended periods or permanently where they form part of the scholarly publication record.
Such information may include:
• Published author names.
• Institutional affiliations.
• Article titles.
• Abstracts and keywords.
• ORCID identifiers.
• Citation information.
• Publication dates.
• Article identifiers.
• Copyright and licensing information.
• Corrections, retractions, or other publication notices.
• Metadata required for indexing and preservation.
Editorial and peer-review records may also be retained where necessary to document editorial decisions, investigate misconduct, resolve disputes, maintain publication integrity, or meet scholarly publishing obligations.
Published Scholarly Record
Information intentionally published as part of an article or journal record may remain permanently available because of its role in scholarly attribution, citation, indexing, research discovery, and archival preservation.
This may include:
• Author names.
• Academic affiliations.
• Corresponding-author information.
• ORCID identifiers.
• Biographical information voluntarily provided for publication.
• Funding acknowledgments.
• Conflict-of-interest statements.
• Article metadata.
• Published correspondence where applicable.
Requests involving changes to published scholarly information will be evaluated in light of publication integrity, citation accuracy, indexing requirements, and the need to preserve the academic record.
Cookies and Technical Data
The PANCHAL website and publishing platform may use cookies and similar technical mechanisms necessary for website operation.
Such technologies may be used for:
• User authentication.
• Session management.
• Login functionality.
• Navigation preferences.
• Website security.
• Spam prevention.
• Platform troubleshooting.
• Technical diagnostics.
• Performance monitoring.
• Maintaining user sessions.
• Supporting accessibility or interface preferences.
Technical records may include information such as IP address, browser type, device information, timestamps, requested pages, and system activity.
Essential cookies may be necessary for core website and submission-system functionality.
Third-Party Services
PANCHAL may use external services necessary for scholarly publishing and website operation.
These may include services for:
• Website hosting.
• Email communication.
• Manuscript-management infrastructure.
• DOI registration.
• Metadata distribution.
• Indexing and discovery.
• Digital preservation.
• Archiving.
• Researcher identification.
• Security and technical monitoring.
Where information is processed by an external provider, only information reasonably necessary for the relevant service should be transmitted.
External providers may operate under their own privacy policies, terms, technical procedures, and legal obligations.
Author Privacy
Author information collected during submission may be used for manuscript processing, editorial assessment, peer review, communication, publication, indexing, archiving, and research-integrity purposes.
Information intended for publication—such as author name, affiliation, ORCID identifier, biography, correspondence information, and article metadata—may become publicly available as part of the scholarly record.
Authors should avoid including unnecessary personal, confidential, or sensitive information within submitted manuscripts or supplementary files.
Reviewer Privacy
Reviewer identities and review records are treated as confidential in accordance with the journal's double-blind peer-review policy.
Reviewer contact information and professional details may be used to:
• Identify appropriate reviewers.
• Issue review invitations.
• Manage reviewer assignments.
• Record reviewer activity.
• Communicate review deadlines.
• Maintain journal quality and reviewer records.
Reviewer information should not be publicly disclosed without authorization except where necessary for legitimate ethical, legal, or publication-integrity purposes.
Editor and Editorial Board Privacy
Contact information and professional details relating to editors and editorial board members may be processed for journal administration, editorial assignments, scholarly communication, website publication, and transparency of journal governance.
Information intentionally published on the journal website may remain publicly available as part of the journal's institutional and editorial record.
Research Participant Privacy
Authors are responsible for protecting the privacy and confidentiality of individuals participating in research submitted to PANCHAL.
Research involving interviews, oral histories, community participants, identifiable individuals, personal data, photographs, recordings, or other sensitive information should comply with applicable ethical and institutional requirements.
Where appropriate, authors should:
• Obtain informed consent.
• Obtain necessary ethics approval.
• Protect participant identity.
• Remove unnecessary identifying information.
• Secure sensitive records.
• Respect requests concerning anonymity or confidentiality.
• Ensure that publication does not unnecessarily expose private or culturally sensitive information.
Archaeological and Cultural Heritage Data Privacy
Research in archaeology and cultural heritage may contain sensitive information that requires protection beyond ordinary personal-data considerations.
Authors should carefully assess whether publication could expose:
• Precise locations of vulnerable archaeological sites.
• Locations of unprotected artefacts.
• Sacred or restricted cultural sites.
• Sensitive indigenous knowledge.
• Community-restricted heritage information.
• Human remains or funerary information.
• Information capable of facilitating looting, trafficking, vandalism, or unauthorized access.
Where disclosure may create material risk, authors should consider anonymization, generalization, restricted disclosure, or other appropriate safeguards.
User Rights and Requests
Individuals may request information concerning personal data held by the journal and may, where appropriate and subject to applicable law and scholarly-record requirements, request:
• Access to personal profile information.
• Correction of inaccurate personal information.
• Updating of outdated account information.
• Removal of information that is no longer necessary.
• Deactivation of a journal account.
• Clarification concerning how information is being used.
• Correction of publication metadata where a legitimate error exists.
Certain requests may be limited where information must be retained to:
• Preserve the integrity of peer review.
• Maintain editorial records.
• Protect confidential reviewer information.
• Investigate research or publication misconduct.
• Preserve the scholarly record.
• Maintain accurate citation and indexing information.
• Meet legal, ethical, archival, or institutional obligations.
Account Responsibility
Users are responsible for providing accurate registration information and maintaining appropriate security over their journal account.
Users should not:
• Share account credentials with unauthorized individuals.
• Attempt to access another user's account.
• Use false identities.
• Misrepresent academic affiliations.
• Create fraudulent reviewer profiles.
• Attempt to bypass journal security controls.
Suspected unauthorized account access should be reported to the journal administration.
Communication
PANCHAL may use registered contact information to send communications necessary for journal operations.
Such communications may include:
• Submission confirmations.
• Editorial correspondence.
• Peer-review invitations.
• Review reminders.
• Revision requests.
• Publication notifications.
• Account or security notices.
• Journal-related administrative communication.
Contact information should not be used for unrelated commercial advertising without appropriate authorization.
Children's Privacy
PANCHAL is primarily intended for researchers, academics, students, professionals, institutions, and individuals participating in scholarly publishing.
The journal does not intentionally seek to collect unnecessary personal information from children.
Where research submitted to the journal involves minors, authors are responsible for obtaining applicable ethical approvals, parental or guardian consent, participant assent where appropriate, and appropriate protection of personal information.
Changes to the Privacy Policy
PANCHAL may revise this Privacy Policy when necessary to reflect changes in journal practices, publishing technology, legal requirements, ethical guidance, or scholarly publishing standards.
Updated versions may be published on the journal website.
Where significant changes affect the handling of personal information, the journal may provide additional notice where appropriate.
Privacy and Confidentiality Commitment
PANCHAL: International Journal of Archaeology & Cultural Heritage is committed to maintaining responsible, proportionate, secure, and transparent handling of personal information throughout the scholarly publishing process.
By using the PANCHAL website, creating an account, submitting a manuscript, participating in peer review, serving in an editorial role, or otherwise interacting with the journal, users acknowledge that relevant personal information may be processed as necessary for legitimate scholarly publishing, editorial, administrative, technical, archival, and research-integrity purposes in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
