Privacy Policy

American Impact Review ("AIR," "the Journal," "we," "us," or "our") is an open-access, peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary academic journal published by Global Talent Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization incorporated in the United States. The Journal is operated online at americanimpactreview.com (the "Website").

We are committed to protecting the privacy and personal information of our authors, reviewers, editors, and site visitors. This Privacy Policy describes what information we collect, how we use and disclose it, how long we retain it, and what rights you have with respect to your personal data. We endeavor to comply with all applicable privacy laws and regulations, including the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and other relevant data protection legislation.

By accessing or using the Website, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with any part of this policy, please discontinue use of the Website.

2.1 Account Registration Information

When you create an account on the Website, we collect the following information through our authentication system:

• Full name
• Email address
• Password (stored in hashed form; we do not have access to your plaintext password)
• Account creation date

2.2 Profile Information

You may optionally provide additional information to complete your profile, such as institutional affiliation, ORCID iD, academic title, department, and a short biography. This information helps us facilitate the editorial process and connect you with the research community.

2.3 Author and Submission Information

When you submit a manuscript or other research output to the Journal, we collect additional information necessary for the editorial and peer review process:

• Author name(s), institutional affiliation(s), and contact details
• Co-author names, affiliations, and email addresses
• ORCID iD (if provided)
• Academic credentials, department, and position
• Manuscript files, abstracts, cover letters, and supplementary materials
• Conflict of interest disclosures and funding source declarations
• Correspondence related to the submission

2.4 Reviewer Information

When you serve as a peer reviewer, we collect:

• Name, email address, and institutional affiliation
• Areas of expertise and research interests
• Review reports, comments, recommendations, and editorial correspondence

We may also process basic personal information (email address, name, and research interests) that is publicly available to register you as a potential reviewer or to contact you about reviewing for the Journal. If you do not wish to be contacted as a potential reviewer, you can email us at egor@americanimpactreview.com.

2.5 Technical and Usage Information

When you visit our Website, we may automatically collect certain technical information, including:

• IP address
• Browser type and version
• Operating system and language settings
• Device type and screen resolution
• Pages visited, time spent on pages, and navigation patterns
• Referring URL and exit pages
• Date and time of access

We use such information only to assist us in providing an effective service, to collect broad demographic information for anonymized and aggregated use, and to provide article-level metrics such as view counts.

2.6 Communication Data

When you contact us via email or through the Website's contact forms, we collect the content of your communications, your name, email address, and any other information you voluntarily provide.

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

3.1 Editorial and Peer Review Process

• Processing, evaluating, and managing manuscript submissions
• Facilitating peer review by sharing manuscripts and relevant author information with editors and reviewers
• Communicating editorial decisions, revision requests, and publication updates to authors
• Publishing accepted articles with author names, affiliations, and other standard scholarly metadata
• Maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record, including investigation of potential ethical violations in accordance with Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines

3.2 Account Administration

• Creating and managing your user account
• Authenticating your identity at sign-in
• Providing access to submission, review, and editorial tools
• Sending password reset and account-related notifications

3.3 Communication

• Responding to your inquiries and providing support
• Sending editorial correspondence related to submissions
• Notifying you of important changes to Journal policies or services
• Sending calls for papers, journal announcements, or newsletters (with your consent or on an opt-out basis where permitted by law)

3.4 Website Improvement and Analytics

• Analyzing usage patterns to improve Website performance, functionality, and user experience
• Generating aggregated, anonymized statistics on article views and readership
• Diagnosing technical issues and ensuring the security and stability of the Website

3.5 Legal and Compliance

• Complying with applicable laws, regulations, and legal processes
• Enforcing our Terms of Use and protecting the rights, property, or safety of the Journal, its users, or others

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes. We do not use your data for behavioral advertising or automated decision-making that produces legal effects concerning you.

For users located in the European Economic Area (EEA) or the United Kingdom, we process personal data under the following legal bases as set forth in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

• Contractual necessity: Processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with you or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract (e.g., managing your account, processing your manuscript submission).
• Legitimate interests: Processing is necessary for our legitimate interests in operating the Journal, maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record, improving our services, finding qualified peer reviewers, and communicating with the research community, provided these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms.
• Consent: Where required by law, we process your personal data based on your freely given consent (e.g., for non-essential communications). You may withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out prior to withdrawal.
• Legal obligation: Processing is necessary to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject.

Our Website uses cookies and similar technologies to provide core functionality and improve your experience.

5.1 Essential Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary for the operation of the Website. They enable core functions such as user authentication (login sessions), security, and basic site navigation. Essential cookies cannot be disabled without impairing the functionality of the Website. These include:

• Authentication cookies — maintain your login session (set by Firebase Auth)
• Security cookies — protect against cross-site request forgery and other threats

5.2 Analytics

We may use analytics tools provided by our hosting platform (Vercel) or other services to collect anonymized, aggregated data about how visitors use the Website. This data helps us understand traffic patterns, popular content, and areas for improvement. Analytics data is not used to personally identify individual visitors.

5.3 What We Do Not Use

We do not use cookies for behavioral advertising, targeted marketing, or third-party tracking. We do not sell or share cookie data with advertisers.

5.4 Your Cookie Choices

Most web browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings. You can configure your browser to refuse all cookies, accept only certain cookies, or notify you when a cookie is set. Please note that disabling essential cookies may affect the functionality of the Website, particularly features that require authentication.

We rely on trusted third-party service providers to operate the Website and deliver our services. These providers process personal data on our behalf under contractual obligations to use your information only for the purposes we specify and in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

• Authentication and database services - for user account management, secure sign-in, and storage of application data including submissions, reviews, and editorial records
• Hosting and infrastructure - for delivering web pages, ensuring security, and processing technical data such as IP addresses and request logs
• Email delivery - for sending editorial correspondence, account notifications, and other transactional communications

Each third-party provider is subject to its own privacy policy and applicable data protection regulations. We do not sell, rent, or lease personal information to any third party. We do not share your data with third parties for their own marketing or advertising purposes.

We may disclose your personal information in the following limited circumstances:

• Editorial and peer review: Manuscripts, author names, and relevant metadata are shared with editors and peer reviewers as part of the standard scholarly review process. Reviewer identities are not disclosed to authors under our single-blind review policy.
• Publication: If your manuscript is accepted for publication, your name, institutional affiliation, ORCID iD (if provided), and conflict of interest disclosures will be published as part of the article and included in article metadata syndicated to indexing services and databases.
• Service providers: We share data with the third-party service providers described in Section 6 solely for the purposes of operating the Website and delivering our services.
• Legal requirements: We may disclose information if required by law, regulation, subpoena, court order, or other governmental authority, or when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, the safety of our users, or the public.
• Research integrity: In cases involving suspected research misconduct, plagiarism, or ethical violations, we may share relevant information with the author's institution, ethics committees, or other publishers in accordance with Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines.
• Organizational changes: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or transfer of assets involving Global Talent Foundation, personal data may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will provide notice before your data becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected and in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

• Account data: Retained for as long as your account remains active. If you request account deletion, your personal data will be erased within 30 days, except where retention is required by law or for the preservation of the scholarly record.
• Submission and review records: Manuscripts, review reports, editorial correspondence, and decision records are retained indefinitely as part of the permanent scholarly record and for the purpose of preserving publication integrity. This is consistent with the practices of major academic publishers and is necessary for research integrity investigations.
• Published articles: Author names, affiliations, and other metadata associated with published articles are retained permanently as part of the public scholarly record.
• Technical and log data: Server logs and technical access data are retained for up to 12 months for security and diagnostic purposes, after which they are deleted or anonymized.
• Communication data: Email correspondence and contact form submissions are retained for as long as necessary to resolve the inquiry and for a reasonable period thereafter (typically up to 12 months).

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, loss, or destruction. These measures include:

• Encryption of data in transit using TLS/SSL (HTTPS is enforced across the entire Website)
• Secure password hashing through Firebase Authentication (passwords are never stored in plaintext)
• Access controls limiting data access to authorized personnel on a need-to-know basis
• Use of industry-standard cloud infrastructure providers (Google Cloud, Vercel) with robust security certifications
• Regular review of security practices and prompt response to identified vulnerabilities

While we take reasonable steps to safeguard your information, no method of electronic storage or transmission over the internet is entirely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, and any transmission of personal data is at your own risk.

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of access: You may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification: You may request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
• Right to erasure: You may request that we delete your personal data, subject to certain exceptions (e.g., data required for the preservation of the scholarly record, legal obligations, or research integrity purposes).
• Right to restrict processing: You may request that we limit the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.
• Right to data portability: Where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means, you may request to receive your data in a structured, commonly-used, machine-readable format.
• Right to object: You may object to processing based on our legitimate interests, including direct marketing communications.
• Right to withdraw consent: Where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out prior to withdrawal.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at egor@americanimpactreview.com. We will respond to your request within 30 days (or such other period as required by applicable law). We may require verification of your identity before processing your request.

Please note that certain data related to published articles, submission records, and editorial correspondence may be exempt from deletion requests in order to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record and to comply with publication ethics standards.

Opt-Out of Communications

You may opt out of non-essential email communications (such as newsletters or calls for papers) at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link included in such emails or by contacting us at egor@americanimpactreview.com. Opting out of marketing communications will not affect transactional or editorial emails related to your account or submissions.

Complaints

If you are located in the EEA or UK, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory data protection authority. A list of EEA data protection authorities is available at edpb.europa.eu. For the UK, the supervisory authority is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

The Website and the services provided by American Impact Review are intended for adults at least eighteen (18) years of age. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of thirteen (13). If we learn that we have inadvertently collected personal data from a child under 13, we will take steps to delete that information as promptly as possible.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at egor@americanimpactreview.com so we can take appropriate action.

American Impact Review is operated from the United States. If you access the Website from outside the United States, please be aware that your personal data may be transferred to, stored in, and processed in the United States or other jurisdictions where our service providers operate. These jurisdictions may have data protection laws that differ from those of your country of residence.

Where we transfer personal data from the EEA or UK to countries that have not received an adequacy decision from the European Commission, we will implement appropriate safeguards as required by applicable law, including the use of standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission.

By using the Website and providing us with your information, you acknowledge and consent to the transfer of your personal data as described in this section.

The Website may contain links to third-party websites, services, or resources that are not operated or controlled by us. This Privacy Policy applies only to information collected through our Website. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of any third-party websites or services. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit before providing them with your personal information.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technologies, legal requirements, or other factors. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, provide notice through the Website or via email to registered users.

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information. Your continued use of the Website following the posting of changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy.

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or the processing of your personal data, please contact us:

American Impact Review
Published by Global Talent Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
Email: egor@americanimpactreview.com
Website: americanimpactreview.com

We will endeavor to respond to all privacy-related inquiries within a reasonable timeframe and no later than 30 days from receipt of your request.