Privacy Policy

Who we are

ASK Scientific Ltd is a company registered in England with company number 08660128 with its registered office at St John’s Innovation Centre, Cowley Road, Cambridge CB4 0WS.

Our website address is https://www.askscientific.com

This Privacy Policy may refer to ASK Scientific Ltd as ‘We’ or ‘Our’.

What this policy covers

This Privacy Policy explains the information that ASK Scientific may collect from you and sets out how we use and protect such information. It also summarises your rights and also explains how you can exercise those rights.

ASK Scientific is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.

We have tried to be transparent about our privacy policy in line with the EU’s GDPR. Should you require any further information, contact us on contact@askscientific.com

ASK Scientific may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy is effective from 25th May 2018.

What this policy does not cover

This Privacy Policy does not cover information about you collected by third-party websites who may post links or advertisements on or otherwise be accessible from our website. For example, some parts of our website have display advertisements from third parties, such as Google and YouTube. We have no control over the ads displayed by these third-party networks. The information collected by these third-party websites is subject to their own privacy policies. Should you not wish to receive tailored ads, you should visit these third-party websites and make the request.

How we collect information

We may collect information through any of the following means:

While using our website
Forms you fill on our website
Information that we collect via emails we send you, including tracking whether and email is opened, and clicked
Any other forms of communication we have with you
Meeting through conferences and other events
CVs that you send us for job applications
Comments that you leave on our website or other social media pages (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+)

Information we collect	How we use it
Name	To provide the right level of service To process payment
Job title	To provide the right level of service To make you aware of services that might be beneficial for you
Contact information including email address, postal address and telephone/fax number	To communicate with you regarding your order To process payment To communicate with you regarding our services
Your organisation or company	To provide the right level of service For payment processing, where required
Demographic information	To provide the right level of service depending on your location, for instance to provide discounted services for low income countries
Area of research	To determine the correct expertise required to provide you editing, peer review, writing or consulting services To increase our service offerings
IP Address	To provide the right level of service depending on your location, for instance to provide discounted services for low income countries
The internet browser and device you use	To ensure usability of our website and identify any issues related to usability that may be linked to the browser or device that you use to access our services
The date and time of your visit	To provide the right level of service To ensure that any offers you apply for are within the stipulated timeframe To improve our services
The pages you access and how you interact with our website	To determine which services are of most interest to you and provide a better experience To improve our services
If you decide to use our services or create an account, we may collect the following, in addition to the above
Your payment information	We collect this information for payment towards the services we offer. This information is passed on to our contracted payment processors including Stripe, PayPal and AliPay. We do not store your credit card/payment card details on our website. None of our staff have access to your payment details. If you choose to you can store this information on our third-party providers (Stripe, PayPal and AliPay) Should you decide to do that the security of your cards is dependant and protected by these companies in accordance with their terms and conditions
Files you send us	To provide services to you These may include, but is not limited to, manuscripts, presentations, concept diagrams, illustrations, images
Your purchase and payment history	To determine how often you used our services and whether payment was processed successfully and on time
Your password	To create and account and process an order Your password is encrypted automatically by our web platform and is not accessible by our staff. We can, if requested by you, reset your password.
If you do not complete an order or cancel it	Depending the stage of the order and level of detail you enter while creating the order, we will have this information This may include some or all of the above information in the ‘*If you decide to use our services*’ section.
If you login using your social media account	We will receive your name, your public profile (age, gender and other information you made public) and email address from the social media platform you select Using social media to login means you do not need to create another account on our website. The social media network you select will verify that it is indeed you and let our website know that it can allow you to access your account. We DO NOT gain access to your social media account, friends list or password We WILL NOT be able to post to your Facebook account
Applying to work with us
CVs and your name, qualifications and contact details	To determine whether you are suitable to work with us To send you projects that match your qualifications and expertise

Other actions you perform on our website

Action	What we do
Leave comments on our website	When visitors leave comments on our website we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Action

What we do

Leave comments on our website

When visitors leave comments on our website we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Who has access to your information and where data is stored

We limit access to your information to employees who have a need to use the information and are obligated to protect that information and keep it confidential.

In addition, your information is stored on webservers and/or shared with companies we have contracts with. The companies that we use only serve as conduits for us to keep in touch, store our data, analyse website usage information, but do not share information with any other third-party. They themselves do not use your information for their own marketing purposes.

Companies that we work with are as follows:

Company	Why we use these companies and the information they have
GoDaddy (https://www.godaddy.com)	We use GoDaddy to send emails about special offers, discounts and any other communications to you GoDaddy records your email address, name and location Data may be stored in Europe or USA
Just Host (http://www.justhost.com)	We use their servers to host our website Store, send and receive emails Store order information via our web platform Store user/customer information via our web platform Store any files you may have sent us Data is stored in the USA
Amazon AWS (https://aws.amazon.com/)	Store backups of all projects that we undertake Store backups of all files including customer information Data is stored in Europe We use two factor authentication to make it extremely difficult to access our account on Amazon AWS
ManageWP (https://managewp.com/)	We use ManageWP to backup our website including user data
KashFlow (https://www.kashflow.com/)	This is our accounting package Store customer information, order history Address of customers Payment information (excluding complete credit card numbers). Kashflow sometimes records the last 4 digits of the credit card/Bank card you used to make payment. However, this depends on the payment method used and whether we sent you the invoice. Data is stored in Europe We use two factor authentication to make it extremely difficult to access our account on Kashflow
Stripe (https://www.stripe.com)	Our primary payment processor Handles credit card/ bank card payments for us All credit/bank card information you enter on our website is transferred directly to Stripe for processing You have the option of saving your card details for future use, however this is stored on their website and we do not have responsibility for its security If you have given us your bank account or credit/bank card details for charging you, these will be stored on Stripe as well. Stripe is contracted to maintain information securely. Data may be stored in Europe or USA We use two factor authentication to make it extremely difficult to access our account on Stripe
Paypal (https://www.paypal.com)	Our secondary payment processor You may choose to select PayPal for processing payments If that is the case you will be taken to their website for payment processing and will be governed by their privacy policy and security terms
Alipay (https://intl.alipay.com/)	Our primary payment processor for China If you select Alipay, you will be taken to their website for payment processing and will be governed by their privacy policy and security terms
Mailchimp (https://www.mailchimp.com)	We use Mailchimp to send emails about special offers, discounts and any other communications to you Mailchimp records your email address, name and location It may also have information about your public profile on Facebook, Twitter Data may be stored in Europe or USA
Google Products (https://www.google.com) Analytics Adwords Adsense YouTube	Analytics To track user activity Google Analytics provides user demographic information Your use of our website, pages you navigate are all tracked by Google Analytics We use this information to check usage statistics and provide you with a better service Adwords To send targeted ads on Google’s ad network This includes Google Search, YouTube and partner websites Adsense We use Adsense to deliver ads to you on some parts of our own website We have no control on what ads are displayed other than controlling the general theme of the ad (for example, we have told Google not to display ads from pornographic websites) Google may use targeted ads based on your browsing history You have the option of Google not showing you targeted ads, but you must go to your Google account settings to turn ad targeting off Alternatively, you can change settings in your web browser to not accept cookies YouTube We post videos on YouTube YouTube may serve ads that are targeted to you You can turn this targeting off within your Google account settings Data may be stored in Europe or USA
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com)	We have a social media presence on Facebook We post, share articles and other information via the website Any comments you add to our posts are tracked We may use any public user information for marketing purposes We use Facebook for advertising, and can use it for targeted ads to you, however this is within Facebooks T&Cs for usage. You have the option of not receiving targeted ads on Facebook by turning the option off within the settings of your Facebook account Data may be stored in Europe or USA
Twitter (https://www.twitter.com)	We have a social media presence on Twitter We post, share articles and other information via the website Any comments you add to our posts are tracked We may use any public user information for marketing purposes We use Twitter for advertising, and can use it for targeted ads to you, however this is within Twitter’s T&Cs for usage. You have the option of not receiving targeted ads on Twitter by turning the option off within the settings of your Twitter account Data may be stored in Europe or USA
LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com)	We have a social media presence on LinkedIn We post, share articles and other information via the website Any comments you add to our posts are tracked We may use any public user information for marketing purposes We use LinkedIn for advertising, and can use it for targeted ads to you, however this is within LinkedIn’s T&Cs for usage.You have the option of not receiving targeted ads on LinkedIn by turning the option off within the settings of your LinkedIn account Data may be stored in Europe or USA

Security, and how we transfer and protect your data

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

Data between your computer and our website is transferred securely using 2048-bit signatures and up to 256-encryption with highest possible levels of security. You can check the validity of the certificate in your browser.

In addition, any data that we transfer between our servers and our contracted data storage, data analytics or communications companies use similar levels of security to ensure that no data breaches occur. We also use two-factor authentication to ensure the highest level of security. If you would like to use two-factor authentication for your own account please get in touch with us and we will be happy to set it up for you.

For our company and employees, the files that you send us and all other data is only accessible to staff and contracted workers of the company who have a commitment to protect your data with the highest levels of security.

Finally, our site is regularly monitored by MacAfee Site security, and WordFence Security Software, which prevents site attacks and offers added security to your data.

Cookies

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs.
Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not.

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

In addition, Google, Facebook, Twitter, our contracted payment processors may store cookies to track usage, prevent fraud and verify usage.

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. You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites (e.g. PayPal). However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Controlling your personal information

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

Whenever you are asked to fill in a form on the website, look for the box that you can click to indicate that you do not want the information to be used by anybody for direct marketing purposes
If you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by writing to or clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link in our marketing email

You may request details of personal information which we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 1998. A small fee will be payable. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please write to contact (at) askscientific.com
If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or email us as soon as possible, at the above address. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.