PRIVACY AND DATA PROTECTION
Authors, Editors, Reviewers, and Members of the Scientific Committee
All parties involved in the processing and publishing of a proposal agree to have their names, surnames, affiliations, institutional contact details, and ORCiD identification codes published by the journal, either on its website or on print. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the processing and dissemination of such data (data controller) for the purposes stated in the aims and scope of the journal. The contact details of the Editor-in-Chief are provided in the Editorial Board section of the journal’s website. In particular, Authors and Reviewers agree to the following:
Research projects should respect the methodological standards of their disciplinary field, which must contain details on the measures for the processing of personal data, its commitment to deontological rules, clearly identify the subjects that are responsible for data processing; additionally, the project should be archived by the research institution of the principal investigator for five years (Attachment A.4, Art. 3).
By submitting a proposal, the Corresponding Authors declare they are entitled to processing the data of their Co-Authors for the purpose of quality assurance and publishing of the manuscript;
By submitting a proposal, all Corresponding Authors and Co-Authors agree to have their names and details published in the Version of Record of the article. Pseudonyms are allowed only if the publication of the Authors details might result in discrimination or prejudice to their health and wellbeing (this provision is rarely implemented, and only for well-documented cases of whistleblowing or research undertaken in countries where there is a risk of breach of the Authors’ human rights);
The editorial board shall not transfer Authors’ data to third parties (within and without the European Union) except to achieve the aims and scope of the journal. Agreement with such provision is a condition for publishing in the journal. In fact, the journal endeavours to distribute the Authors’ content for free to the widest possible audience and this entails uploading article galleys to international repositories and archives.
When processing and disseminating the personal data provided by the Authors for the purposes of publishing the manifestation of their scientific research, the Editorial Board complies with the following policies:
Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (European Privacy Regulation)
Italian Law 196/2003 and later amendments and attachments (Italian Privacy Law)
Italian Law 633/1941 and later amendments (Italian Copyright Law)
Additionally, all involved parties are required to abide by ethical conduct when undertaking their study and paper drafting, as mandated by Law (see below for further Legal details) and in compliance with the journal’s Code of Ethics (see relevant section on the journal’s website).
Legal details
According to Communiqué (March 4, 1999) of the Italian Privacy Authority [Garante Privacy], scientific publications shall avoid the identification of participants to scientific research. Publication is strictly forbidden in case of identifiable data concerning individual’s health (Law 675/1996). According to the same Law, personal data are defined as “any information concerning a physical person, a corporate entity, an institution, or association” that could identify them either directly or through triangulation with other available information (Decision No. 31031, January 9, 1999). However, the Authority does not prevent the dissemination of information of scholarly or public interest: it just aims to protect the privacy of research participants who intend to preserve their anonymity. Hence, the Authority invites researchers to adopt basic practices of pseudonymisation, such as the usage of made-up names or codes.
Privacy Law was further implemented by Law 196/2003 and later amendments. Concerning scientific, historical, and statistical research, it states:
Scientific research is of public interest (Art. 6-sexies, 2, cc));
Treatment and archiving of personal data are allowed for the purposes of the scientific study, which is a matter of public interest (Art. 99);
Personal data could be shared by public agencies (including universities and research institutions) with researchers, graduates, scholars, technicians, professors, lectures, and experts, for the purpose of scientific and technological research and collaboration (Art. 100);
Personal data collected and archived for the purpose of public interest or historical research may be used, according to their nature, only if pertaining to and indispensable for the aforementioned purposes (Art. 101);
Data may also be disseminated when the events and circumstances they refer to are ones in which data were made publicly available by the stakeholder – either directly or through their behaviour (Art. 101);
In case of statistic and scientific purposes, such purposes must be clearly communicated to the stakeholders (Art. 105);
Reasonable protection should be ensured to prevent illegitimate access to personal data (Art. 106);
In some cases, the consent by the participant to the usage and treatment of their personal data may be collected in a simplified manner (Art. 107);
The Authority may authorise the use by third parties of personal data collected within the framework of scientific research or statistical research whenever said third parties pursue the same goals and when lack of authorisation could prevent the achievement of the scientific or statistical inquiry (Art. 110-bis).
Concerning journalism (and, as the Editorial Board assumes, scientific journalism, for want of specific provisions), Law 196/2003 (and later amendments) states:
According to Article 21 of the Italian Constitution, journalism shall not be subject to censorship, since it is “essential to perform the right and duty to report […] scientific research” (Attachment A.1, Article 1).
Journalists may preserve data in personal archives and repositories for the purposes determined by their profession (Attachment A.1, Article 2);
The Author shall correct errors and mistakes without delay (Attachment A.1, Article 4);
The dissemination of news concerning public or social interest is not at odds with privacy when the information provided, even if with wealth of details, is indispensable because of the uniqueness of the facts described or the way they occurred, as well as the qualifications of the individuals involved (Attachment A.1, Article 6);
Minors should be subject to particular protection of their privacy, unless the dissemination of information about them is in the public interest—but the choice to publish such information lies only with the journalist (Attachment A.1, Article 7);
No journalistic publication might feature images or texts or other media that harm the dignity of the involved individuals, unless they have social relevance (Attachment A.1, Article 8). Analogously, it shall not result in discrimination and non-discriminatory language should be employed (Attachment A.1, Article 9). Health (Art. 10) and sexual data (Art. 11) could be published only if it is essential. Concerning scientific and statistical research, Law 196/2003 (and later amendments) states:
When collecting data on a subject for statistical purposes, the subject must be informed that such data could be used for other statistical purpose (Attachment A.3, Art. 6);
When collecting data on a subject for statistical purposes, data collectors must identify themselves as such (Attachment A.3, Art. 9);
Data collected for statistical purposes might be preserved beyond the time required to achieve the intended purposes, that is, for future treatment (Attachment A.3, Art. 10);
Research subjects may ask amendments to their data, unless such amendments would constitute a prejudice to the statistical analysis; for example, those who process data may refuse to amend them if the requested change goes against established taxonomies (Attachment A.3, Art. 11);
Whoever has access to personal data for statistical or research purposes should use them only for the intended purposes of the original research design, should do their best to prevent their dissemination or usage against the policies, should document their activity, and should report misconduct or malpractice (Attachment A.3, Art. 14);
Research projects should respect the methodological standards of their disciplinary field, which must contain details on the measures for the processing of personal data, its commitment to deontological rules, clearly identify the subjects that are responsible for data processing; additionally, the project should be archived by the research institution of the principal investigator for five years (Attachment A.4, Art. 3);
Research subjects are considered identifiable if they could be reached after employing reasonable means to combine data (Attachment A.4, Art. 4);
Special categories of data may be collected after explicit consent of the subject, which is usually expressed in written form or other form if the data collection method (e.g., phone call) make it too burdensome to obtain written consent (Attachment A.4, Art. 7). Consent is preserved for three years after being collected;
Researchers should make their identity known to participants, provide appropriate information concerning the research project and design and correct errors and mistakes in a timely manner (Attachment A.4, Art. 10);
Data collected for scientific or statistical research might be preserved beyond the time required for the achievement of the intended purposes (Attachment A.4, Art. 11);
Changes might be required by the subject, but changes should be noted next to originally collected data, without deleting the latter (Attachment A.4, Art. 12).
