Last Updated: 18 October 2026

Who We Are

This Privacy Policy explains how the University of Health Sciences, Lahore ("UHS", "we", "us"), the owner and publisher of BioMedica, processes personal data in connection with the journal and its website, https://biomedicapk.com (the "Website"). UHS is the controller of personal data processed for the journal's editorial and manuscript-submission activities.

Discover STM Publishing Ltd, Ireland, hosts the Website and provides technical services to the journal. It processes personal data on UHS's instructions.

Privacy enquiries, requests and general enquiries about the journal may be sent to editorbiomedica@uhs.edu.pk. The Website does not use an enquiry form.

Laws That Apply

We process personal data in line with the data protection and privacy laws of Pakistan that apply to us. Because the Website is hosted by a company in Ireland, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) may also apply to visitors in the European Economic Area (EEA). Where laws differ, we apply the rule that gives you the stronger protection.

Scope and Personal Data We Process

BioMedica 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 process personal data only where there is a lawful basis. Depending on the activity, this may be your consent (for example, optional promotional emails and any non-essential analytics), the need to perform a contract or take steps you have asked for (for example, handling a submission you have made), our legitimate interests in operating a scholarly journal, running peer review, protecting the integrity of the scholarly record and handling concerns and research-integrity matters, or a legal obligation (for example, accounting and tax records).

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 the journal's consent, confidentiality and ethics requirements. Health data is sensitive personal data, and we handle it with additional care. 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.

Service Providers

We use service providers to help operate the journal, and they process personal data only for that purpose. The following relationships are currently known:

• Discover STM Publishing Ltd (Ireland): website hosting, the manuscript-submission platform and related technical and production services.
• Payment providers: processing of fee payments.

This list does not necessarily include every infrastructure or technical service provider. Where similarity-screening 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 in Pakistan.

International Processing

The Website and manuscript data are hosted by Discover STM Publishing Ltd, which operates from Ireland, and authorised editorial or technical personnel may access personal data from outside Pakistan. Where personal data is transferred across borders, we do so only as applicable law allows, for example where an adequate level of protection exists or appropriate safeguards are in place. The transfer arrangements remain subject to 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 four 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 two 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 aim is that expired data is removed from active systems and that residual copies in backups expire in due course. The specific deletion and backup arrangements are still being verified.

AI-Assisted Editorial Operations

The journal 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.

Cookies and Website Analytics

The Website sets only the cookies it needs to work. These are described in the Cookie Policy. We do not use advertising or remarketing cookies. If analytics tools are introduced, they will be used on the basis of your consent where the law requires it, and the Cookie Policy will be updated first.

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 with your consent or where the law allows, and each includes an effective way to opt out. Submitting a manuscript does not automatically subscribe an author to marketing.

Your Rights

Under the data protection law that applies to you, you may have the right to be informed about how your personal data is processed, to access it and obtain a copy, to ask for it to be corrected or completed, to ask for it to be deleted when it is no longer needed, and to withdraw consent. If the GDPR applies to you, you may also have the rights to restrict or object to processing and to data portability. These rights are not unconditional for every activity; for example, editorial and publication records may have to be retained.

To exercise your rights, contact us at editorbiomedica@uhs.edu.pk. We may verify your identity proportionately, for example through the registered email address or your authenticated account. We will respond within the period set by applicable law, and we will tell you if more time is needed and why.

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. Personal-data breaches will be handled in accordance with applicable law, including notification to the competent authority and to affected individuals where required.

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 editorbiomedica@uhs.edu.pk and we will aim to reply within 30 days. You may also complain to the competent data protection authority, where one exists. If the GDPR applies to you, you may complain to your local data protection authority, such as the Irish Data Protection Commission (https://www.dataprotection.ie).

Contact

University of Health Sciences, Khayaban-e-Jamia Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. Email: editorbiomedica@uhs.edu.pk.