Terms & Conditions

Terms of Use

This document describes the Terms of Use of the website owned and operated by Pensoft Publishers Ltd., "Geo Milev 13A Str., 1111 Sofia, Bulgaria", hereinafter referred to as "Pensoft". All Users agree to these Terms of Use when signing up to Pensoft and its subordinate services and tools. Signed Pensoft Users will be hereinafter referred to as "User" or "Users".

Please read carefully the present terms and conditions before completing any orders or use any content from the site.

Pensoft reserves the right to update the Terms of Use occasionally. Users will be notified via posting on the website and/or by email. If using Pensoft after such notice, the User will be deemed to have accepted the proposed modifications. If the User disagrees with the modifications, they should stop using the Pensoft services. Users are advised to periodically check the Terms of Use for updates or revisions. Violation of any of the terms will result in the termination of the User's account.

This website provides access to the ARPHA Publishing Platform, which is a registered brand owned by Pensoft, hereinafter referred to as "the ARPHA Platform", or "ARPHA". Additional Account Terms of Use apply for users who register on the ARPHA Platform. Please, visit the dedicated ARPHA Platform Terms of Use to learn more about account rules and privacy statement.

Account Terms

  1. For registration in Pensoft or any of the services or tools hosted/operated by it, Users must provide their full legal name, a valid email address, postal address, affiliation (if any), and any other information requested.

  2. Accounts created via the separate Pensoft services (journals, ARPHA Platform, Arpha Writing Tool (AWT), and others) automatically sign in the User to Pensoft.

  3. Users are responsible for maintaining the security of their account and password. Pensoft cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage from failure to comply with this security obligation.

  4. Users are solely responsible for the content posted via Pensoft’s services (including, but not limited to data, text, files, information, usernames, images, graphics, photos, profiles, audio and video clips, sounds, applications, links and other content) and all activities that occur under their account.

  5. Users may not use the service for any illegal or unauthorised purpose. Users must not, in the use of the service, violate any laws within their jurisdiction (including but not limited to copyright or trademark laws).

  6. Users can change or pseudonomyse their personal data, or deactivate their accounts at any time through the functionality available in the User’s personal profile. Deactivation or pseudonomysation will not affect the appearance of personal data in association with an already published work of which the User is author, co-author, editor, or reviewer.

  7. Users can report to gdpr@pensoft.net uses of their personal data, that they might consider not corresponding to the current Terms of Use.

  8. The User’s personal data is processed by Pensoft on the legal basis corresponding to Article 6, paragraph 1, letters a, b, c and f. of the General Data Protection Regulation (hereinafter referred to as GDPR) and will be used for the purpose of Pensoft’s services in accordance with the present Terms and Use, as well as in those cases expressly stated by the legislation.

  9. User’s consent to use the information Pensoft has collected about the User corresponds to Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR.

  10. The ‘legitimate interest’ of Pensoft to engage with the User and enable him/her to participate in Pensoft’s activities and services correspond to Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR.

Privacy Statement

  1. Users agree to submit their personal data to Pensoft and its subordinated services and tools, operated by Pensoft, such as the ARPHA Platform, ARPHA Writing Tools, separate journals, and others.

  2. Pensoft collects personal information from Users (e.g., name, postal and email addresses, affiliation) only for the purpose of its services.

  3. All personal data will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of the website and will not be made available for any other purpose or to third parties.

  4. In the case of co-authorship of a work published through Pensoft’s services, each of the co-authors states that they agree that their personal data be collected, stored and used by Pensoft.

  5. In the case of co-authorship, each of the co-authors agrees that their personal data publicly available in the form of a co-authorship of a published work, can be distributed to external indexing services and aggregators for the purpose of the widest possible distribution of the work they co-author.

  6. When one of the co-authors is not registered in Pensoft, it is presumed that the corresponding author who is registered has requested and obtained his/her consent that his/her personal data will be collected, stored and used by Pensoft.

  7. The registered co-author undertakes to provide an e-mail address of the unregistered author, to whom Pensoft will send a message in order to give the unregistered co-author’s explicit consent for the processing of his/her personal data by Pensoft.

  8. Pensoft is not responsible if the provided e-mail of the unregistered co-author is inaccurate or invalid. In such cases, it is assumed that the processing of the personal data of the unregistered co-author is done on a legal basis and with a given consent.

  9. Pensoft undertakes to collect, store and use the provided personal data of third parties (including but not limited to unregistered co-authors) solely for the purposes of the website, as well as in those cases expressly stated by the legislation.

  10. Users can receive emails from Pensoft, its hosted journals and services about activities they have given their consent for. Examples of such activities are:

    • Email notifications to authors, reviewers and editors who are engaged with authoring, reviewing or editing a manuscript submitted to any of the Pensoft-hosted journals, websites or tools.

    • Email alerts sent via email subscription service, which can happen only if the User has willingly subscribed for such a service. Unsubscription from the service can happen through a one-click link provided in each email alert notification.

    • Information emails on important changes in the system or in its Terms of Use which are sent via Mailchimp are provided with "Unsubscribe" function.

  11. Registered users can be invited to provide a peer review on manuscripts submitted to the journals hosted by ARPHA, provided by Pensoft. In such cases, the users can decline the review invitation through a link available on the journal’s website.

  12. Each provided peer review can be registered with external services (such as Publons). The reviewer will be notified if such registration is going to occur and can decline the registration process.

  13. In case Pensoft starts using personal data for purposes other than those specified in the Terms of Use, Pensoft undertakes to immediately inform the person and request his/her consent.

  14. If the person does not give his/her consent to the processing of his or her personal data pursuant to the preceding paragraph, Pensoft shall cease the processing of the personal data for the purposes for which there is no consent, unless there is another legal basis for the processing.

  15. Users can change/correct their personal data anytime via the functionality available in the User’s profile. Users can request Pensoft to correct their personal data if the data is inaccurate or outdated and Pensoft is obliged to correct the inaccurate or outdated personal data in a timely manner.

  16. Users may request Pensoft to restrict the use of their personal data insofar as this limitation is not contrary to the law or the Terms of Use.

  17. Users may request their personal data to be deleted (the right to be forgotten) by the Pensoft, provided that the deletion does not conflict with the law or the Terms of Use.

  18. The User has the right to be informed:

    • whether his or her personal data have been processed;

    • for which purposes Pensoft processes the personal data;

    • the ways in which his/her personal data are processed;

    • the types of personal data that Pensoft processes.

  19. The user undertakes not to interfere with and impede Pensoft’s activities in the exercise of the provided rights.

  20. In case of non-fulfilment under the previous paragraph, Pensoft reserves the right to delete the user's profile.

Cookies

a) Session cookies

We use cookies on our website. Cookies are small text files or other storage technologies stored on your computer by your browser. These cookies process certain specific information about you, such as your browser, location data, or IP address.  

This processing makes our website more user-friendly, efficient, and secure, allowing us, for example, to allow the "Remember me" function.

The legal basis for such processing is Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. b) GDPR, insofar as these cookies are used to collect data to initiate or process contractual relationships.

If the processing does not serve to initiate or process a contract, our legitimate interest lies in improving the functionality of our website. The legal basis is then Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f) GDPR.

When you close your browser, these session cookies are deleted.

b) Disabling cookies

You can refuse the use of cookies by changing the settings on your browser. Likewise, you can use the browser to delete cookies that have already been stored. However, the steps and measures required vary, depending on the browser you use. If you have any questions, please use the help function or consult the documentation for your browser or contact its maker for support. Browser settings cannot prevent so-called flash cookies from being set. Instead, you will need to change the setting of your Flash player. The steps and measures required for this also depend on the Flash player you are using. If you have any questions, please use the help function or consult the documentation for your Flash player or contact its maker for support.

If you prevent or restrict the installation of cookies, not all of the functions on our site may be fully usable.

Services and Prices

Pensoft reserves the right to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the provided services. Plans and prices are subject to change upon 30 days notice from Pensoft. Such notice may be provided at any time by posting the changes to the relevant service website.

Ownership

The User retains full ownership to the content uploaded on the Pensoft website and associated ARPHA Platform. We claim no intellectual property rights over the material provided by the User to Pensoft. However, by setting pages to be viewed publicly (Open Access), the User agrees to allow others to view and download the relevant content. In addition, Open Access articles, being publicly available data, might be used by the Provider or third parties for data mining purposes.

Pensoft reserves the rights, in its sole discretion, to refuse or remove any content that is available via the Website.

Copyrighted Materials

Unless stated otherwise, the website may contain some copyrighted material (for example, logos and other proprietary information, including, without limitation, text, software, photos, video, graphics, music and sound - "Copyrighted Material"). The User may not copy, modify, alter, publish, transmit, distribute, display, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works or, in any way, exploit any of the Copyrighted Material, in whole or in part, without written permission from the copyright owner. Users will be solely liable for any damage resulting from any infringement of copyrights, proprietary rights or any other harm resulting from such a submission.

Exceptions from this rule are e-chapters or e-articles published under Open Access (see below), which are normally published under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (CC-BY), or Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC-BY), or Creative Commons Public Domain license (CC0).

Open Access Materials

Pensoft is a supporter of open science. Open access to content is clearly marked, with text and/or the open access logo, on all materials published under this model. Unless otherwise stated, open access content is published in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC-BY). This particular license allows to copy, display and distribute the content at no charge, provided that the author and source are credited.

Disclaimer of Warranty and Limitation of Liability

Neither Pensoft and its affiliates nor any of their respective employees, agents, third party content providers or licensors warrant that the ARPHA Platform will be uninterrupted or error free; nor do they give any warranty as to the results that may be obtained from the use of the platform or as to the accuracy or reliability of any information, service or merchandise provided through ARPHA.

Legal, medical, and health-related information located, identified or obtained through the use of the Service, is provided for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for qualified advice from a professional.

In no event will the Provider, or any person or entity involved in creating, producing or distributing the ARPHA Platform or the contents included therein, be liable in contract, in tort (including for its own negligence) or under any other legal theory (including strict liability) for any damages, including, but without limitation to, direct, indirect, incidental, special, punitive, consequential or similar damages, including, but without limitation to, lost profits or revenues, loss of use or similar economic loss, arising from the use of or inability to use the Platform. The User hereby acknowledges that the provisions of this section will apply to all use of the content on the Platform. Applicable law may not allow the limitation or exclusion of liability or incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to the User. In no event will Pensoft’s total liability to the User for all damages, losses or causes of action, whether in contract, tort (including own negligence) or under any other legal theory (including strict liability), exceed the amount paid by the User, if any, for accessing the ARPHA Platform and its subordinate services.

Third Party Content

The Provider is solely a distributor (and not a publisher) of SOME of the content supplied by third parties and Users of the ARPHA Platform. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including information providers and Users, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of the Provider.

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