Privacy Statement

The Annals of Real-World Data & Evidence (ARWDE) is committed to protecting the privacy of its authors, reviewers, and readers in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR/RGPD). The journal is published by the Elixir Institute, a brand of Toussilver SAS (the Data Controller).

1. Data Collection and Purpose

The personal data collected (names, affiliations, email addresses, and ORCID iDs) is used solely for the standard functioning of a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, including:

  • Editorial Workflow: Managing manuscript submissions, peer review, and publication.

  • Communication: Notifying authors and reviewers of status updates or editorial decisions.

  • Dissemination: Displaying author metadata alongside published articles for indexing and citation purposes.

2. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your data based on the performance of a contract (facilitating the publication process) and our legitimate interest in maintaining the integrity and transparency of the scientific record.

3. Data Retention and Third Parties

  • Permanence of Record: Author metadata (name and affiliation) remains part of the permanent scientific record upon publication to ensure academic accountability.

  • Service Providers: Data is shared only with essential services required for scholarly publishing, such as DOI registration (Crossref), indexing services (e.g., PubMed, Google Scholar), and digital archiving (LOCKSS/CLOCKSS).

  • No Commercial Sharing: We do not sell or share your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes.

4. Security and Hosting

Your data is stored on secure servers with industry-standard encryption. As our hosting services may be global, we ensure that all data transfers comply with standard contractual clauses for international data protection.

5. Your Rights (GDPR)

Under the GDPR, you have the right to:

  • Access and Rectify: View or correct your personal data.

  • Erasure: Request the deletion of your account (the "Right to be Forgotten"), provided it does not conflict with the integrity of already published scholarly work.

  • Object/Restrict: Limit how your data is processed.

To exercise these rights or to contact our Data Protection Officer, please email: contact@arwde.org.