Privacy Policy and Personal Data Protection
- Introduction and Commitment to Privacy
Neutrosophic Optimization and Intelligent Systems (NOIS) is an international, peer-reviewed, open access scholarly journal published by Sciences Force LLC, United States.
The journal is committed to respecting the privacy of authors, reviewers, editors, readers, and other individuals who interact with its publishing platform and editorial services.
NOIS recognizes that responsible scholarly communication requires the appropriate collection, use, disclosure, protection, and retention of personal information. Personal data must be handled fairly, transparently, and in a manner consistent with its legitimate scholarly and administrative purposes.
This Privacy Policy describes how personal information is processed in connection with the journal's website, manuscript submission and peer-review system, editorial correspondence, publication activities, and related services.
The policy operates alongside the publisher's Privacy, Data Protection & Cookies Policy and applicable data protection laws.
Its principles include lawful processing, purpose limitation, data minimization, accuracy, confidentiality, security, accountability, and respect for the rights of individuals.
- Data Controller and Publisher Responsibilities
Sciences Force LLC is the publishing organization responsible for determining the purposes and essential means of processing personal data in connection with NOIS's publishing operations, except where another organization independently determines the purposes and means of a specific processing activity.
Publishing Organization: Sciences Force LLC
Registered Publishing Address: 393 Piaget Ave PMB 110, Clifton, New Jersey 07011, United States
Publisher Contact: contact@sciencesforce.com
Journal Editorial Office: nois@sciencesforce.com
The publisher is responsible for coordinating privacy governance, responding to requests concerning personal data, supervising authorized service providers, and implementing appropriate organizational and technical safeguards.
The publisher's designated Data Protection Lead is responsible for coordinating relevant privacy assessments, handling privacy requests, and assisting with incident response and compliance matters.
Privacy-related requests may be submitted through the publisher's official contact channel for appropriate handling.
Where an external provider processes personal data solely on behalf of the publisher, its responsibilities must be governed by appropriate contractual and security arrangements.
Organizations that independently determine the purposes and means of their processing may act as separate data controllers, as applicable.
- Scope of This Policy
This policy applies to personal data processed in connection with:
- Registration and management of user accounts.
- Submission, evaluation, and publication of manuscripts.
- Selection and management of peer reviewers.
- Editorial appointments and administration.
- Communications with authors, reviewers, editors, and readers.
- Research integrity screening and investigations.
- Management of publication metadata and persistent identifiers.
- Technical operation and security of the journal website.
- User support and responses to inquiries.
- Financial administration and applicable publication-related transactions.
- Website analytics, cookies, and communication preferences where used.
The policy covers both electronic records and other structured records maintained for legitimate publishing purposes.
It does not grant unrestricted access to confidential editorial records or override legal restrictions concerning the privacy or intellectual property rights of other individuals.
- Categories of Personal Data Collected
The information processed by NOIS depends on an individual's relationship with the journal and the services used.
Identification and Contact Information
This may include names, email addresses, institutional affiliations, academic departments, country, postal addresses, telephone numbers, and professional titles where relevant.
Academic and Professional Information
This may include ORCID identifiers, scholarly profiles, areas of expertise, publication records, research interests, editorial appointments, and reviewer qualifications.
Manuscript and Editorial Information
This may include submitted manuscripts, author declarations, funding and competing-interest statements, correspondence, editorial decisions, review reports, revision histories, and records necessary for research integrity assessment.
User Account and Technical Information
This may include account identifiers, authentication information, assigned roles, access permissions, language preferences, IP addresses, browser and device information, security logs, and relevant activity timestamps.
Publication and Bibliographic Information
This may include author names, affiliations, ORCID identifiers, article titles, acknowledgments, contributor roles, funding information, publication dates, DOI information, and related metadata included in published scholarly records.
Payment and Administrative Information
Where relevant, the publisher may process billing contact information, invoices, transaction references, fee-waiver information, and necessary accounting records.
Payment card information is handled through authorized payment services according to the applicable arrangements. The publisher's stated policy does not provide for retaining complete payment card numbers within its publishing systems.
Communications and Support Information
This may include messages, inquiries, technical support requests, and other correspondence provided to the journal or publisher.
The journal seeks to collect only information that is reasonably necessary for the relevant scholarly, administrative, contractual, security, or legal purpose.
- Purposes of Processing Personal Data
Personal data may be processed for the following purposes:
Manuscript Administration: Receiving submissions, communicating with authors, managing revisions, maintaining submission histories, and administering editorial decisions.
Scientific Peer Review: Selecting qualified reviewers, evaluating research, managing conflicts of interest, and maintaining appropriate confidentiality.
Editorial Management: Appointing and coordinating editors, assigning responsibilities, and maintaining records of editorial activity.
Research Integrity: Investigating credible concerns about authorship, originality, peer review, data reliability, citation practices, ethical compliance, or published findings.
Scholarly Publication: Preparing accepted articles, maintaining accurate author and contributor information, and disseminating publication metadata.
Persistent Identification and Discoverability: Registering and maintaining DOI records, ORCID associations, and other appropriate scholarly identifiers.
Account and Website Administration: Managing user accounts, permissions, authentication, technical support, and the operation of the publishing platform.
Information Security: Preventing unauthorized access, identifying malicious activity, protecting systems, and investigating security incidents.
Financial Administration: Processing applicable publication fees, waivers, invoices, and accounting records.
Service Improvement: Evaluating website performance and publishing workflows through appropriate technical or statistical information.
Communications: Sending necessary editorial and service messages and, where authorized, optional news or announcements.
Personal information must not be used for unrelated purposes in a manner incompatible with applicable law and the original processing arrangements.
- Lawful Bases for Processing
Where applicable data protection legislation requires a specific lawful basis, the publisher identifies the basis relevant to the processing activity.
Depending on the circumstances and applicable law, processing may be supported by:
Performance of a Contract or Pre-Contractual Steps: Where information is necessary to administer a service or publishing arrangement requested by an individual.
Legitimate Interests: Where processing is necessary for the fair administration of scholarly publishing, the integrity of peer review, publication record management, security, fraud prevention, or related legitimate purposes, subject to appropriate assessment of individual rights and interests.
Legal Obligations: Where processing is necessary to satisfy applicable accounting, taxation, legal, regulatory, or other binding requirements.
Consent: Where valid consent is required, including certain optional communications or non-essential tracking technologies.
Other Applicable Legal Grounds: Where a different basis is specifically permitted or required by the governing law.
Consent is not treated as the automatic lawful basis for every aspect of manuscript submission or scientific publication.
Withdrawal of consent applies to processing that depends on that consent and does not automatically invalidate other processing supported by an independent lawful basis.
The publisher is responsible for documenting the lawful bases applicable to its actual processing activities.
- Personal Data in Manuscript Submission and Peer Review
NOIS uses Open Journal Systems (OJS) to support manuscript submission and editorial evaluation.
Authors provide personal and professional information necessary to identify contributors, communicate about submissions, and maintain accurate scholarly records.
Reviewers may provide information concerning their expertise, affiliations, competing interests, availability, and assessments.
Editors and authorized editorial personnel may access information necessary to manage submissions and make informed decisions.
The journal applies a double-anonymous peer-review model to manuscripts selected for external evaluation.
Under this model, the identities of authors and reviewers are withheld from one another within the formal review process, subject to the practical limitations of anonymization.
Authorized editors and appropriate administrative personnel may need access to author identities and confidential submission information to perform their responsibilities.
The journal does not guarantee that an author's identity can never be inferred from publicly available preprints, previous publications, research data, or other external information.
Confidential reviewer identities and reports are not made publicly available merely because an article is accepted or published.
The journal must not expose author-identifying files, private declarations, or confidential correspondence to reviewers when those files are intended exclusively for authorized editorial use.
- Confidentiality of Editorial Records
Submitted manuscripts and associated editorial records are confidential until and unless relevant material is lawfully made public.
Access to confidential information must be limited to individuals with legitimate editorial, administrative, technical, or research integrity responsibilities.
Editors and reviewers must not use unpublished research, confidential evaluations, personal information, or privileged editorial correspondence for unrelated purposes or personal advantage.
Reviewers must not share manuscripts or delegate confidential assessments without appropriate editorial authorization.
Disclosure of confidential information may be necessary for a legitimate research integrity investigation, legal obligation, or other authorized purpose. Such disclosure must be proportionate and subject to relevant safeguards.
Confidentiality obligations continue after an editorial assignment has ended.
- Published Author Information and the Scholarly Record
Publication necessarily involves the public dissemination of selected personal and professional information relating to authors and scholarly contributors.
Depending on the article and applicable requirements, public metadata may include author names, affiliations, ORCID identifiers, contributor statements, funding information, and relevant acknowledgments.
Published information may be distributed to scholarly infrastructure providers and discovery services to support accurate identification, citation, preservation, and access.
NOIS recognizes the importance of maintaining an accurate and trustworthy scholarly record.
Requests to correct inaccurate published personal information will be evaluated through appropriate editorial and metadata procedures.
Requests to update an author's name or other identity-related information will be handled sensitively and with due regard for privacy, safety, and the integrity of the publication record.
The right to request erasure of personal information does not automatically require removal of a lawfully published article or deletion of information that must be retained for legitimate legal, scholarly, or research integrity purposes.
Where correction, removal, restriction, or other action is justified, the journal will consider the appropriate technical and editorial measures and the implications for external metadata services.
- Sharing of Personal Data With Third Parties
Personal information may be shared with third parties where necessary for legitimate publishing operations and where an appropriate legal basis and safeguards exist.
Relevant recipients may include:
- Providers of website hosting, server infrastructure, storage, and technical support.
- Providers of authorized publishing, communication, security, and analytical services.
- Payment and accounting service providers where relevant.
- Scholarly infrastructure organizations such as Crossref and ORCID.
- Digital preservation services to the extent that applicable publication and preservation arrangements require relevant information.
- Research institutions, funding organizations, or authorized integrity specialists when a legitimate investigation requires appropriate disclosure.
- Courts, regulators, or other competent authorities where disclosure is legally required.
Some service providers process personal data on behalf of the publisher, while other scholarly infrastructure organizations may act independently in relation to the information they receive.
The publisher must assess these relationships and apply appropriate agreements and safeguards according to their legal roles.
Personal information is not sold to third parties.
Confidential manuscripts, private reviewer reports, and editorial records must not be disclosed to advertisers or unrelated commercial organizations.
The publication of bibliographic metadata is distinct from selling private user information.
- Data Minimization and Accuracy
The journal seeks to limit personal information collection to what is reasonably necessary for specified purposes.
Unnecessary personal identifiers, sensitive participant information, and confidential research details should not be included in submission files or public metadata.
Authors are responsible for providing accurate author information, affiliations, ORCID identifiers, and relevant declarations.
Users are encouraged to maintain accurate account details and inform the journal when important information changes.
The publisher and authorized editorial personnel should take reasonable steps to correct material inaccuracies and avoid unnecessary duplication of personal information.
Information no longer required for a legitimate purpose should be deleted, anonymized, or otherwise handled according to the applicable retention policy and legal requirements.
- Sensitive Personal Data and Research Participant Information
The journal does not require the routine collection of sensitive personal information unrelated to publishing activities.
Where sensitive information is necessary for ethical review, research integrity assessment, or another legitimate purpose, additional safeguards may be required.
Authors must not upload identifiable research participant data unless the processing and submission are lawful, ethically justified, and consistent with applicable consent and confidentiality requirements.
Research involving health information, biometric data, information about minors, or other sensitive categories must be handled with particular care.
Supporting research data should be anonymized, de-identified, redacted, or restricted where appropriate.
Pseudonymized information may remain personal data when re-identification is reasonably possible.
The journal may restrict access to materials that present unacceptable privacy or confidentiality risks.
Open access publication does not require unrestricted disclosure of identifiable research participant information.
- Retention and Deletion of Personal Data
Personal information is retained according to its purpose, applicable legal obligations, research integrity requirements, and the publisher's documented retention arrangements.
Different categories of information may require different retention periods.
User Account Information: Retained while required for account administration, legitimate service purposes, security, or other applicable obligations, and reviewed when an account is closed or becomes inactive.
Manuscript and Editorial Records: Retained as necessary to document the editorial process, preserve accountability, address disputes, and investigate relevant research integrity concerns.
Published Scholarly Metadata: Maintained as part of the scientific record for the period necessary to support the authenticity, identification, citation, and continuing availability of published research.
Technical and Security Logs: Retained according to documented security, operational, and investigation requirements, with unnecessary retention avoided.
Financial and Accounting Information: Retained according to applicable accounting, tax, contractual, and legal requirements.
Optional Communications Data: Retained while necessary for authorized communications and relevant preferences, subject to withdrawal, objection, or other applicable rights.
Research Integrity Investigation Records: Retained for a period justified by the nature of the concern, potential continuing responsibilities, and applicable legal requirements.
Where an exact retention period is not fixed by law or contract, the publisher applies documented criteria based on necessity, risk, accountability, and the relevant purpose.
The publisher maintains responsibility for an internal retention schedule and for making applicable retention information available to individuals as required by law.
Deletion of information from a public profile does not necessarily require immediate deletion of information contained in protected backups, legally retained records, or scholarly metadata distributed to independent services.
Retention exceptions must be limited to legitimate purposes and supported by appropriate safeguards.
- Individual Privacy Rights
Depending on the applicable law and circumstances, individuals may have rights to:
- Obtain information about the processing of their personal data.
- Request access to personal information held about them.
- Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information.
- Request erasure where the legal conditions are satisfied.
- Request restriction of certain processing.
- Object to certain processing activities.
- Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
- Obtain data portability where the relevant legal requirements apply.
- Challenge qualifying solely automated decisions where such rights are provided by law.
- Submit a complaint to an appropriate data protection or supervisory authority.
The availability and extent of these rights depend on the law applicable to the individual and the processing activity.
Requests may require reasonable identity verification to prevent unauthorized disclosure or alteration of personal information.
The publisher will assess requests and provide a response within the period required by applicable law.
Where a request cannot be fulfilled in whole or in part, the publisher will explain the relevant grounds to the extent appropriate and legally permissible.
- Requests for Access, Correction, and Account Closure
Individuals wishing to exercise privacy rights or raise concerns about personal information may contact Sciences Force LLC through its official contact channel.
Privacy Requests: contact@sciencesforce.com
The request should identify the relevant journal or service and describe the matter sufficiently to permit assessment.
Individuals should avoid sending passwords, unnecessary identity documents, or sensitive research information in an initial email.
Additional information may be requested when reasonably necessary to verify identity or locate the relevant records.
Account closure does not automatically remove manuscripts, editorial histories, reviewer reports, financial records, or published scholarly metadata that remain subject to legitimate retention requirements.
Where erasure is legally required and technically appropriate, the publisher will arrange for the relevant action and assess any restrictions necessary to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record and protect the rights of other individuals.
- International Transfers of Personal Data
NOIS serves an international scholarly community and may involve processing across different countries.
Personal information may be accessed, hosted, stored, or otherwise processed outside the country in which an individual resides.
Where international transfers are subject to specific legal restrictions, the publisher must identify an appropriate legal transfer basis and implement applicable safeguards.
Depending on the circumstances, these safeguards may include adequacy arrangements, approved contractual measures, appropriate supplementary security controls, or another legally recognized transfer mechanism.
International transfer arrangements must take account of the recipients, purposes, categories of information, and risks associated with the processing.
The publisher is responsible for documenting relevant transfer arrangements and providing required information to affected individuals.
- Information Security
The publisher is responsible for maintaining reasonable technical and organizational measures designed to protect personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, accidental loss, and unlawful processing.
Appropriate safeguards include, according to the nature and risk of the processing:
- Secure connections for website and account communications.
- Appropriate authentication and account security controls.
- Role-based access permissions.
- Restricted administrative access.
- Secure management of confidential submission files.
- Appropriate protection of stored information and backups.
- Software maintenance, security updates, and vulnerability management.
- Monitoring of relevant security events.
- Confidentiality obligations for authorized personnel.
- Review of third-party service providers.
- Documented incident response and recovery procedures.
Access to sensitive editorial data must follow the principle of least privilege.
Users are responsible for protecting their account credentials and reporting suspected unauthorized access.
No online system can be guaranteed to be free from all security risks. The publisher must periodically assess and improve security measures in proportion to identified threats and legal obligations.
- Cookies and Similar Technologies
The journal's website may use cookies or similar technologies to support essential platform functions and, where enabled, additional user preferences or statistical analysis.
Relevant categories may include:
Strictly Necessary Technologies: Used for authentication, session management, platform security, and other essential website functions.
Functional Technologies: Used to remember relevant interface and accessibility preferences where enabled.
Analytics Technologies: Used to understand website performance and usage, subject to applicable privacy requirements and appropriate safeguards.
Optional Communication or Marketing Technologies: Used only where enabled and supported by an appropriate legal basis.
Where consent is legally required for non-essential cookies or comparable tracking technologies, those technologies must not be activated before the necessary consent has been obtained.
Users must be provided with appropriate information and a practical means to manage or withdraw consent where legally required.
The actual cookies and third-party technologies used by the website must be reflected accurately in the publisher's cookie information.
Browser settings may also allow users to limit or delete cookies, although disabling essential cookies may affect account-related functions.
The journal does not regard ordinary access to an open access article as consent to unrelated advertising or marketing tracking.
- Optional Communications and Marketing
Editorial and administrative communications necessary for manuscript handling, peer review, publication, account security, or service delivery are distinct from optional marketing communications.
The journal may send essential communications to registered users when required for their participation in the publishing process.
Optional newsletters, promotional announcements, or other marketing communications must have an appropriate lawful basis and provide applicable preference and unsubscribe mechanisms.
Users must not be required to accept unrelated promotional communications merely to read open access articles.
Withdrawal from optional communications does not automatically terminate necessary service notices or legitimate editorial correspondence concerning an active submission.
- Automated Processing and Artificial Intelligence
The publisher's stated privacy framework does not authorize solely automated decision-making with legal or similarly significant effects on individuals.
Scientific acceptance or rejection decisions must remain under the responsibility of authorized human editors.
Automated systems may support administrative processes, information security, similarity screening, metadata management, or other legitimate tasks.
The use of automated tools does not eliminate the publisher's responsibility to protect personal information and maintain fair editorial procedures.
Confidential manuscripts, private reviewer reports, and identifiable personal information must not be uploaded into unauthorized external generative AI services.
Where AI-assisted processing creates additional privacy risks, the publisher must evaluate those risks and implement safeguards appropriate to the intended use.
Individuals must receive information about qualifying automated decision-making where required by applicable law.
- Personal Data Breaches and Security Incidents
The publisher maintains responsibility for identifying, assessing, containing, documenting, and responding to incidents affecting personal information.
Relevant incidents may include unauthorized account access, exposure of confidential editorial files, accidental disclosure of reviewer identities, unauthorized modification of records, or loss of personal information.
When a suspected incident occurs, the responsible personnel must assess the nature of the event, the categories and volume of information affected, the potential risks to individuals, and the available measures for containment and recovery.
Affected individuals and competent authorities must be informed where notification is required by applicable law.
Notifications must be made within the applicable legal timeframes and should provide appropriate information concerning the nature of the incident, potential consequences, and recommended protective measures.
The publisher must document significant incidents, investigate their causes, and implement appropriate preventive and corrective action.
A privacy or security incident must not be concealed through unauthorized deletion or falsification of relevant records.
- Children and Vulnerable Individuals
NOIS is primarily intended for researchers, academic professionals, editors, reviewers, and other members of the scholarly community.
The journal does not knowingly seek unnecessary personal information from children through routine registration or publishing services.
Where research submitted for publication involves minors or vulnerable individuals, authors must comply with relevant ethical, legal, consent, and confidentiality requirements.
Personal information relating to research participants must not be included in public articles or supplementary files without an appropriate legal and ethical basis.
If the publisher becomes aware of unnecessary or improperly collected personal information concerning a child, it will assess and take appropriate action consistent with applicable law and preservation obligations.
- Third-Party Websites and External Services
The journal may provide links to external services, including DOI registries, ORCID, scholarly repositories, institutional websites, and digital preservation organizations.
External services may operate under their own privacy policies and legal responsibilities.
NOIS does not control every processing activity performed independently by those organizations.
Users are encouraged to review the privacy information of external services when providing personal data directly to them.
The journal and publisher remain responsible for the personal data disclosures and service-provider arrangements under their own control.
- Privacy Governance and Accountability
Sciences Force LLC maintains responsibility for reviewing privacy risks associated with its publishing activities.
Governance measures should include documenting relevant processing activities, evaluating service providers, managing access permissions, maintaining appropriate retention arrangements, and assessing changes that may affect individual rights.
Higher-risk processing activities may require a formal privacy or data protection impact assessment under applicable law.
Material changes to hosting arrangements, analytical tools, identity verification systems, automated processing, or international data transfers must be assessed for their privacy implications.
The journal's editorial leadership and technical personnel must cooperate with the publisher's privacy governance arrangements within their authorized responsibilities.
Policies must be supported by appropriate operational procedures and records rather than declarations alone.
- Changes to This Privacy Policy
The journal may revise this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in legal requirements, publishing operations, technological arrangements, or recognized privacy practices.
Material changes will be reflected in the published policy and communicated to affected individuals where required.
Where a change involves processing that requires new consent or another specific legal step, the publisher must complete the applicable requirement before proceeding.
Policy revisions must not be used to conceal previous processing activities, retrospectively justify unlawful disclosures, or misrepresent the actual handling of personal information.
The journal seeks to keep this policy accurate, accessible, and consistent with the publisher's official privacy framework.
- Related Policies and Contact Information
Journal: Neutrosophic Optimization and Intelligent Systems (NOIS)
Publisher: Sciences Force LLC, United States
Publisher Address: 393 Piaget Ave PMB 110, Clifton, New Jersey 07011, United States
Publisher Contact and Privacy Requests: contact@sciencesforce.com
Journal Editorial Office: nois@sciencesforce.com
Publisher Privacy, Data Protection & Cookies Policy: https://sciencesforce.com/publisher
Editorial Policies: https://ojs.sciencesforce.com/index.php/nois/policies
Publication Ethics Statement: https://ojs.sciencesforce.com/index.php/nois/publication_ethics
Information for Authors: https://ojs.sciencesforce.com/index.php/nois/information_for_authors
Digital Preservation and Archiving Information: https://www.portico.org/publishers/sciencesforce/
Official Journal Website: https://ojs.sciencesforce.com/index.php/nois/index
This Privacy Policy should be read together with the publisher's applicable privacy framework, the journal's Editorial Policies, and the legal requirements governing the relevant processing activity.