Last Updated: 17 October 2026

Who We Are

This Privacy Policy explains how Discover STM Publishing Ltd ("Discover STM", "we", "us") processes personal data in connection with the European Journal of Medical Case Reports (EJMCR) and its website, https://ejmcr.com (the "Website"). Discover STM is the data controller for EJMCR editorial and manuscript-submission personal data.

Discover STM Publishing Ltd. CRO Registration Number: 626702. Registered office: 82 Leslies Arch, Old Quarter, Ballincollig, Co. Cork, P31 RY62, Ireland.

Privacy enquiries and requests may be sent to contact@discoverpublish.com. EJMCR receives general website enquiries through its published email addresses, such as contact@ejmcr.com; the Website does not use an enquiry form.

Scope and Personal Data We Process

EJMCR is a scholarly journal. We process personal data relating to authors and coauthors, reviewers, editors and editorial board members, users of manuscript-submission accounts, people named in publication records, people involved in payment administration, people who contact the Editorial Office or make complaints, and visitors to the Website.

The personal data we process may include names, email addresses, affiliations, countries, ORCID iDs where provided, account details, manuscript files and author information, declarations (such as competing interests, funding, ethics and consent statements), peer-review reports and editorial correspondence, production and publication records, payment administration records such as invoice details and payment status, enquiries and complaints, and technical information about visits to the Website (such as IP address, browser and device information and pages viewed).

Lawful Bases

We rely on different lawful bases for different activities. Depending on the activity, these may include contractual necessity (for example, providing an account or handling a submission you have made), legitimate interests (for example, operating a scholarly journal, peer review, maintaining the integrity and transparency of the scholarly record, and handling concerns and research-integrity matters), legal obligations (for example, accounting and tax records) and consent (for example, non-essential analytics cookies and optional promotional emails).

Registering an account or submitting a manuscript is not treated as consent to all processing. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time; withdrawal does not affect processing that took place before withdrawal.

Manuscripts, particularly case reports and clinical images, may contain health-related information about patients. Authors must follow EJMCR's consent, confidentiality and ethics requirements. Where special-category personal data is processed, Discover STM assesses the additional conditions required under Article 9 of the GDPR. An author's ordinary submission or account registration does not by itself authorise every processing activity involving such data.

Editorial, Submission and Publication Records

We process the information necessary for submission handling, peer review, editorial decisions, communication with authors, production, publication, corrections, complaints and research-integrity investigations. Confidential submissions, reviewer reports and reviewer records are not automatically made public.

Published article information, such as author names, affiliations and bibliographic metadata, may form part of the permanent scholarly record and may be made available to indexing and DOI services in line with the journal's publication and archiving policies.

Processors and Service Providers

We use service providers to help operate EJMCR. The following service relationships are currently known:

• Sofia Fields Editorial Services Ltd (United Kingdom): operates the ePublisyst manuscript-submission platform and provides technical support, typesetting and related production services. For EJMCR data processed on Discover STM's instructions, Sofia Fields acts as a data processor.
• Google: email hosting and Google Analytics (website analytics, described separately below).
• Stripe: payment processing.

This list does not necessarily include every infrastructure or technical service provider. EJMCR's editorial policies also refer to similarity-screening tools; where such tools are used, manuscript text may be processed by their providers. We may also disclose personal data where necessary to comply with the law or to respond to lawful requests from authorities.

International Processing

According to the publisher's information, EJMCR manuscript data is hosted within the European Economic Area (EEA). The location where data is hosted is different from where it may be accessed: authorised editorial or technical personnel, including personnel of service providers, may access manuscript-related personal data from outside the EEA. Sofia Fields operates from the United Kingdom, and other service providers, including Google, may process data outside the EEA. We therefore do not state that all processing takes place exclusively within the EEA.

Where personal data is transferred to, or accessed from, a country outside the EEA, an appropriate transfer mechanism is required under Chapter V of the GDPR. The recipient countries and safeguards for each arrangement remain subject to legal and technical verification, and this Policy does not state that any particular safeguard has been put in place. Accepting this Policy does not amount to consent to unrestricted international transfers of personal data.

Retention

Editorial records (including submission, peer-review and editorial-decision records and related correspondence) are retained for seven years after the final editorial decision or closure of the manuscript record, subject to legally justified exceptions, such as a pending complaint, integrity investigation or legal claim.

Ordinary enquiries and general administrative correspondence are retained for up to three years after the last relevant correspondence, subject to legally justified exceptions. Records that must be kept by law, such as accounting and tax records, are kept for the periods the law requires.

Published articles, bibliographic metadata and other permanent scholarly records are treated separately under the journal's publication and archiving policies and are not deleted at the end of these periods.

You may ask us to close your account or to delete eligible personal data. This does not create an unconditional right to erase editorial records, publication records or data that must lawfully be retained. The publisher's aim is that expired data is removed from active systems and that any residual copies in backups expire in due course. The specific deletion and backup arrangements are still being verified.

These retention periods have been approved by the publisher. Their operational implementation across all systems, including backups, is subject to verification, and this Policy does not state that every system already applies them.

AI-Assisted Editorial Operations

EJMCR permits approved AI-assisted editorial and administrative work with human oversight. Any external AI processing is restricted to appropriately anonymised content. Submitting a manuscript or agreeing to this Policy is not permission to send identifiable confidential manuscripts to external AI providers. Confidential manuscript content must not be reused for unrelated commercial purposes or for training external AI models.

Sofia Fields may use genuinely anonymous, aggregated operational findings to improve its software, provided they do not contain identifiable records, manuscript passages, confidential research information or information reasonably capable of re-identification.

Cookies and Website Analytics

Google Analytics is used for aggregate measurement of Website traffic, performance, usability and service improvement. Discover STM does not permit individual advertising profiling or remarketing on the Website. Non-essential analytics is intended to be used on the basis of your consent. For information about cookies and how to manage them, please see the Cookie Policy.

Automated Decision-Making

We do not use your personal data for the purposes of automated decision-making.

Editorial and Marketing Communications

Emails necessary for editorial and operational purposes (for example, about submissions, peer review, decisions, accounts, security and invoices) are not marketing. Optional promotional communications are sent only where permitted by law, for example with your consent or where a lawful exemption applies, and each includes an effective way to opt out. Submitting a manuscript does not automatically subscribe an author to marketing.

Your Rights

Depending on the processing activity, you may have the right to access your personal data, have it corrected, have it erased where appropriate, restrict or object to its processing, receive it in a portable format where applicable, and withdraw consent where consent is the lawful basis. These rights do not apply unconditionally to every processing activity; for example, editorial and publication records may have to be retained.

To exercise your rights, contact us at contact@discoverpublish.com. We may verify your identity proportionately, for example through the registered email address or your authenticated account, and will ask for additional evidence only where reasonably necessary. We will respond within one month of receiving your request. Where the law allows, this period may be extended by up to two further months taking into account the complexity and number of requests, and we will tell you if that applies.

Security and Personal-Data Breaches

We seek to use appropriate organisational, technical and administrative measures to protect personal data. No transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, for example if you think your account has been compromised, please notify us immediately by contacting us. Personal-data breaches will be handled in accordance with applicable law, including assessment and, where required, notification to the Data Protection Commission and affected individuals. Sofia Fields coordinates technical investigations and prepares reports as our processor; Discover STM remains responsible for controller-level regulatory decisions and notifications.

Children

The Website is not directed to children under 16. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that a child has provided us with information without consent, they should contact us and we will delete such information as soon as reasonably practicable.

Third-Party Websites

The Website may contain links to third-party websites. This Policy does not cover the privacy practices of such third parties, and we do not accept responsibility for their websites or policies. Please read their privacy policies before you submit any data to them.

Complaints

If you have a concern about how we handle your personal data, please contact us at contact@discoverpublish.com and we will aim to reply within 30 days. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Irish Data Protection Commission (https://www.dataprotection.ie).

Contact

Discover STM Publishing Ltd, CRO Registration Number 626702, 82 Leslies Arch, Old Quarter, Ballincollig, Co. Cork, P31 RY62, Ireland. Email: contact@discoverpublish.com.