Privacy Notice
Last Updated: 30th May 2018
Privacy is something that we, McGill University (“MNI”) and our service provider F1000 Research Limited (“the Service Provider”) take very seriously. This statement explains how our Service Provider uses the personal information you provide when you use MNI Open Research. By using MNI Open Research you consent to your information being used in this way.
What does this Privacy Notice cover?
This is the Privacy Notice for mniopenresearch.org, its related mobile applications, tools and comment and discussion facilities.
Who is the data controller?
As MNI Open Research is controlled by MNI but operated on its behalf by the Service Provider the data controllers are MNI and the Service Provider.
What is the legal basis for processing personal information?
MNI Open Research relies on a number of legal bases to collect, use, and share your information, including:
- as needed to provide its services, such as when it uses your information to fulfill your order, to settle disputes, or to provide customer support;
- when you have provided your affirmative consent, which you may revoke at any time, such as by signing up for our mailing list;
- if necessary to comply with a legal obligation or court order or in connection with a legal claim, such as retaining information about your purchases if required by tax law; and
- as necessary for the purpose of our legitimate interests provided those legitimate interests are not overridden by your rights or interests.
What personal information does MNI Open Research ask users to supply, and why?
Registration on this site where requested is optional and voluntary. Browsing and viewing material on MNI Open Research does not require any personal information to be submitted from users.
Some aspects of the services available on this site require the use of cookies, and the supply of information such as name, email, speciality, funder, institution, qualification and phone number. This is necessary for security reasons and to be able to provide our services. Users may submit further personal information (e.g., details of research and areas of interest) in order to take advantage of present and future personalization facilities on this site.
When you visit mniopenresearch.org our Service Provider may collect information about your online browsing behavior and any equipment or software you have used to access our site including your IP address, device identifiers and the type of browser you use.
In accordance with European Union guidelines, registrants may decline to provide the information requested. They should be advised, however, that MNI Open Research may be unable to deliver its services unless at least the information necessary to enable fulfillment of the service, security and identification purposes is provided.
What further information does MNI Open Research track, and why?
In order to offer the best possible service to users, our Service Provider tracks the patterns of usage of pages on the site. This enables us to identify the most popular material and services. Where users have provided details of their research areas of interest, this information can be correlated, helping MNI Open Research to provide a useful service for scientists and clinicians, offering them the most relevant information based on their areas of interest.
How does MNI Open Research collect and use your personal information?
Our Service Provider collects your email address when you register to receive email alerts on MNI Open Research. It uses this to send you the relevant email alert that you have requested with the described frequency.
Our Service Provider collects the following information when you register with MNI Open Research: name, address, organization, country and email address. Our Service Provider uses this to contact you to confirm registration, to identify you and provide MNI Open Research’s services, administration and to resolve issues through our help desk.
Our Service Provider collects the following information when you register on MNI Open Research to make comments on the site: name, address, organization, county and email address. Our Service Provider uses this to enable you to post comments on the site, contact you to confirm registration, to identify you and provide MNI Open Research’s services, administration, to resolve issues through our help desk, and investigatory purposes should the need arise.
Our Service Provider uses your personal information to personalize the experience you have of MNI Open Research.
Our Service Provider will use your personal information to review it in order to ensure it does not keep it any longer than is legally permitted.
Does MNI Open Research collect or use children’s personal information?
MNI Open Research does not seek to collect or knowingly store any personal information about persons under the age of 16 by any registration or other request for personal information on mniopenresearch.org. Anyone aged under 16 who wishes to provide personal information to us must first obtain their parent or guardian’s consent.
What is MNI Open Research's policy on sharing email addresses and personal information with third parties?
User information will only be shared with third parties as necessary to complete a contract or to provide services the user has requested or authorized or otherwise with the explicit consent of the user.
How long will MNI Open Research keep my personal information?
Unless we are required or permitted by law to keep information for a longer period, MNI Open Research will only keep your personal information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes for having that data as explained in the consent you granted or in our privacy policy or until you request that it be deleted. However even if we delete your personal data it may remain on back-up systems or in our archive for security and to enable us to fulfill our legal, regulatory and tax obligations.
How does MNI Open Research keep my personal information secure?
MNI and our Service Provider take the security of your personal information very seriously and store and process your personal information in accordance with applicable law. From time to time our Service Provider may transfer and store personal information that we have collected outside the EU as some of our service providers are outside the EU (including without limitation USA and Canada). However when our Service Provider appoints anyone to provide a service to it, it takes care to ensure they comply with applicable EU law and this Privacy Notice and have appropriate security procedures in place and are aware of the obligations that come with holding personal information.
How can I change the permissions given to MNI Open Research?
All communications from MNI Open Research will include clear instructions on how to tell us that you wish to cease receiving further communications (unsubscribe).
You also have the right to ask us to (a) rectify inaccurate or incomplete personal information, (b) delete your personal data from MNI Open Research’s systems, (c) limit the way in which MNI Open Research can use your personal data, (d) move, copy or transfer your personal information, and (e) object to our use of your personal information.
To exercise any of these rights, make enquiries or make a complaint about our use of your personal data, please contact MNI Open Research by email at [email protected] or write to the Service Provider at Chief Operating Officer, F1000 Research Limited, 240 Blackfriars Rd, London, SE1 8BU, UK.
How does MNI Open Research use cookies?
A cookie is a small file sent by web servers to web browsers and stored on your computer or mobile device, if you agree to this request. Cookies usually contain a unique identifier and some anonymous information and will be unique to your web browser. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.
Our Service Provider uses cookies to improve user experience on MNI Open Research, as well as to provide certain information to MNI Open Research to help us improve the product in the future.
Our Service Provider uses cookies on MNI Open Research for four main functions:
- To remember you and your preferences;
- Track user movements;
- Measure page usage; and
- Target content or advertising.
Persistent cookies remain on your device until a set expiry date or until you delete them, for example: information about you and your preferences; session cookies expire when you close the web browser, for example: information about pages you visited on the site.
You may be sent cookies by other websites that you interact with when you use our site such as social media sites. Our Service Provider also uses third party products that set cookies, for example: Google Analytics, which helps them monitor site usage and therefore improve user experience, and Google Adwords which uses cookies to enable our ads to be shown across the Internet to those who have previously visited our site.
Control of Cookies
Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser settings to notify you when a cookie is sent, and then you can then choose to accept or decline the cookie. However, this may mean that any preferences you set on the site will be lost or you will not be able to use the auto login or remember me facility at login.
You can opt out of Google's use of Cookies by visiting Google's Ads Settings.
More information about cookies.
Legal responsibilities
MNI and the Service Provider reserve the right to disclose users' personal information if required to do so by law, or in the good faith and belief that such action is reasonably necessary to comply with legal process, respond to claims, or protect the rights, property or safety of MNI, or Service Provider and their respective contractors, employees or the members of MNI Open Research.
Who should I contact if I have any questions or concerns about my privacy?
If you have any questions or concerns about your privacy and MNI Open Research, please contact [email protected] or write to the Service Provider at Chief Operating Officer, F1000 Research Limited, 240 Blackfriars Rd, London, SE1 8BU, UK.
If you are not satisfied with any complaint you may make about how your personal information is handled, then you may be able to refer your matter to the Information Commissioner’s office.
Changes to this Privacy Notice
The Service Provider and MNI may from time to time make changes to this Privacy Notice to reflect changes in how we treat your personal information, to comply with legislation, improve the site or to institute good practice. MNI Open Research will inform you of these changes by posting them to this page. It is your responsibility as a user to makes sure that you are aware of changes posted on this page by checking for any changes on a regular basis.