Last updated: 2025-05-07
Version: 1.1
We value your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your information when you use our services.
1. Information We Collect
We collect and process the following categories of personal and research-related data:
a. Personal Information
- Full name
- Email address
- Account access credentials, such as encrypted password and account ID
b. Manuscript Content
When you upload manuscripts to our platform, the documents may contain:
- Author names
- Institutional affiliations
- Article titles
- References and bibliographic data
- Abstracts and full text
- Other metadata related to scholarly publishing
c. Publicly Available Research Metadata
We may supplement user-uploaded data with metadata from open scholarly databases (e.g., OpenAlex and Crossref), which are used as facts and may include:
- Author names and affiliations
- Publication titles
- Citation data and references
- Publication venues and dates
- DOIs and other persistent identifiers
d. Technical and Usage Data
Automatically collected data when you use our platform:
- IP address
- Browser type and version
- Device information
- Log files and session activity
- Cookies (where applicable and upon consent)
2. How We Use Your Information
We process your personal and research-related data for the following purposes:
- To provide our core services, such as research integrity evaluations of manuscripts and published content
- To maintain and improve the performance, functionality, and usability of our platform
- To inform you about product updates, features, or support notices
- To conduct internal analytics, testing, and research to improve our services
- To ensure the security and integrity of our systems and data
- To comply with legal and regulatory obligations
We do not use your uploaded manuscripts or personal data for commercial profiling or advertising purposes.
3. Legal Basis for Processing
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the legal bases we rely on for processing this information include:
- Consent: You have given clear consent for us to process your data for a specific purpose (e.g., creating a user account or uploading a manuscript).
- Contractual necessity: The processing is necessary to provide services you have requested.
- Legitimate interests: We process your data for our legitimate business interests in providing and improving our services, unless your privacy interests override these.
- Legal obligation: In some cases, we may be required to process your data to comply with applicable laws.
4. Data Sharing and Disclosure
We do not share your personal data or uploaded manuscripts with any third-party service providers for processing or enrichment.
We may, however, share anonymized or aggregated data (which cannot be used to identify you) for statistical or analytical purposes.
We may also disclose personal data:
- If required by law, regulation, or legal process
- To enforce our Terms of Service or defend against legal claims
- To prevent, detect, or investigate fraud, security breaches, or technical issues
5. Data Storage and Security
We are committed to securing your data and have implemented appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect it.
Measures include:
- Data Encryption: All data in transit is encrypted using TLS/SSL protocols. All data (sensitive or not) at rest is encrypted using industry-standard encryption techniques.
- Access Controls: Access to personal data is restricted to authorized personnel on a need-to-know basis.
- Infrastructure: Our services are hosted on secure servers located in Ireland.
- Monitoring: Systems are monitored for unauthorized access and data integrity issues.
6. Data Retention
We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by applicable laws and regulations.
Retention periods:
- User accounts: Retained for the duration of your active use of the service, and for up to 12 months after inactivity unless you request deletion.
- Manuscripts: Retained for up to 12 months, unless you delete them or request earlier removal.
- Email correspondence: Retained for audit and support purposes for up to 24 months.
You may request deletion of your data at any time (see Section 8 below).
7. Cookies and Tracking Technologies
We use cookies to ensure the functionality of this website and to enhance your online experience. These minimal cookies are necessary to maintain session state and analyse traffic and usage patterns anonymously,
8. Your Data Rights (under GDPR)
As a data subject, you have the following rights under GDPR:
- Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Rectification: Request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
- Erasure: Request deletion of your data (“right to be forgotten”).
- Restriction: Ask us to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.
- Objection: Object to the processing of your data based on our legitimate interests.
- Data Portability: Request a machine-readable copy of your data for use elsewhere.
- Withdraw Consent: Where consent is the basis for processing, you may withdraw it at any time.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at: hello@research-signals.com
We will respond within 30 days as required by law.
9. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify users of significant changes via email or a notice on our platform.
Please review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.
10. Contact Us
If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, you can contact us at:
📧 Email: security@research-signals.com
📍 Postal Address: 167-169 Great Portland Street, 5th Floor, London, United Kingdom, W1W 5PF
If you’re not satisfied with our response, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.