Privacy Statement

Geliotekhnika respects the privacy and personal data of authors, reviewers, editors, readers, and website users.

This statement explains how personal data are collected, used, protected, shared, and retained in connection with the journal’s editorial, peer-review, publishing, and online activities.

Personal data are processed in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On Personal Data”, No. ZRU-547, as amended, and other applicable data-protection requirements. Data are used only for lawful, specified purposes connected with the journal’s activities.

Scope and Responsibility

This statement applies to persons who create an account, submit a manuscript, conduct peer review, perform editorial duties, correspond with the journal, or use its website and editorial platform.

The Editorial Office determines the purposes for which data are used in editorial and scholarly publishing processes. The authorised publishing and technical service provider, I-EDU GROUP LLC, uses data only within its assigned role in providing publishing infrastructure, the website, platform, metadata, DOI-related, and technical services.

Editors, reviewers, and authorised staff may access only the data necessary to perform their duties and must maintain confidentiality.

Personal Data Collected

The journal may collect information provided by a user during registration, manuscript submission, peer review, editorial work, or correspondence, including:

  • full name;

  • email address, telephone number, and other contact details;

  • institution, department, position, and country;

  • academic degree, title, and areas of expertise;

  • ORCID identifier and other scholarly profile identifiers;

  • username, account details, and login-related information;

  • author biography and research interests;

  • manuscripts, supplementary files, and article metadata;

  • peer-review reports, editorial decisions, and correspondence;

  • declarations concerning authorship, contributions, funding, conflicts of interest, ethics, and use of AI tools;

  • limited information required for payment or accounting, where applicable;

  • information relating to a complaint, appeal, or ethical investigation.

Users are asked not to provide special-category or excessive personal data that are not necessary for the relevant task.

Automatically Collected Technical Data

The online platform may automatically record limited technical information, including:

  • IP address;

  • browser, device type, and operating system;

  • pages visited and principal actions performed;

  • date and time of access;

  • referral source;

  • language and general location information;

  • session, security, and error logs.

This information may be used to operate and secure the platform, identify technical problems, protect accounts, and produce aggregated usage statistics.

Purposes of Data Processing

Personal data may be used to:

  • create and manage user accounts;

  • manage manuscript submission, initial screening, and editorial assessment;

  • organise double-anonymous peer review;

  • communicate among authors, reviewers, editors, and the Editorial Office;

  • edit, typeset, publish, and disseminate articles;

  • prepare article metadata and register DOIs;

  • submit content to indexing services, repositories, and digital archives;

  • publish author, affiliation, ORCID, and other scholarly attribution information;

  • conduct similarity, image-integrity, reference, and technical-compliance checks;

  • maintain the integrity of the editorial process and scholarly record;

  • examine complaints, appeals, conflicts of interest, and ethical or legal concerns;

  • maintain security, operate, and improve the platform and services;

  • comply with legal, contractual, and institutional obligations.

Bases for Processing

Depending on applicable law, personal data processing may rely on one or more of the following bases:

  • the user’s explicit consent;

  • the need to provide an editorial or publishing service requested by the user;

  • the journal’s lawful functions in scholarly communication, peer review, publication integrity, and information security;

  • a legal or contractual obligation;

  • the need to preserve the scholarly publication and archival record.

Where processing is based on consent, a user may withdraw that consent. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing already performed and does not automatically end processing supported by another lawful basis.

Publication of Author Information

Information necessary for scholarly attribution may be published with an accepted article, including:

  • author names;

  • institutions and countries;

  • ORCID identifiers;

  • relevant contact information for the corresponding author;

  • author contributions;

  • statements on funding, conflicts of interest, ethics, data availability, and use of AI tools.

After publication, this information may be distributed through DOI registration agencies, indexing databases, repositories, libraries, search engines, and digital archives. Because of the permanent nature of the scholarly record, complete deletion of core bibliographic and authorship information may not always be possible; errors are corrected under the journal’s corrections policy.

Peer-Review and Editorial Confidentiality

The journal uses a double-anonymous peer-review process. The identities of authors and reviewers are concealed from one another during peer review.

Reviewer identities are not disclosed to authors unless:

  • the reviewer explicitly agrees to disclosure;

  • disclosure is required by law;

  • disclosure is necessary for an authorised ethical or legal investigation.

Submitted manuscripts, reviewer reports, editorial comments, and editorial correspondence must not be shared outside the authorised process. Reviewers and editors must not upload confidential materials to publicly accessible or journal-unauthorised artificial-intelligence systems.

Sharing of Personal Data

Personal data may be shared, to the extent necessary, with:

  • editors and authorised journal staff;

  • reviewers;

  • publishing and technical-platform service providers;

  • DOI registration agencies;

  • indexing services, repositories, and archives;

  • email, hosting, security, and communication service providers;

  • judicial, regulatory, law-enforcement, or institutional authorities where required by law;

  • other persons with the user’s consent.

Service providers are required to use the data only for the assigned purpose and to apply appropriate confidentiality and security measures.

The journal does not sell personal data or provide them for unrelated direct marketing.

Cross-Border Data Transfers

Because of DOI registration, international indexing, archiving, electronic communication, or technical services, some data may be transferred to organisations outside the Republic of Uzbekistan or processed in other countries.

Such transfers are made only to the extent necessary for publication and scholarly communication and in accordance with applicable law and appropriate confidentiality and security measures.

Publicly published authorship and bibliographic information may be accessible worldwide through the internet.

Cookies and Similar Technologies

The journal website may use cookies and similar technologies to:

  • maintain user sessions;

  • support secure account login;

  • remember language and other preferences;

  • provide website functionality;

  • detect security threats;

  • collect limited, aggregated usage statistics.

Users may control or delete cookies through their browser settings. Disabling essential cookies may affect certain website functions.

If non-essential analytics or third-party cookies are used, an appropriate notice or consent mechanism will be provided where required.

Data Security

The journal and authorised service providers apply reasonable organisational and technical measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure.

Where appropriate, such measures may include:

  • role-based access controls;

  • password and account protection;

  • backups and technical monitoring;

  • software updates;

  • confidentiality obligations;

  • procedures for identifying and managing security incidents.

No online system can guarantee absolute security. Users are responsible for protecting their usernames, passwords, and account-access information.

Where a significant personal-data security incident occurs, the journal will take necessary action and notify affected persons or a competent authority where required by applicable law.

Data Retention

Personal data are retained only for as long as reasonably necessary to:

  • complete editorial and publication processes;

  • preserve the reliability and continuity of the scholarly record;

  • maintain peer-review and editorial-decision history;

  • manage complaints, appeals, and ethical investigations;

  • meet contractual, financial, and legal requirements;

  • support indexing and digital archiving;

  • maintain system-security and audit records.

Published article metadata, authorship information, material records of editorial decisions, and other information necessary for the integrity of the scholarly record may be retained permanently.

Even after an account is deleted, authorship, peer-review, editorial, ethical, or legal records may be retained. Data that are no longer needed and are not subject to a retention obligation will be securely deleted or anonymised.

User Rights

Subject to applicable law, an individual may request:

  • information about whether and how their personal data are used;

  • access to their personal data;

  • correction of inaccurate or outdated information;

  • restriction of or objection to certain processing;

  • withdrawal of consent where processing is based on consent;

  • deletion of data that are no longer required;

  • a copy of the data, where applicable;

  • the opportunity to lodge a complaint with a competent authority.

A request for deletion or restriction may not be fully granted where data must be retained for legal, contractual, ethical, archival, or scholarly-record purposes.

Verification of identity and the requester’s relationship to the data may be required before a request is processed. The journal will respond in accordance with the procedures and time limits established by applicable law.

Automated Tools and Artificial Intelligence

The journal may use authorised automated tools for similarity checking, metadata preparation, reference verification, technical-compliance checks, or security.

A final decision to accept or reject a manuscript, determine misconduct, or impose a sanction will not be made solely on the basis of an automated output. Material outputs are reviewed by an authorised human.

Confidential manuscripts and personal data are not uploaded to publicly accessible AI systems that have not been authorised by the journal. Detailed requirements are set out in the journal’s Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools.

External Links and Services

The journal website may contain links to external websites, DOI pages, ORCID, indexing databases, repositories, and other services.

The journal is not responsible for the privacy practices, security, or content of external services. Users should review the privacy policies of those services separately.

Updates to This Statement

This Privacy Statement may be revised in response to legal, technical, editorial, or operational developments.

The current version will be published on the journal’s official website. Material changes may be communicated through the website or another appropriate channel where necessary.

Policy Administration

This statement is effective from the date of its publication on the official website of Geliotekhnika.

Questions, requests, or concerns regarding personal data and privacy should be submitted to:

Email: ftikans@uzsci.net

A request should include only the minimum information necessary to verify identity and clearly describe the requested action. Users are advised not to send confidential or excessive documents through ordinary email.

ISSN 0130-0997 (Print)
ISSN 2181-9963 (Online)