Privacy Policy

Future Cities and Environment

Last updated: 16 August 2026

Future Cities and Environment ("the journal") is published by Cerebration Science Publishing Co., Limited ("we", "us", "the publisher"). We take seriously our responsibility to handle your personal data lawfully, fairly, and transparently. This policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, and what rights you have.

Who we are

Cerebration Science Publishing Co., LimitedFLAT/RM A, 9/F Silvercorp International Tower707-713 Nathan Road, Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong

For any questions about this policy or your personal data, contact the Editorial Office at fce@cspub-hk.org.

What personal data we collect

We collect personal data in four contexts: website visitors, authors and co-authors, reviewers, and editorial board members.

Required data for anyone registering an account on our submission system:

  • Full name

  • Email address

  • Affiliation (department and institution)

  • Country

Optional data that users may choose to provide in their profile:

  • Salutation

  • ORCID iD

  • Postal address

  • Telephone number

  • Reviewing interests

  • Short biography

  • Professional or institutional web page

  • Profile picture

You control your optional data through your account profile and may amend or remove it at any time.

Why we collect your data and our lawful basis

We process personal data on the following bases:

  • Contract: to operate the submission, peer review, and publication process you have entered into with us.

  • Legitimate interests: to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record, prevent and investigate research misconduct, and improve our website and services.

  • Consent: where you have opted in, for example to receive journal announcements. You may withdraw consent at any time.

  • Legal obligation: where we are required to retain or disclose data by law.

How we use your data

Website visitors

When you browse the journal website, we collect anonymised usage data, including which pages are viewed, which files are downloaded, browser type, and time of visit. This is used to monitor traffic, diagnose faults, compile usage reports, and inform improvements to the site. We do not collect personal data that identifies individual website visitors.

The journal platform permits readers to leave in-browser annotations via hypothes.is, a third-party service. Where you use this service, hypothes.is is the data controller for that interaction and we do not collect, control, or process the resulting data. Please refer to the hypothes.is privacy policy.

Authors and co-authors

When you register an account and submit a manuscript, we collect the data listed above together with information required for the editorial and peer review process, including affiliation, competing interests declarations, funding information, and acknowledgements.

Author names, affiliations, and email addresses submitted with a manuscript form part of the published record if the article is accepted. This is standard scholarly publishing practice and is necessary to establish the provenance of the work and ensure correct attribution.

Co-author data is entered by the submitting author. In accordance with standard publishing practice, the submitting author is responsible for obtaining each co-author's consent to the inclusion of their personal data in the submission.

Registered authors may be contacted by the editors regarding future submissions.

Reviewers

To act as a reviewer you must hold a registered account and indicate your willingness to review. Editors may also register a reviewer directly when issuing an invitation, using the reviewer's name and email address.

When you submit a review, we record your recommendation, your responses to the review form, your free-text comments, your competing interests statement, and any accompanying correspondence.

The journal operates a double-anonymised peer review process. Reviewer identities are not disclosed to authors, and reviewers are not made aware of author identities. Review data is accessible only to the handling editors and system administrators of this journal, and is not published or shared externally.

If you no longer wish to be considered for peer review, you may amend your account preferences or contact the Editorial Office. Reviews already completed will be retained as evidence of the peer review process.

Journal announcements

If you opt in to receive journal announcements, we use your name and email address for that purpose only. Every message includes an unsubscribe link.

Who we share your data with

We do not sell your personal data or share it for marketing purposes.

Personal data is shared externally only in the following circumstances:

  • Author names, affiliations, email addresses, and ORCID iDs are published as part of accepted articles and transmitted to indexing services, abstracting databases, and Crossref as part of standard article metadata deposit.

  • Where we are required to disclose data by law, or to investigate suspected research misconduct in cooperation with an author's institution or funder.

  • With service providers who host our platforms and process data on our behalf under contract. These providers act on our instructions and may not use the data for their own purposes.

How we keep your data secure

We maintain regular database backups with reputable cloud infrastructure providers. Backups are rotated on a defined schedule and superseded data is permanently deleted. Access to personal data and backups is restricted to authorised personnel under an internal data handling policy.

In the event of a data breach affecting personal data, we will notify affected users and the relevant journal contacts within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breach.

How long we keep your data

  • Account data is retained while your account remains active. You may request deletion at any time.

  • Peer review records are retained after a final decision in order to evidence the peer review process, comply with publication ethics standards, and resolve any subsequent dispute regarding a published article.

  • Published personal data forms part of the permanent scholarly record and cannot be removed. This is necessary to preserve the integrity and citability of the published literature.

Your rights

You have the right to:

  • Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you

  • Correct inaccurate or incomplete data

  • Request deletion of your data, subject to the retention exceptions above

  • Object to or restrict certain processing

  • Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent

  • Lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection authority

To exercise any of these rights, contact fce@cspub-hk.org. We will respond as promptly as possible.

Please note that personal data published alongside an article cannot be removed, in order to conform with publication ethics and preserve the scholarly record. If you have a query about a publication to which you are attributed, please contact the Editorial Office.

Cookies

We use cookies and session data to keep you logged in and to streamline your use of the site. You may block or delete cookies and still use the website, though you will need to log in each time you visit.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top of this page indicates when it was last revised. Material changes will be notified on the journal website.

Contact

Editorial Office: fce@cspub-hk.orgPublisher: info@cspub-hk.org

Cerebration Science Publishing Co., LimitedFLAT/RM A, 9/F Silvercorp International Tower707-713 Nathan Road, Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong