Privacy Statement

Acta Medica is committed to protecting the privacy and personal data of authors, reviewers, editors, and readers. This policy explains how personal data are collected, used, stored, shared, and protected in accordance with the Law on the Protection of Personal Data No. 6698 (KVKK) in Türkiye and, where applicable, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union.

1. Data Controller

The data controller for the personal data processed by Acta Medica is Hacettepe University. The journal is published by Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine.

  • Data Controller: Hacettepe University, Rectorate, 06230 Sıhhiye, Altındağ, Ankara, Türkiye
  • Publisher: Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Dean's Office, 06230 Sıhhiye, Ankara, Türkiye
  • Journal Contact: [email protected]

For more information on the processing of personal data by Hacettepe University, please visit its Personal Data Protection page.

2. Personal Data Collected

Personal data necessary for the scholarly publishing process are collected through the journal website and the online submission system. The details of co-authors are entered by the submitting author; co-authors are informed by email about the submission and the processing of their data, and are asked to confirm their authorship (e.g., by connecting their ORCID iD).

  • Identity Information: Name, surname, and ORCID iD.
  • Contact Information: Email address, phone number, institutional affiliation, and mailing address.
  • Professional Information: Academic degree, field of expertise, and publication history.
  • Submission and Review Data: Manuscripts, declarations, review reports, and correspondence related to the editorial process.
  • System Data: IP addresses, login records, and cookie data used for system security and functionality.
  • Usage Data: Pages visited, files downloaded, browser type, and approximate location (country, region, or city) derived from the IP address, used to produce usage statistics.

The journal does not request special categories of personal data, such as health data. Authors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts do not contain information that could identify patients or study participants, unless written consent for publication has been obtained. The journal website is not directed at children, and the journal does not knowingly collect personal data from children under the age of 16.

Personal data are processed for the following purposes:

  • Editorial Process: To manage manuscript submission, peer review, and editorial decisions through the online submission and peer review system.
  • Similarity Check: To check submitted manuscripts for text similarity with the published literature.
  • Publication: To publish accepted articles with correct author attribution (name, affiliation, and ORCID iD).
  • Communication: To contact authors and reviewers regarding the status of manuscripts or to request reviews.
  • Announcements: Where the journal sends announcements by email, such as new issues and calls for papers, to deliver them to users who agreed to receive them when registering and to authors of submitted manuscripts (see Direct Marketing).
  • Indexing and Archiving: To share the necessary metadata with DOI registration agencies, indexing services, and digital archives to ensure the discoverability and permanent citation of articles.
  • Usage Statistics: To produce aggregated statistics on the use of the journal website and its articles.
  • Research Integrity: To handle complaints, appeals, and allegations of misconduct.
  • Legal Compliance: To fulfill legal obligations under applicable laws.

Personal data are processed on the basis of the legal grounds set out in Article 5 of the KVKK and Article 6 of the GDPR, including the necessity of processing for the establishment and performance of the publication process, compliance with legal obligations, the legitimate interests of the journal in maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record, in producing usage statistics, and in informing authors about the journal, and the explicit consent of the data subject for analytics cookies and for announcements sent to registered users. Authors may object to receiving announcements at any time by using the unsubscribe link included in every announcement. Personal data are not used for automated decision-making or profiling.

4. Cookies and Web Analytics

The journal website uses cookies to ensure its proper functioning and to improve its performance.

  • Essential Cookies: These cookies are necessary for the technical operation and security of the website, such as maintaining login sessions and language preferences and protecting the website against malicious traffic (Cloudflare), and do not require consent.
  • Usage Statistics: The online publishing system records visits and downloads without using cookies in order to produce usage statistics. IP addresses are used only to filter out repeated clicks and automated traffic and to determine approximate location; they are stored only in hashed form, and statistics are reported only in aggregate.
  • Analytics Cookies (Google Analytics): The website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google LLC, to understand how visitors use the website. Google Analytics collects information such as browser and device type, pages visited, referring pages, time spent on the website, and approximate location.
    • Consent: Analytics cookies are used only with the explicit consent of the user, which can be given or withdrawn at any time through the cookie settings on the website.
    • Purpose: The data are used solely for statistical analysis to improve the performance and visibility of the journal website.
    • Opt-Out: Users can also disable cookies in their browser settings or install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

5. Data Sharing and International Transfers

Acta Medica does not sell or rent personal data to third parties or share them for targeted advertising. Strictly for the purposes of scholarly publishing, personal data may be shared with the following parties:

  • Service Provider: Akdema Informatics and Publishing acts as the service provider and data processor, providing the technical infrastructure of the journal, including the online submission system, peer review management, hosting, production, and publishing support services.
  • Content Delivery and Security Provider: Cloudflare, Inc. delivers the journal website and protects it against attacks; requests to the website, including IP addresses, pass through its network.
  • Similarity Check Service: Submitted manuscripts may be checked with iThenticate (Turnitin, LLC) through Crossref Similarity Check.
  • DOI Registration, Indexing, and Archiving Services: The metadata of published articles (e.g., author names, affiliations, ORCID iDs, and article information) are shared with Crossref for DOI registration and with the indexing services and digital archives in which the journal is included.
  • Academic Search Engines and Aggregators: Published articles and their metadata are publicly available and may be indexed or harvested by academic search engines and aggregators (e.g., Google Scholar), including through open metadata protocols such as OAI-PMH.
  • Web Analytics Provider: Google LLC processes analytics data of users who consent to analytics cookies.
  • Legal Deposit: Published issues are deposited with national legal deposit institutions as required by law.
  • Legal Authorities: Personal data may be shared with judicial or administrative authorities when legally required.

The journal's online systems and servers are located in Türkiye, and the website is delivered through Cloudflare's global network. Personal data may be transferred abroad when requests to the website pass through this network, when article metadata are deposited with international DOI registration, indexing, and archiving services, when manuscripts are checked with the similarity check service, and when analytics data are processed by Google Analytics. Such transfers are carried out in accordance with Article 9 of the KVKK and the applicable provisions of the GDPR.

6. Data Retention

Personal data are retained for as long as necessary for the purposes for which they are processed, in accordance with applicable legal obligations and the institutional policies of Hacettepe University. The following criteria are used to determine retention periods:

  • Published Articles: Published articles and their metadata, including author names and affiliations, are retained permanently as part of the scholarly record and are also kept in legal deposit and digital preservation archives.
  • Editorial Records: Submission, peer review, and editorial records, including those of rejected or withdrawn manuscripts, are retained to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record, to handle complaints, appeals, and allegations of misconduct, and to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
  • User Accounts: Account information is retained while the user account remains active and as long as it is associated with editorial records.
  • Analytics Data: Analytics data are retained for the period configured in Google Analytics.
  • Usage Statistics: Usage statistics are retained in aggregated form; the underlying records contain IP addresses only in hashed form.

Personal data that are no longer necessary are deleted, destroyed, or anonymized, unless their retention is required by law. Deleted data may remain in backups for a limited period until the backups are overwritten.

7. Data Security

Appropriate technical and administrative measures are taken to prevent the unlawful processing of and unauthorized access to personal data. Data transmission is protected by Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption, and access to personal data is restricted to authorized persons. In the event of a personal data breach, the competent authority and the affected persons are notified as required by law.

8. Your Rights

Under Article 11 of the KVKK and the relevant provisions of the GDPR, you have the right to:

  • Learn whether your personal data are being processed.
  • Request information if your personal data have been processed.
  • Learn the purpose of the processing and whether the data are used in accordance with that purpose.
  • Know the third parties in Türkiye or abroad to whom your personal data are transferred.
  • Request the correction of incomplete or inaccurate data.
  • Request the deletion or destruction of your personal data, provided that this does not conflict with the obligation to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record (e.g., published author names cannot be removed from archived articles).
  • Request that the correction, deletion, or destruction of your personal data be notified to third parties to whom your data have been transferred.
  • Object to results arising against you from the analysis of your data exclusively through automated systems.
  • Withdraw your consent at any time for processing based on consent (e.g., analytics cookies and announcements).
  • Request compensation for damages resulting from unlawful processing.
  • Lodge a complaint with the Personal Data Protection Authority or the competent supervisory authority.

Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under local law, such as Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) or US state privacy laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Requests under these laws can be made in the same way as described under Contact below. The journal does not sell personal information or share it for targeted advertising.

9. Updates to This Policy

Acta Medica reserves the right to update this privacy statement to comply with legal changes or operational requirements. The most current version is always published on this page.

10. Contact

For questions regarding personal data processed by the journal, please contact [email protected]. Formal applications to exercise your rights under Article 11 of the KVKK can be submitted to Hacettepe University in accordance with the procedures described on its Data Subject Request Process page. Applications are answered free of charge within thirty days at the latest.