The International Journal of Innovations in Civil Structures and Materials respects the privacy of authors, reviewers, readers, editors, and website visitors. The journal is committed to protecting personal information and handling submitted data responsibly, transparently, and securely.

Information We Collect:

- Personal information provided during manuscript submission, registration, or communication with the journal.
- Author information such as name, institutional affiliation, email address, and professional details.
- Reviewer information required for peer-review activities.
- Manuscript-related information, including submitted files, correspondence, reviewer reports, and editorial decisions.
- Technical information such as browser type, device information, IP address, and website usage data where collected by the journal's publishing platform.

Use of Information:

- To process and manage manuscript submissions.
- To communicate with authors, reviewers, editors, and readers.
- To conduct and administer the peer-review process.
- To publish accepted articles and associated author information.
- To assign and maintain article identifiers such as DOIs where applicable.
- To maintain publication, editorial, and archival records.
- To improve the functionality, security, and performance of the journal website.
- To comply with applicable legal, regulatory, and ethical requirements.

Confidentiality:

- Manuscripts submitted for peer review are treated as confidential.
- Information relating to authors and reviewers is not disclosed to unauthorized third parties.
- In accordance with the journal's double-blind peer-review process, reviewer and author identities are protected to the extent reasonably possible.
- Editorial and peer-review correspondence is treated as confidential except where disclosure is required for legitimate legal, ethical, or publishing purposes.

Data Security:

- The journal takes reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures to protect personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, loss, or misuse.
- Access to personal and manuscript information is limited to individuals who require it for legitimate editorial, publishing, technical, or administrative purposes.

Third-Party Services:

- The journal may use trusted third-party services for functions such as DOI registration, indexing, website hosting, analytics, email communication, plagiarism screening, digital preservation, and publishing infrastructure.
- Such services may process limited information as necessary to provide their respective functions and are subject to their own privacy and security policies.

Cookies:

- The journal website may use cookies and similar technologies to maintain essential website functionality, improve user experience, understand website usage, and support administrative functions.
- Users may manage or restrict cookies through their browser settings, although disabling certain cookies may affect website functionality.

Published Information:

- Information included in published articles, such as author names, affiliations, ORCID identifiers, acknowledgements, and correspondence details where provided, may become publicly accessible as part of the scholarly record.
- Authors should avoid including unnecessary personal or confidential information in manuscripts.

Data Retention:

- The journal may retain submission, editorial, peer-review, publication, and communication records for as long as reasonably necessary for scholarly, administrative, archival, legal, and publication-integrity purposes.
- Published articles and associated bibliographic information may be preserved indefinitely as part of the permanent scholarly record.

Children's and Sensitive Information:

- The journal does not intentionally collect personal information from children through its website or submission systems.
- Authors conducting research involving human participants are responsible for complying with applicable ethical requirements and protecting participant privacy and confidentiality.

External Links:

- The journal website may contain links to external websites, databases, indexing services, publishers, or other resources.
- The journal is not responsible for the privacy practices, security, or content of external websites.

Privacy Inquiries:

Questions, requests, or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or the handling of personal information may be directed to the journal's editorial or administrative office.

Policy Updates:

- This Privacy Policy may be updated periodically to reflect changes in the journal's practices, publishing systems, legal requirements, or applicable privacy standards.
- Any significant changes will be reflected on this page with the updated policy.

By using the journal website or submitting a manuscript, users acknowledge that their information may be processed as described in this Privacy Policy and in accordance with applicable laws and publishing requirements.