Privacy & Platform Policies

Data controller: VERALIS EVIDENCE PRESS PRIVATE LIMITED, registered address, contact. Data Protection/Grievance Officer: name/email.

What we collect: account data (name, email, ORCID, affiliation, credentials), submission/review content and correspondence, financial data for APC (processed by payment providers), usage/analytics data (with consent where required), and cookies (see Cookie Policy).

Why (legal bases): to provide the publishing service (contract), to comply with legal obligations, for legitimate interests (platform security, improvement), and with consent (marketing, certain cookies).

Sharing / sub-processors: service providers under data processing agreements (e.g., cloud hosting AWS/Cloudflare, email SES/SendGrid, payments Stripe/Razorpay, plagiarism Turnitin/iThenticate, identity ORCID, analytics Google); ORCID/Crossref for scholarly metadata; indexing services; and where required by law. We do not sell personal data. International transfers use appropriate safeguards (e.g., SCCs).

Retention: for as long as needed to provide the service and meet legal/scholarly obligations; published scholarly records and required financial records are retained per policy; other data per stated retention schedules.

Your rights: access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection, portability, and (India DPDP) grievance redressal; withdraw consent at any time. Exercise via privacy contact / in-app tools. Erasure preserves the published scholarly record and legally required records where applicable.

Security: encryption in transit and at rest, access controls, and monitoring (Doc 6). Breaches are handled and notified per law.

Children: the service is not directed to children; we do not knowingly collect their data.

Changes: we post updates with an effective date.

We use strictly necessary cookies (authentication, security, load balancing) that do not require consent, and, with your consent, functional (preferences) and analytics cookies (e.g., Google Analytics) to understand usage. A consent banner lets you accept/reject non-essential categories and change preferences at any time. We honor “do not track”/consent choices.

A full table of cookies (name, purpose, duration, category) is maintained and available on request. Third-party cookies are governed by their providers' policies.

VERALIS strives to make its platform and content accessible to all, targeting WCAG 2.2 Level AA conformance across public pages and core workflows. We test with automated tools and assistive technologies and continuously improve.

If you encounter an accessibility barrier, contact accessibility contact and we will work to resolve it and provide the information in an accessible format. This statement includes our current conformance status and known limitations, updated periodically.

Default: CC BY 4.0 (Attribution) — allows reuse with attribution — is the default for maximum openness and compliance with major funders.

Options: journals may permit CC BY-SA, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-ND, or others as appropriate to discipline/funder mandates; the selected license is displayed on the article and in metadata.

Third-party content: authors are responsible for obtaining permission for third-party material and ensuring it is compatible with the article license.

Data/software: may carry separate appropriate licenses (e.g., CC0 for data, OSI licenses for code).

Transparency: each journal's APC (amount, currency, taxes, what's included) is published on its APC page; there are no hidden or surprise charges. Some journals may have no APC.

When charged: APCs apply only after acceptance; they play no role in editorial decisions.

Waivers & discounts: full or partial waivers are available for authors with demonstrated financial need and for authors from eligible low- and middle-income countries; institutional agreements and memberships may cover fees. Waiver requests are assessed independently of editorial evaluation.

Payment: secure payment via supported gateways; invoices and receipts provided; taxes applied per jurisdiction.

Refunds: per the journal's stated terms (e.g., in case of retraction due to publisher error).

How this applies: coverage/waiver checked at submission (no payment taken); invoice issued after acceptance (Doc 5 SOP; Doc 3 finance).