Privacy Policy

Introduction

This privacy policy (Privacy Policy) sets out the ways in which we, Hindawi Limited (we, us, our), may collect and use your personal data. You should also refer to our Terms of Service (https://www.hindawi.com/terms/).

In this Privacy Policy:

• ‘Contribution’ means any submissions, edits, information, or data (in any form) you make available via your MTS Account including without limitation uploading of any articles or edits to articles;
• ‘MTS’ means the Manuscript Tracking System and ‘MTS Account’ means a registered account which enables you to submit, edit, or review any articles intended for publication in one of our journals;
• ‘Site’ means our website https://www.hindawi.com/ and its subdomains, including the MTS;
• ‘Submitting Author’ means an author submitting an article intended for publication in one of our journals (whether for himself/herself or on behalf of a group of authors or an institution); and
• ‘you’ and ‘your’ means you, the person visiting the Site, registering for an MTS Account with us or otherwise using services on the Site.

By visiting our site, registering for an MTS Account with us or using the services on the Site as may be applicable, you consent to our processing of your personal data in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

About Us

We are a company registered in England under company number 08671628, with our registered address as set out below.

You can contact us either via the “Help” button on the Site, or as follows:

Information We May Collect about You

Information that you provide:

• We will collect any information that you provide to us when you register for an MTS Account with us, provide us with your details by email or over the phone, or subscribe to our mailing lists. This information might include your name, password, address, email address, phone number, age, and, if you’re registering for an MTS Account, will also include additional information about your academic and work history, references, and any other such similar information as may be required.
• From time to time we might also ask if you would be willing to participate in our surveys. If you agree, we will also collect any information that you provide as part of that survey.

Information we collect about you:

• We may collect any information contained in any correspondence between us. For example, if you contact us using a “Help” button on the Site or by email or telephone, we may keep a record of that correspondence.
• We will collect information that you upload or post to your MTS Account and/or any correspondence or interactions that you may have with other MTS Account holders.
• We will also collect certain information about how you use the Site and the device that you use to access the Site. This might include your IP address, geographical location, device information (such as your hardware model, mobile network information, unique device identifiers), browser type, referral source, length of visit to the Site, number of page views, the search queries you make on the Site and similar information. This information may be collected by a third-party website analytics service provider on our behalf and/or may be collected using cookies. For more information on cookies please refer to the Cookies section below.

Information we receive from third parties:

• We may receive information about you from third party providers. For example, if you choose to register for an MTS Account and submit an article for publication, you will be required to provide your Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID). By providing your ORCID, you are authorising that third-party provider to share with us certain information about you.
• We may also use third party providers to verify information provided by you via your MTS Account, including via any articles you submit to us for publication. For example, we may use iThenticate and other plagiarism-checking service providers to check the quality of articles and/or any other third-party databases or websites to confirm your publication history.
• We may receive information about you from third parties that are referring you to Hindawi. For example, if you are the co-author or institutional contact of a Submitting Author, the Submitting Author will be required to provide us with information about you. If you are the referring party, you warrant that you have obtained the necessary consent to share this information with us.
• We might also receive information about you from third parties if you have indicated to such third party that you would like to hear from us.

How We Use Information about You

You agree that we may use your information for the following purposes:

• to provide you with access to the Site as explained in more detail in of our Terms of Service (https://www.hindawi.com/terms/);
• to enable receipt, review, editing, production, and publication of articles in our journals, via the MTS;
• to provide you with details about your MTS Account;
• to keep in contact with you about Hindawi news, Hindawi events, new MTS features or services, new journals or special issues that we believe may interest you, provided that you don’t opt out of receiving such communications;
• where you give us your consent to do so, to share your information with selected third parties, to enable them to contact you with information about things that may interest you;
• to provide customer service and support, and deal with enquiries or complaints about the Site;
• to improve our Site and to ensure that content from our Site is presented in the optimal manner;
• to carry out aggregated and anonymised research about general engagement with our Site and the products and services it makes available;
• to protect, investigate, and deter against fraudulent, unauthorised, or illegal activity, including without limitation plagiarism and identity fraud;
• to comply with our policies, procedures, and legal obligations; and
• to enable us to enforce our legal rights, or to protect the rights, property or safety of our employees.

Who We Might Share Your Information with

You agree that we can share your personal information with:

• any affiliates or selected third parties that we work with, where necessary for the purposes of delivering to you the Site or any services associated with it (including for example, hosting or operating the Site, site analytics, delivering marketing communications, providing journal production services and providing fraud and plagiarism detection services);
• other MTS Account holders, where required for the purpose of using your Contribution;
• any selected third party that you consent to our sharing your information with for marketing purposes;
• any prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets, only in the event that we decide to sell or buy any business or assets; and
• any other third parties (including regulatory authorities, courts and government agencies) where necessary to enable us to enforce our legal rights, or to protect the rights, property or safety of our employees, or where such disclosure may be permitted or required by law.

We require third parties to maintain appropriate security to protect your information from unauthorised access or processing.

Cookies

We use cookies to ensure that you get the most out of our Site. Cookies are small amounts of information in the form of text files that we store on the device you use to access the Site. Cookies allow us to monitor your use of the software and simplify your use of the site. For example, a temporary cookie is used to keep track of your “session”. Without that temporary cookie (which is not stored after you quit your browser), you would have to log on every time you access a new page.

If you do not wish for cookies to be installed on your device, you can change the settings on your browser or device to reject cookies. For more information about how to reject cookies using your internet browser settings please consult the “Help” section of your internet browser (or alternatively visit http://www.aboutcookies.org). Please note that if you do set your Internet browser to reject cookies, you may not be able to access all of the functions of the Site.

The names of the cookies used by the Site and the purposes for which these cookies are used are set out in the table below:

Our Site may contain content and links to other sites that are operated by third parties that may also operate cookies. We don’t control these third-party sites or cookies and this Privacy Policy does not apply to them. Please consult the terms and conditions and Privacy Policy of the relevant third-party site to find out how that site collects and uses your information and to establish whether and for what purpose they use cookies.

How We Look after Your Information and How Long We Keep It for

We use appropriate technological and operational security measures to protect your information against any unauthorised access to or unlawful use.

We will retain your information for as long as is necessary to provide you with the services that you have requested from us or for as long as the law otherwise permits.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information over the internet in not always completely secure. Although we do our best to implement measures to protect your information from unauthorised access, you acknowledge that we cannot always guarantee the security of information that you send over the internet to Hindawi. Once we have received your information, we will use appropriate and operational measures to protect it in accordance with the information in this section.

International Transfers of Your Information

Our company is located in the European Economic Area (EEA). We also engage third parties and affiliates around the world to assist us in providing our Site and services to you, such as by providing hosting and IT services and journal production services.

In circumstances where your information may be processed outside of the EEA, we will take all steps necessary to ensure that any of your information is adequately protected and processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy, including but not limited to by using all appropriate cross-border transfer solutions such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses. You consent to this transfer and processing of your information.

Your Rights to the Information We Hold about You

You have certain rights in respect of the information that we hold about you, including:

• the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes;
• the right to request access to the information that we hold about you; and
• in certain circumstances, the right to ask us to stop processing information about you.

You may exercise your rights above by contacting us using the details in the About Us section of this Privacy Policy, or, in the case of preventing processing for marketing activities, also by checking certain boxes on forms that we use to collect your data to tell us that you don’t want to be involved in marketing.

Please note that we may need to retain certain information for our own record-keeping and research purposes. We may also need to send you service-related communications relating to your MTS Account even when you have requested not to receive marketing communications.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may make changes to this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post any changes to our site, or notify you of any material changes by e-mail. Any changes will come into effect the next time you engage with us after the changes have been notified.