Our Policies

Take Down Policy

What the Library will do if you believe content on the journal hosting platform infringes any person's rights, or applicable UK laws.

Journals on the hosting platform are strongly encouraged to make every effort to ensure that published content does not infringe any person's rights, or applicable UK laws.

Should you discover content that you believe to be illegal, or infringes any of your statutory rights, you may contact the Library who will review the complaint.

On receipt of your complaint, the Journal Hosting Service team will:

  1. Make an initial assessment of its validity
  2. Acknowledge receipt of the complaint by email
  3. For all but spurious complaints, cease access to the item that is subject to complaint
  4. Refer the complaint to the University's Legal Advisor for comment and advice
  5. Seek to verify your identity and authority as complainant.

When the Service Manager has verified the authenticity of your complaint and has been advised that it is ostensibly legitimate, the item will be removed from public access.

If the Legal Advisor confirms that it does not breach any law then the item will be reinstated.

Please contact:

Scholarly Communications Team
Floor F East, Argyle House
3 Lady Lawson Street
Edinburgh
EH3 9DR

Email: edinburgh.diamond@ed.ac.uk

Please note the Library is staffed 9-5pm Monday-Friday.

Privacy and Consent Policy

The data collected from registered and non-registered users of journals on the hosting platform falls within the scope of the standard functioning of peer-reviewed journals. It includes information that makes communication possible for the editorial process; it is used to inform readers about the authorship and editing of content; it enables collecting aggregated data on readership behaviours, as well as tracking geopolitical and social elements of scholarly communication.

The editorial teams of hosted journals use this data to guide their work in publishing and improving their journal. Data that will assist in developing this journal platform (Open Journal Systems – OJS) may be shared with its developer Public Knowledge Project (PKP) in an anonymized and aggregated form, with appropriate exceptions such as article metrics. The data will not be sold by the hosted journals or PKP nor will it be used for purposes other than those stated here.

Registered users

Users who register with hosted journals, including authors and peer reviewers where applicable, consent to having the personal information being stored in the University’s journal hosting platform (OJS) and processed by the platform and journal editorial teams.

Authors

Authors who make a submission to hosted journals consent to the personal information they supply as part of the submission being stored in the University’s journal hosting platform (OJS) and processed by the platform and journal editorial teams. Authors who make a submission have the responsibility to ensure that all contributors have read the journal Privacy and Consent policy and consent to having their personal information that is supplied as part of the submission process being stored in the University’s journal hosting platform (OJS) and processed by the platform and journal editorial teams. Authors published in hosted journal are also responsible for the human subject data that figures in the research reported in the journal.

Website visitors

The University’s journal hosting platform (OJS) collects anonymised usage log data, including IP addresses, pages visited, date visited, browser information, and geographical data. This information is not used to identify visitors personally and it is not used for any purpose other what is described here. The platform also uses cookies to manage session history and provide a better user experience – more details can be found in the Cookies section below.

Rights of the Individual

Those involved in editing the hosted journals seek to be compliant with industry standards for data privacy, including the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provision for “data subject rights” that include (a) breach notification; (b) right of access; (c) the right to be forgotten; (d) data portability; and (e) privacy by design. The GDPR also allows for the recognition of “the public interest in the availability of the data,” which has a particular saliency for those involved in maintaining, with the greatest integrity possible, the public record of scholarly publishing.

All users whose details are stored in the University’s OJS installation can exercise their rights of the individual, as they are detailed in the GDPR.

If you have a user account and wish to have it deleted, please email .

Cookies

A cookie is a small text file that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you visit the site. It enables a website to remember your actions and preferences over a period of time, so you don't have to keep re-entering them whenever you come back to the site or browse from one page to another.

We use cookies to manage session history. A cookie titled OJSSID is created when first visiting a journal page and is stored on the visitor's computer. It is used only to store a session ID and to facilitate logins.

We also use performance cookies to analyse site usage so we can measure and improve site functionality. The tool we use most consistently is Google Analytics. Anonymous data about your visit is collected and amalgamated with that of other visitors so we can better understand how people use our website. You can opt out of providing us with this information if you wish, with no impact on your experience of our website.

We also collect anonymised usage log data, including IP addresses, pages visited, date visited, browser information, and geographical data. This information is not used to identify you personally and it is not used for any purpose other what is described here.

How to control cookies

You can control and/or delete cookies as you wish – for details, see aboutcookies.org. You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed. If you do this, however, you may have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit the site. Please also note that if are a registered user and block cookies, you will not be able to log in to your account.

More information

For more information on cookies, please visit the University's information page on cookies.