This privacy statement applies to the SciRev.org website (henceforth “Website”) and related services organized by SciRev, a nonprofit organization registered in the Netherlands. With the Website we aim to help improve scientific knowledge production by giving researchers the possibility to share their experience with the scientific review process with their peers and to select an efficient journal for submitting their work. Editors of journals get the opportunity to compare the performance of their journal with that of other journals in their field and to provide information about their journal to the research community.

For some of the services offered by the Website you have to register a SciRev user account. To make this possible, we need to store, process and use your personal data. Also, when you visit the Website with or without registering, some visitor data is collected automatically.

Submitting personal information to the Website implies that you trust us. We appreciate this trust and consider it a major priority to ensure the security and confidentiality of the personal information registered by us. All personal data collected through the Website is registered and stored in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union.

Before submitting personal information, please read this Privacy Policy carefully, so that you have a clear idea of how we handle your information. By using the Website in any manner, you declare to agree with and be bound by the practices described herein. You may also want to read the SciRev Website’s Terms and Conditions in which we define the way we use terms such as "SciRev", "we", "our" and "us".

In this notice we explain what information we collect, how this information is managed and used and the rights you have related to this. If at any point you have questions about this privacy policy, or how we are using your data, please contact us at contact@scirev.org.

Information we collect from you, and how is it used

We collect information you knowingly provide to us when you register a SciRev user account or register for our newsletter. This information includes for example your name, email address, the organization for which you are working, and your country.

We also automatically collect information about the way you use our website and services and related technical information, such as your IP address, browser type and language, and possible referring websites. This information might be connected with user account information to obtain a picture of who is using our website and services and in which way they are used.

We will use this information to:

Legal basis for this data collection

When registering a SciRev user account, registrants provide informed and free consent to have their information included in our database and used for setting up and administering their account and regulating their access to the Website and services. This consent can be withdrawn at any time.

The personal and user data included in our database are processed and used in the legitimate interests of SciRev, provided that these interests are not overridden by the individual rights of the users.

Legitimate interests include the collection of information on use of our website and services, including pages visited, IP address, browser information and referring websites, to gain insights into the use of our website and services in order to improve them in line with our vision, mission and goals.

Security

SciRev stores and protects your personal information as well as possible on a secure server hosted in The Netherlands by TransIP, Leiden.

We have developed reasonable measures and administrative procedures to protect your data against loss, misuse, alteration or unauthorized access. However, data transmission over the internet cannot be guaranteed to be completely secure. Accordingly, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information that you transmit to us.

Data sharing

Unless SciRev is legally obliged to do so by a court or a competent judicial authority, your information will not be passed on to any third party.

Use of cookies

On the SciRev website cookies are used. Cookies are small pieces of data that are put on your computer when you visit a website. We only use cookies for technical reasons and not to collect personal information. You have the possibility to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser settings to refuse them.

We use cookie technology to analyze traffic to our website. We gather information such as the number of visits and page views, the popularity of each page, or the location of our visitors. The purpose of this is to help us understand which information is useful to you and how we might improve your experience when navigating our pages.

Retention of your personal data

We only keep your personal data for as long as it is necessary and for the purposes for which it was collected, after that it will be destroyed, erased, or anonymized.

Your rights

Any individual can contact SciRev by email contact@scirev.org to obtain an overview of all personal data we hold of them, request correction of inaccurate data, object to specific use of their personal data and ask to delete their personal data. We will comply with any request to exercise your rights and, except for unusual cases, react to your request within three weeks. It is important to note that there are some limitations to your rights under GDPR and that there may be circumstances under which we cannot comply for legal reasons.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may amend this privacy policy from time to time. If we make changes in the way we use personal information, we will notify you by posting the new privacy policy on the SciRev website. You are requested to review this policy when using the Website.

Last updated on November 13, 2022