Privacy Policy

Last updated: 20 September 2026

This policy explains how The Indic Journal handles personal information when you read our website, create an account, contact the newsroom, subscribe to updates, submit an article or support our work. It also explains the choices and rights available to you. It covers theindicjournal.com, not websites operated by other publishers or services you visit through our links.

Privacy contact: contact@theindicjournal.com. The publication is operated by an independent individual publisher based in Sweden. The operator is responsible for the personal information processed for the publication’s own website and reader services. Please use this address for questions about the operator, requests concerning your data or privacy complaints.

Information collected · Uses and legal bases · Sharing · Retention · Your rights

1. Information we collect

Reading the website

Delivering a web page involves processing connection information, including your IP address, requested page, date and time, browser or device information and technical errors. Hosting, caching and security systems may record this information to deliver content, investigate faults and prevent abuse. This operational processing is separate from optional audience analytics.

Accounts and profiles

If you register or maintain an account, we process your username, email address, display name, password authentication data, role and account status. Your profile may also contain a photograph, biography, profession or designation, phone number and correspondence address that you choose to add. Account records include preferences, verification or password-reset information and activity needed to provide the features you use, such as submissions or saved reading.

Provide only the optional profile details you want us to hold. Your public author name, biography, professional affiliation and photograph can appear alongside published contributions. Do not put private contact information in a public biography. Email, telephone and address fields are not intended as public author information; including those details in an article, comment or biography may nevertheless make them public.

Article submissions and uploaded files

Member and guest submissions can contain a headline, summary, article text, hyperlinks, selected categories, author details, supporting documents, author portrait and article image. Guest submissions require a name, email and biography; telephone and designation fields are optional. We also record submission references, review status, editorial feedback and information needed to prevent duplicate or abusive submissions.

A guest submission does not automatically create an account. Its contact details and original document are held for editorial administration rather than displayed as part of the article. Submitted articles enter a review queue; submitting is not the same as publishing. If approved, the article and agreed public author information become accessible to readers and search engines.

Images intended for publication may be stored at public media URLs, including profile images and images uploaded through member features. A pending article is not a secure file-sharing service. Do not upload identity documents, confidential records or sensitive images through these forms. Remove unnecessary document metadata, tracked changes and image location metadata before uploading.

Messages, comments and newsletters

We receive the information you send in correspondence, corrections requests, rights complaints and comments. Comments may include your name, website address, comment text and technical anti-spam information. Approved comments and the name or image attached to them may be public.

Newsletter records include the email address you provide, subscription preferences where offered, signup source and confirmation status. Our signup workflow sends a confirmation link. Requesting editorial review, contacting us or opening an account does not by itself mean you consent to promotional newsletters. You can ask to stop marketing emails at the privacy contact above or use the unsubscribe option where provided.

Support payments and commercial enquiries

Our support page provides a payment QR code. The payment itself takes place in your chosen payment app, not in a card-entry form operated by this website. We may receive payer information, an amount, a transaction reference and payment status through the recipient’s payment records, or details you send when asking about a contribution. Do not send us your card security code, banking password, UPI PIN or one-time code.

If you enquire about advertising, corporate articles or another commercial arrangement, we process the business contact information, proposal, correspondence and any agreed billing information needed to deal with that enquiry or arrangement.

2. Why we use information and the legal bases

For processing governed by the GDPR, the purpose determines the legal basis; we do not treat every visit or every acceptance of website terms as consent to all processing.

• Requested services: account administration and steps you request towards a contributor or commercial arrangement rely on contractual necessity where that basis applies. Editorial assessment and routine enquiries also involve our legitimate interest in running a publication and responding to people who contact us.
• Security and reliability: preventing spam, protecting accounts, investigating misuse and resolving technical problems serve our legitimate interests in a secure, functioning service, balanced against visitors’ rights.
• Optional newsletters, analytics and advertising technologies: we rely on consent where required. These choices are separate from necessary account or security functions.
• Legal and administrative obligations: applicable accounting, tax, regulatory or court requirements may require certain processing. Keeping relevant evidence to establish or defend a legal claim may be necessary for a legitimate interest.

Information marked as required is needed to process that particular form or request. Without it, we may be unable to create the account, assess the submission or respond. Optional fields can be left blank. You may object to processing based on legitimate interests; see section 8.

3. Cookies, analytics and advertising

The website uses Complianz to present cookie choices. Optional statistics and marketing categories are configured to require an opt-in. You can reject optional cookies or change your choice using Cookie settings. These choices apply worldwide under our current setup. Essential cookies support functions such as login, form security and remembering your decision.

With statistics consent, Google Analytics can process browser identifiers, visited pages, referral information, device details and interaction events to produce audience reports. Pseudonymous identifiers and technical data can still be personal information, even when we view aggregated reports. Our current Analytics loader excludes signed-in users and disables Google signals and advertising-personalisation signals.

Where Google advertising is enabled and the relevant consent requirements are met, Google and advertising partners may use cookies, web beacons, IP addresses and other identifiers to deliver or measure ads, limit repetition and, depending on your choices, personalise advertising. This can involve activity across other websites. A cookie preference does not establish that an ad service is approved or serving ads on every page.

See our Cookie Policy, how Google uses information from partner sites and Google’s Privacy Policy. Google’s account-level advertising controls are separate from your choices on this website.

4. Who can receive information

Information is available to the operator and authorised people who need it for editorial, technical or administrative work. Relevant service providers may process it to operate the website:

• Hostinger: website hosting, infrastructure and related delivery or support services. See Hostinger’s privacy information.
• Google: consent-based Analytics and, where enabled, advertising. Their role and use of information depend on the particular service.
• Email delivery services: transporting account messages, newsletter confirmations and correspondence. A delivery provider receives message content and addressing information needed to deliver it.
• Payment providers: PhonePe, your bank or another payment app you choose handles transactions under its own terms and privacy notice. See PhonePe’s Privacy Policy.
• External media and avatar providers: a remotely loaded image, video or avatar can disclose connection information to its provider. Where Gravatar is used, an email-derived hash may be sent to retrieve an avatar; see Automattic’s Privacy Policy.

WordPress and locally installed plugins also process data within the site’s hosting environment; installing a plugin does not necessarily send all site data to its developer. Public articles, author profiles and comments are different: readers, search engines and others can access and copy published information.

We may disclose relevant information when legally required, to protect people or investigate misuse, or to professional advisers where necessary. A sponsor does not obtain access to private reader accounts or unpublished submissions merely by advertising with us. Any separate lead-sharing arrangement requires its own clear notice and, where required, consent.

5. International processing

The operator is based in Sweden, but the website has international readers and uses providers with international infrastructure. Depending on the service, information may be processed outside the European Economic Area. The operator’s country alone does not establish where every server or support team is located.

Transfers subject to the GDPR require an applicable transfer mechanism, such as an adequacy decision or appropriate contractual safeguards, together with any additional measures required in the circumstances. A provider’s country or a link to its policy is not itself a safeguard. Contact us for information about the providers, destinations and safeguards applicable to a particular use of your data, including how to obtain relevant details.

6. How long information is kept

Retention depends on why information is held, whether the relationship continues, and applicable record-keeping or legal requirements. Not every record is deleted automatically when a form is completed or an account becomes inactive.

• Accounts: while needed to provide the account and deal with closure, security incidents or outstanding issues. Closure requests are reviewed for information that must be retained separately.
• Submissions and correspondence: while assessment, editing, follow-up, permission checks or a related dispute reasonably requires them. Rejected or withdrawn material is not intended to become a permanent general-purpose contact database.
• Published material: articles, attribution and editorial records may remain as part of the publication’s archive. Account closure does not automatically erase a published article or another person’s reply.
• Newsletters: while your subscription remains active. Limited suppression information may be needed to honour an unsubscribe request and prevent accidental re-enrolment.
• Financial, security and complaint records: for the applicable legal period or while necessary to resolve the relevant issue. Access and use should be limited to that purpose.

Cookie lifetimes are described separately in the Cookie Policy and are not the same as server-side retention. Backups may contain older copies until their normal replacement cycle; deleting a live record does not necessarily immediately remove every backup. Ask us about a particular record if you need a more specific explanation.

7. Security and editorial information

The website uses HTTPS, account permissions and form-validation controls, but no website, mailbox or payment service can promise complete security. Use a strong, unique password and report suspected account misuse. We will not ask for your password, payment PIN or one-time login code by email.

Journalistic material can contain personal information about people who are not account holders, drawn from contributors, interviews, public records or other reporting sources. Freedom of expression, source protection and applicable Swedish journalistic rules may affect how a request is assessed. These are not blanket exemptions for account administration, marketing or all data held by a publisher. Contact us with the relevant article URL and concern.

8. Your choices and rights

Where the GDPR applies, you may request access to your data, correction, erasure or restriction, and portability where the legal conditions apply. You may object to legitimate-interest processing for reasons relating to your situation, and object to direct marketing at any time. Consent can be withdrawn without affecting processing that was lawful before withdrawal. Rights may be limited by other people’s rights, legal obligations or applicable freedom-of-expression protections.

Email contact@theindicjournal.com with enough information to identify the account, submission or issue. We may need proportionate identity verification, but please do not send identity documents unless we agree a suitable method. GDPR requests normally receive a response within one month. If a permitted extension is necessary because of complexity or the number of requests, we must explain it within that first month.

You can complain to the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (IMY) or another competent data-protection authority, including in the EEA country where you live or work. You do not have to contact us first or waive court remedies.

9. Children and automated tools

The publication contains general news and is not designed as a service for young children. Please avoid sending children’s private information through public comments or contribution forms. A parent or guardian concerned about information supplied by a child can contact us; age-appropriate safeguards and applicable consent requirements must be assessed before processing it further.

Spam checks, duplicate detection and workflow tools assist site administration. Article submissions require editorial approval rather than creating a right to automatic publication. If an automated check prevents a genuine request, contact us for human review. This policy does not authorise using confidential reader information to train a public AI system.

10. Changes and contact

We may update this policy when website features, providers or legal requirements change. The date above identifies the latest revision. Material changes require appropriate notice and fresh consent where the law requires it; updating a policy is not a substitute for obtaining consent.

For privacy questions, account-data requests or concerns about a publication, contact contact@theindicjournal.com. Also read our Terms of Use, Disclaimer and Cookie Policy.