Policy

Privacy policy

Last updated: 02 October 2026

The Alignment Journal ("we", "us", "the Journal") is a fiscally sponsored project of Principles of Intelligence, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation incorporated in Minnesota (EIN 33-4129337). Principles of Intelligence is the data controller for personal data collected through alignmentjournal.org. This is a concise version of our privacy policy; a more detailed version will replace it at this address.

We are a non-profit scholarly publishing project. We do not sell products or services, and we do not sell your personal data. We run no advertising or analytics trackers. This policy applies to alignmentjournal.org and its subdomains.

1. Who this policy covers

Authors who submit manuscripts or upload AI drafts; reviewers and editors, including people we identify and invite for those roles; and visitors to the website.

2. What personal data we collect and why

2.1 Accounts and submissions

When you create an account or submit a manuscript, we collect your name, email address, ORCID identifier and institutional affiliation; your manuscript, any revisions and supplementary files; co-author names and contact details; and the correspondence you exchange with editors and reviewers through the platform. We use these to evaluate submissions, run peer review, publish accepted work and maintain the scholarly record.

Under the GDPR, our legal basis for processing these data is performance of a contract: processing is necessary to enter into and perform our agreement with you to consider and, if accepted, publish your submission. We also rely on legitimate interests in maintaining the integrity of the published record and in investigating concerns about research or publication ethics.

2.2 Signing in with Google

If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address and profile picture from your Google account, and we use them only to create and identify your account. We do not request or receive access to any other Google data.

2.3 Reviewers and editors

If you review or edit for us, we collect your contact details, areas of expertise, and your reviews, recommendations and verdicts. To find suitable reviewers and editors we also search public sources, such as academic databases and researchers' web pages, and may record a candidate's name, public contact email, affiliation, homepage and public publication metrics.

Under the GDPR, our legal basis for processing these data is legitimate interests: operating a rigorous peer review process requires identifying and contacting researchers with relevant expertise. Where you serve as a reviewer or editor by agreement with us, we also rely on performance of a contract. If you would rather we did not hold your details as a potential reviewer or editor, email contact@alignmentjournal.org and we will remove you from consideration and delete your record.

2.4 Payments

If we pay you for reviewing or editing, Principles of Intelligence makes the payment through a payment platform, which collects your tax and payment details directly from you.

2.5 Website visitors

We automatically collect technical data (IP address, browser and device type, and error reports) to keep the site secure and working. Under the GDPR, our legal basis for processing these data is legitimate interests: keeping our website secure and functioning serves our mission.

2.6 E-mail communications

You can unsubscribe from promotional emails, such as calls for papers or journal announcements, at any time using the link in any such email or by emailing us. We will still send you essential messages about your submissions or AI drafts, review and editorial assignments, and account.

2.7 Automated tools

We use AI services to help screen submissions, for example to detect machine-generated text and to help editors with triage; your manuscript or AI draft is sent to those providers for this purpose.

2.8 AI drafts

When you upload an AI draft, we collect the same information as for a submission, together with your statement that the main text contains substantive AI-written prose. AI drafts are confidential. We do not review or publish them. We may use automated screening tools on them (see 2.7). Under the GDPR, our legal basis is legitimate interests: learning how our editorial policy affects the work we receive. You can ask us to delete an AI draft at any time by emailing contact@alignmentjournal.org.

We share personal data with service providers that process it on our behalf: Vercel (hosting), Convex (database), Clerk (sign-in and accounts), Resend (platform email), Sentry (error monitoring), Datadog (server logs), Anthropic (AI-assisted triage and reviewer matching), Pangram Labs (detection of machine-generated text), and Exa and Semantic Scholar (academic and web search used to identify reviewers and editors). Each provider processes data under its own privacy policy, linked above.

Accepted articles, together with author names, affiliations, ORCID identifiers and citation metadata, are published openly and shared with indexing services and archives. Review summaries are published under the reviewer's name where the reviewer has agreed. We may share aggregated, non-identifiable statistics with funders. We may disclose data where the law requires it.

4. Data security

We store data with reputable service providers, use HTTPS to encrypt data in transit, and limit access to personal data to those who need it for their role. No security measures are perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

5. International data transfers

We are based in the United States, and your data will be transferred to and processed there by us and by our service providers. Where the recipient participates in the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, we rely on that framework for transfers from the EU or EEA with appropriate safeguards. You can ask us for details of the safeguards that apply to a specific transfer by emailing contact@alignmentjournal.org.

6. How long we keep data

Published articles, signed review summaries and their metadata: permanently, as part of the scholarly record. Submissions (including rejected or withdrawn ones), peer review records and editorial correspondence: for as long as needed to preserve the integrity of the published record and to establish or defend legal claims. AI drafts: until no longer needed for evaluating our AI usage policy, or until you ask us to delete them. Accounts: until your account is deleted, after which your platform records are anonymised. Potential reviewers and editors we have identified but not engaged: until no longer needed, or until you ask us to remove you. Website error and diagnostic data: up to 90 days.

7. Cookies

We use only strictly necessary cookies, which keep you signed in and ensure your browser loads a consistent version of the site. We use no analytics, advertising or cross-site tracking, so we show no cookie banner. We do not respond to "Do Not Track" signals because there is no tracking to opt out of.

8. Your rights

You can ask to access, correct, delete, restrict or export your personal data, or object to processing based on our legitimate interests, by emailing contact@alignmentjournal.org. We may ask you to confirm your identity. We will respond within one month; if a request is complex we may extend this by up to two further months and will tell you why within the first month.

If your account is deleted, it and the platform records associated with it are anonymised. It does not withdraw anything you have published with us, or remove your name from it. We may decline a deletion request where the law allows, in particular to preserve scientific research and the published record, to protect freedom of expression and information, or to establish or defend legal claims. You may ask us to change the name under which you are published, and we will update the publication and its metadata.

If you are in the EU or EEA and are unhappy with how we handle your data, we hope you will contact us first; you also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

9. California residents

In line with the California Online Privacy Protection Act, this policy sets out what we collect, who we share it with, how you can review or change your data (email us as above), and how we respond to Do Not Track signals (see Cookies). We do not share personal data with third parties for their direct marketing.

10. Children’s privacy

The Journal is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If you believe we have, email us and we will delete it.

11. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this policy from time to time and will change the date at the top. We will take reasonable steps to notify you of material changes, for example by email or a notice on the site. The version at this address is always the current one.

12. Contact

Email:
contact@alignmentjournal.org

Mail:
The Alignment Journal
c/o Principles of Intelligence
1680 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
United States

Website: alignmentjournal.org