Submissions

Privacy Statement

The Annals of Statistical Theory and Applications (ASTA), published by the Professional Statisticians' Society of Nigeria (PSSN), is committed to protecting the privacy, confidentiality, and security of personal information provided by authors, reviewers, editors, readers, and other users of the journal website.

This Privacy Statement explains how personal information is collected, used, stored, and protected in connection with the journal's website and online publishing system.

1. Information We Collect

ASTA may collect personal information necessary to operate the journal and manage scholarly publishing activities. Depending on the user's interaction with the journal, this may include:

• Full name.

• Institutional affiliation.

• Academic or professional position.

• Email address.

• Postal or institutional address.

• Telephone number, where voluntarily provided.

• ORCID iD.

• Username and account information.

• Manuscript submission information.

• Author biographies and professional information.

• Reviewer information and review records.

• Editorial correspondence.

• Funding and conflict-of-interest information.

• Information contained in manuscripts and supplementary files.

• Technical information required to operate and secure the website.

Users are encouraged to provide only information that is necessary for their interaction with the journal.

2. How We Use Personal Information

Personal information collected through the journal's OJS platform is used primarily for legitimate journal and scholarly publishing activities, including:

• Processing manuscript submissions.

• Managing peer review.

• Communicating with authors, reviewers, and editors.

• Assigning manuscripts to appropriate editors and reviewers.

• Maintaining editorial and publication records.

• Producing and publishing articles.

• Generating article and author metadata.

• Issuing publication-related notifications.

• Managing journal accounts and user access.

• Responding to enquiries and requests.

• Maintaining the security and functionality of the journal website.

• Meeting applicable publishing, legal, ethical, and administrative requirements.

Personal information will not be used for unrelated purposes without an appropriate basis or, where required, the user's consent.

3. Publicly Available Information

Some information supplied by authors, editors, and reviewers may become publicly available when it forms part of the scholarly record.

For example, information associated with a published article may include:

• Author names.

• Institutional affiliations.

• ORCID iDs, where provided and configured for public display.

• Author biographies, where provided.

• Corresponding author information where appropriate.

• Funding disclosures.

• Conflict-of-interest statements.

• Acknowledgements.

Users should therefore consider carefully what information they provide for public display.

Reviewer identities will normally remain confidential in accordance with the journal's peer-review model unless the journal explicitly adopts a different review arrangement or disclosure is required for a legitimate reason.

4. Manuscripts and Confidential Editorial Information

Manuscripts submitted to ASTA may contain unpublished research, personal information, confidential data, intellectual property, or other sensitive scholarly material.

The journal treats submitted manuscripts and associated editorial records as confidential.

Access to submitted manuscripts is restricted to individuals who require access for legitimate editorial, peer-review, production, administrative, or technical purposes.

Editors, reviewers, and other authorised individuals must not disclose or use confidential manuscript information for purposes unrelated to the journal's editorial process.

5. Reviewer Information

Reviewer information is collected and processed to facilitate peer review.

Reviewer information may include:

• Name.

• Affiliation.

• Email address.

• Areas of expertise.

• ORCID iD, where provided.

• Review assignments.

• Review reports.

• Editorial correspondence.

Reviewer identities will be handled in accordance with the journal's peer-review policy.

Under ASTA's double-anonymous peer-review model, reasonable measures are taken to prevent the identities of authors and reviewers from being disclosed to one another during the review process.

6. Email Communications

ASTA may use registered email addresses to communicate information relevant to journal activities, including:

• Submission acknowledgements.

• Review invitations.

• Editorial decisions.

• Revision requests.

• Publication notifications.

• Editorial and production correspondence.

• Account-related notifications.

• Journal announcements relevant to registered users.

The journal does not sell or rent registered user email addresses to third parties for unrelated marketing purposes.

7. Cookies and Technical Information

The journal website and OJS platform may use cookies and similar technical mechanisms to support essential website functions.

These technologies may be used to:

• Maintain user sessions.

• Authenticate registered users.

• Support submission and editorial workflows.

• Remember appropriate website settings.

• Maintain website security.

• Improve the functionality and reliability of the journal platform.

The website may also automatically record limited technical information, such as IP address, browser type, operating system, referring pages, and access times, for security, system administration, and diagnostic purposes.

8. Third-Party Services

ASTA may use trusted third-party services to support legitimate publishing activities. These may include services for:

• DOI registration and metadata deposition.

• ORCID authentication and integration.

• Digital preservation.

• Indexing and discovery.

• Website security and infrastructure.

• Similarity or plagiarism screening.

• Email delivery.

• Payment processing, where applicable.

Where third-party services process personal information, the journal will seek to use appropriate providers and will share only information reasonably necessary for the relevant service.

Users should also consult the privacy policies of third-party services where appropriate.

9. DOI and Scholarly Metadata

When an article is published, relevant bibliographic and author metadata may be deposited with DOI registration agencies and other scholarly indexing or discovery services.

Such metadata may include:

• Article title.

• Author names.

• Institutional affiliations.

• ORCID identifiers.

• Abstract.

• Publication date.

• DOI.

• Funding information.

• Article type.

• References or other bibliographic information where applicable.

This information may subsequently be distributed and indexed by external scholarly services.

10. ORCID

Where authors or other journal users connect their ORCID iD to their OJS account, the journal may exchange relevant information with ORCID in accordance with the permissions granted by the user and the applicable ORCID terms.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that the information associated with their ORCID record is accurate.

11. Data Security

ASTA takes reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against:

• Unauthorised access.

• Unauthorised disclosure.

• Loss.

• Misuse.

• Alteration.

• Destruction.

Access to administrative and editorial information is restricted according to user roles and responsibilities within the OJS platform.

However, no internet-based system can guarantee absolute security. Users should avoid submitting unnecessary sensitive personal information through the journal platform.

12. Data Retention

ASTA retains personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil legitimate journal, editorial, publication, administrative, legal, and research-integrity purposes.

Some information associated with the scholarly record may need to be retained permanently or for extended periods because it forms part of the journal's publication and editorial history.

For example, published articles, author metadata, editorial decisions, peer-review records, and publication correspondence may be retained to preserve the integrity and provenance of the scholarly record.

13. User Accounts

Users who register with the journal are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their account credentials.

Users should:

• Use a secure password.

• Avoid sharing login credentials.

• Update inaccurate account information.

• Notify the journal if they suspect unauthorised access to their account.

The journal may disable or remove accounts where necessary for security, administrative, or publication-integrity reasons.

14. Data Sharing and Disclosure

ASTA does not sell personal information to third parties.

Personal information may be disclosed where reasonably necessary for legitimate journal operations or where required by applicable law, regulation, court order, institutional investigation, or research-integrity procedure.

Information may also be shared with appropriate scholarly publishing and infrastructure services where necessary to:

• Register and maintain article DOIs.

• Deposit bibliographic metadata.

• Support ORCID integration.

• Preserve published content.

• Facilitate indexing and scholarly discovery.

• Conduct authorised plagiarism or similarity checks.

• Process payments where applicable.

• Maintain the security and operation of the journal platform.

Only information reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose should be disclosed.

15. Research Integrity and Misconduct Investigations

Where credible allegations of research or publication misconduct arise, ASTA may process relevant personal information as necessary to investigate and resolve the matter.

This may include correspondence, manuscript records, reviewer reports, authorship information, institutional affiliations, and other relevant evidence.

Where appropriate, the journal may communicate with authors' institutions, research organisations, publishers, indexing services, or other relevant bodies in connection with legitimate research-integrity investigations.

16. Children's Privacy

ASTA is an academic scholarly journal and does not knowingly collect personal information from children for purposes unrelated to legitimate journal activities.

Users who are under the applicable age of consent should not create an account or provide personal information without appropriate parental or guardian involvement where required by applicable law.

17. Links to External Websites

The journal website may contain links to external websites, including scholarly databases, DOI services, ORCID, institutional websites, repositories, and other resources.

ASTA is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of external websites. Users should review the privacy policies of external services before providing personal information to them.

18. Changes to This Privacy Statement

ASTA may update this Privacy Statement when necessary to reflect changes in:

• Journal operations.

• OJS configuration.

• Publishing practices.

• Third-party services.

• Applicable legal or regulatory requirements.

• Data protection and privacy standards.

The latest version will be made available on the journal website.

19. Contact

Questions, concerns, or requests concerning this Privacy Statement or the handling of personal information should be directed to the journal through the official contact details provided on the Contact page.

Where a privacy concern relates specifically to the operation of the OJS platform, users may also contact the journal's designated technical or administrative support contact.

Privacy Commitment

ASTA respects the privacy of its authors, reviewers, editors, readers, and other users. Personal information submitted through the journal's OJS platform is used primarily to facilitate scholarly publishing and journal administration. The journal does not sell or rent personal information for unrelated commercial purposes.

Last updated: August 2026