1.Who are we?

SSJ is a leading open access scholarly publisher and open science platform committed to making science accessible to all. Our primary goal is to address the world’s challenges and promote sustainability by leveraging science and technology. We recognize the crucial role of research communities in achieving our goals and strive to better serve you with each passing day. Understanding your research interests, specialties and publications is a vital aspect of our interaction with you. To that end, we have developed a Privacy Policy that outlines our practices regarding the collection, use, and sharing of your Personal Data with third parties. We want to ensure that our users, including researchers around the world, feel comfortable and informed about how we handle their data. Therefore, our Privacy Policy includes information on your rights and choices concerning your Personal Data.

2. Matters covered by this Policy

Science Step Journal provides this Privacy Policy to inform you of our data protection practices. Our Journal is responsible for the processing of personal data, acting as the data controller in accordance with data protection legislation. We publish our own journal known as SSJ Journal.

In this Privacy Policy, “sciencestepjournal.com” refers to  website owned and managed by Science Step Journal. This policy applies to Personal Data collected by SSJ, for itself and  from registered users, visitors to the website, and other individuals with whom we interact. We take data protection seriously and are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. If you have any questions or concerns regarding our data processing practices.

These terms are used in this Privacy Policy:

The term “Personal Data” refers to any kind of information that pertains to an identifiable individual, both directly and indirectly.

The term “Processing” refers to any activity that involves handling of personal data, including but not limited to the collection, recording, organization, structuring, storage, disclosure, adaptation, alteration, deletion, or any other form of processing or utilization.

3. Information we collect and how we collect it

3.1 Information you give us or authorise us to receive from third parties

The registration process for SSJ can be achieved through the open research network offered by Science Step Journal. In order to utilize specific functionalities of the SSJ platform, it is mandatory for users to undergo registration with SSJ. Upon creating an SSJ account, you will be required to provide us with Personal Data, which includes your full name, email address, affiliation and email preferences along with a password. Furthermore, you may choose to provide additional details about yourself in your SSJ account, such as a brief bio, your publications, secondary email address, and profile picture.

We would like to inform you that you have the option to connect with other registered users through your SSJ account. SSJ stores this information as part of its networking service. Please note that your connections are visible to SSJ and other registered users, unless you have opted not to make this public. We believe that this service will benefit you greatly as it allows you to be kept up to date with new publications that may interest you and also allows you to connect with colleagues in your field.

SSJ offers the option to register through multiple social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter. The registration process requires the permission to retain only your name, profile picture, and email address from your chosen external profile. We firmly acknowledge that we do not solicit nor do we collect additional data from the integration of your selected social media account. We also do not transfer any information from our platform to external parties as part of this process. It is important to note that the external party will be notified of your registration with SSJ and their use of this information will be governed by their privacy policies. As a Frontiers registered user, you will have the opportunity to participate in several activities, including manuscript submission, co-authoring or reviewing articles, and becoming an editor. As such, your contributions will be linked to your SSJ account, which serves to enhance the recognition of your professional achievements and contributions.

We would like to inform you that we strictly adhere to the highest standard of security when it comes to handling payment information. We would like to state that we do not collect or store any sensitive payment information such as credit card numbers. Our company maintains a record of the invoices, however, it is important to note that these invoices do not contain any sensitive payment information.

To further ensure secure transactions, we make use of an industry-approved and secure third-party payment system to facilitate payments made on our website. We understand the importance of your trust and confidence in our Journal and we believe that maintaining stringent security measures is essential in delivering the best customer experience.

4. We collect information when you visit the Websites

This information includes:

Geo-location data, Log data, Device information, registered users’ browsing history data on the Website, information concerning your interactions with us, information from Cookies and other Tracking Technologies, and information collected from publications, conference activities and other public sources.

5. What do we do with the information we collect?

We use the information we collect for the purposes described below.

Provide services for you and to the research community, invite you to participate in SSJ activities, identify and disambiguate, understand the user experience of the Website and our editorial processes, comply with your privacy and email preferences, Issue invoices for your APC payments, understand the geographical locations and institutional affiliations of our users, inform you of SSJ activities, events and opportunities, answer your queries and provide you with support and service, and conduct surveys.