Last Updated: August 31, 2023

1. INTRODUCTION

Aries Systems Corporation (Aries Systems) is committed to respecting and protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and share personal information.

For purposes of this Privacy Policy, Publisher shall mean any organization to which Aries Systems provides its workflow management software (Software) or services (Services), and Publication shall mean the journal or other publication created or controlled by the Publisher.

2. COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

There are two primary methods through which we may collect personal information from you. The first method is in connection with the establishment of your user account on the Editorial Manager® website or other Aries Systems-hosted website (Website). The specific personally identifiable information that we collect in connection with the account registration process (“Registration Information”) may vary depending on the specific requirements of the Publisher or the Publication, but typically includes your name, e-mail address, and the name of the institution or association with which you are affiliated. During the registration process, we may also collect other information, such as your address and telephone number.

The second method is when you make personally identifiable information available while using the Website, the Software or the Services (“User Information”). You may make User Information available in connection with the submission, editing, and/or review of a Manuscript, and/or the uploading, submission, or transmission of other User Submissions. For example, if you are an Author and elect to submit a Manuscript, you have the option of providing additional information that you believe may be of interest to the Publisher or the Publication, such as your age, gender, race, life or professional experiences, and academic or professional qualifications. Alternatively, a Publisher or Publication may request that you provide certain information in connection with the submission of a Manuscript, including information such as your age, gender, race, protected status, life or professional experiences, and academic or professional qualifications.

While User Information may assist in the review and publication process, you are under no obligation to provide any User Information. Aries Systems does not monitor the nature of User Information that may be requested by the Publisher or the Publication or User Information that is submitted or provided by User and does not represent or warrant that such User Information may be requested or provided under applicable law. As such, we encourage you to carefully consider whether to provide any User Information, and to raise any questions or concerns that you may have relating to a request for Personal Information directly with the Publisher or the Publication making such request.

3. OUR USE AND SHARING OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

When providing the Website, Software and/or Services for a Publisher and/or Publication, Aries Systems collects and stores your Registration Information and User Information (collectively, “Personal Information”) on its servers and computer networks solely on behalf of the Publisher and/or the Publication. All such Personal Information is controlled by the Publisher and/or the Publication and may be accessed by the Publisher or the Publication at any time. At the request of the Publisher or the Publication, Aries Systems will disclose your Personal Information to the Publisher or the Publication.

THIS PRIVACY POLICY DOES NOT DESCRIBE OR GOVERN HOW THE PUBLISHER OR THE PUBLICATION MAY USE OR DISCLOSE ANY OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION. HOW THE PUBLISHER OR THE PUBLICATION MAY USE OR DISCLOSE ANY OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO THE PRIVACY POLICY OF THE PUBLISHER OR PUBLICATION. ARIES MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS WITH RESPECT TO SUCH PUBLISHER OR PUBLICATION PRIVACY POLICIES.

Although we reserve the right to review and monitor any of your Personal Information, we typically simply store your Personal Information on our servers and computer networks and will only use your Personal Information as is reasonably necessary in connection with the operation and maintenance of the Website, the Software and the Services, including providing support and maintenance services to you, other users of the Website, the Software and the Services, and the Publisher. We may also use your Personal Information to contact you with information relating to the Website, the Software, or the Services.

In addition to disclosing and making your Personal Information available to the Publisher and/or the Publication, we may disclose your Personal Information:

•  to our business partners, service providers and agents, such as financial institutions, suppliers, delivery services, parties providing hosting services, and web and technical support providers, as is necessary or required in connection with the operation, maintenance and support of the Website, the Software, and/or the Services, in which case we will require that such third parties maintain the confidentiality of your Personal Information in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy;
• to comply with any legal requirements or court orders, to defend any legal or administrative proceedings, or as we believe in good faith is necessary to comply with any laws or legal requirements;
• to detect, investigate and help prevent security, fraud or technical issues;
• to protect or defend the rights, safety, or property of Aries Systems, our users, employees or others; and
• in connection with the sale of the equity or any of the assets of Aries Systems, in which case we will require the buyer to maintain the confidentiality of your personal information in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy.

Except as described in this Privacy Policy, we will not disclose your Personal Information outside of Aries Systems and its affiliates without your consent. We may share aggregated demographic and statistical information with our business partners. This is not linked to any personal information that can identify any individual person.

4. SHARING OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

All Personal Information that you submit or otherwise make available while visiting the Website, or using the Software or the Services may be accessed and reviewed by any third party who has access to the Website and the Software, including third parties who may have been authorized by the Publisher or the Publication to perform certain tasks with respect to Manuscripts, such as Administrators, Associate Editors, Authors, members of the Board of Editors, Editors, Editors-in-Chief, and Reviewers. In particular, Administrators generally will have the ability to access all of your Personal Information. We are not responsible for the use or disclosure of your Personal Information by third parties who can access your Personal Information. We cannot control how third parties who can access your Personal Information may use your Personal Information and we have no means of tracking any use or disclosure of your Personal Information by any such third party. If you believe that a third party has unlawfully or improperly used or disclosed any of your Personal Information, you should contact the Publisher and the Publication directly. As described in this Section 4, a number of third parties may be able to access your Personal Information. Accordingly, you should exercise great care and prudence before submitting or making available any Personal Information at the Website or using the Software or the Services.

Aries Systems may disclose personal information in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.

5. SECURITY

We have implemented reasonable physical measures and administrative procedures to safeguard against unauthorized access and help prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your Personal Information.

6. E-MAIL COMMUNICATIONS

From time to time, we may e-mail you news bulletins, information on technical service issues, or information relating to the Website, the Software, and/or the Services. You may control the delivery of such communications by updating your user account preferences, using the mechanisms provided in the communications you receive from us, or by contacting us at marketing@ariessys.com.

7. DEVICE AND USAGE DATA; COOKIES

In addition to the Personal Information that you supply to us, we may collect, store and use certain information device, connection and usage data, including “Clickstream Data,” as you access and navigate the Website. We store and use Clickstream Data to gain a better understanding of how people use the Website, to analyze data for trends and statistics, to help diagnose problems with our servers and computer networks, and to enhance the performance of the Website, the Software and the Services. The Clickstream Data that we may collect, store and use includes the IP address of your computer (automatically assigned by your Internet Service Provider whenever you log onto the Internet), the Internet address of the site from which you linked to the Website (known as the referring URL), the date and time you access to the Website, what pages of the Website you visit and when, and the type of browser you use.

The Website collects information through the use of “cookies” or similar technologies. Cookies are widely used in order to make websites and applications work, or work more efficiently, and help them remember certain information about you, either for the duration of your visit (using a “session” cookie) or for repeat visits (using a “persistent” cookie).

The types of cookies used are as follows:

• Strictly necessary cookies. These cookies are essential in order to enable you to move around the website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the website. For example, authentication and security cookies are used to identify and recognize registered users and to enable them to gain access to requested content or features. Without these cookies, services you have asked for cannot be provided.
• Functionality cookies. These cookies allow our websites to remember the choices you make and your account preferences and to provide enhanced, more personal features. For example, these cookies will remember your log-in details.
• Performance cookies. These are analytics and research cookies that allow us to collect information about how visitors use a website, for instance which pages visitors go to most often, and if they get error messages from web pages. This helps us to improve the way the website works and allows us to test different ideas on the site.
• Targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to the website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make the website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.

The table below explains performance and targeting cookies from our suppliers and their purpose. Please note that the cookies and other technologies may change over time.

8. THIRD PARTY SITES

This Website may contain links to other websites that are run by Publishers and other third parties. Once you have clicked on a link or button activator connecting you to such third-party website, you will leave the Website and be taken to a website that we do not control. THIS PRIVACY POLICY DOES NOT APPLY TO ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED ON A THIRD PARTY SITE. We suggest you read the privacy statement of the third-party website before providing any personally identifiable data on that site. We are not responsible for any use by any person or entity of any information that you may provide while accessing or using any third-party website.

9. TRANSFER

This Website is operated in the United States. If you are located outside of the United States, please be aware that any information you provide to us will be transferred to the United States.

Aries Systems Corporation complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF), the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (Swiss-U.S. DPF) as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce.  Aries Systems Corporation has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (EU-U.S. DPF Principles) with regard to the processing of personal data received from the European Union in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF and from the United Kingdom (and Gibraltar) in reliance on the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF.  Aries Systems Corporation has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles) with regard to the processing of personal data received from Switzerland in reliance on the Swiss-U.S. DPF.  If there is any conflict between the terms in this Privacy Policy and the EU-U.S. DPF Principles and/or the Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles, the Principles shall govern.  To learn more about the Data Privacy Framework (DPF) program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/. Our commitments under the DPF are subject to the investigatory and enforcement powers of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

10. ACCESS TO AND CHANGE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION AND OTHER RIGHTS

You have the right under certain privacy and data protection laws, as may be applicable, to request access to, correction, deletion and portability of your Personal Information and restriction of or objection to our processing of your Personal Information. If any Personal Information is removed from our servers or computer networks, the Publisher, the Publication or others who had access to such Personal Information prior to its removal may have retained some all of such Personal Information. We are not responsible for their retention or use.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us via the contact details below. We will respond to your request consistent with applicable laws. To protect your privacy and security, we may require you to verify your identity. You may designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf subject to proof of identity and authorization. Please note that where we are processing Personal Information on behalf of a Publisher or Publication, we may refer your request to such Publisher or Publication, and we will assist them as needed in responding to your request.

If you are a resident of the State of California, USA, you have the further right under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) to request that we disclose to you (i) the categories of personal information we collected about you and the categories of sources from which we collected such information; (ii) the business or commercial purpose for collecting or sharing personal information about you; (iii) the categories of personal information about you that we shared and the categories of third parties to whom we shared such information; and (iv) the categories of personal information about you that we otherwise disclosed, and the categories of third parties to whom we disclosed such personal information. You also have the right to not be discriminated against in pricing and services because you exercise any of your rights under the CCPA. Aries Systems does not sell personal information to third parties within the scope of the application of the CCPA.

11. CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

The Website is designed and intended for use only by individuals who are at least eighteen (18) years old. We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of eighteen (18) years old.

12. CHANGES

We will update this Privacy Policy from time to time.  Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. If we make any material changes, we will provide appropriate notice.

13. CONTACT

If you have any question or complaint about this Privacy Policy or our practices, you can contact us via the “Contact Us” link on the Website or as follows:

By mail:
Privacy Officer
Aries Systems Corporation
50 High Street, Suite 21
North Andover, MA 01845 USA

By e-mail:
privacyofficer@ariessys.com

If you have a complaint about our processing of personal data received in reliance on the DPF that cannot be resolved through our internal processes, you may file a claim free of charge with JAMS, an independent U.S. alternate dispute resolution provider, at https://www.jamsadr.com/DPF-Dispute-Resolution. If you have a complaint left unresolved by all available recourse mechanisms, you may invoke binding arbitration. Additional information is available at https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/framework-article/ANNEX-I-introduction.