Research figures Privacy Policy

At Research Figures we take data protection seriously and aim to ensure our data policy follows EU General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). This Privacy Policy explains how Research Figures collects, stores, and uses your personal data when you visit our Website and use our Services. Please read the Research Figures Privacy Policy and User Agreement & Terms of Service carefully and make sure you fully understand them if you are using our Website or Services.

 

This Policy also details Third Party services associated with our website (e.g. online payment gateways, email providers, and data storage services) and provides information on how to review the privacy policies of these services. Please note that our Website contains links to other websites, and that our Privacy Policy and User Agreement & Terms of Service apply to our Website only. Once you leave the Research Figures Website or are redirected to a Third Party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or our User Agreement & Terms of Service. If you click on a link to another website, or use another service, you should also read their privacy policy and terms of service.

 

 

This Privacy Policy details the following topics:

 

1: Categories of personal data collected

2: Methods of personal data collection and storage

3: How and why personal data is used

4: Data retention periods

5: Cookies policy and management

5.1: How to manage cookies

6: Changes to the Privacy Policy

7: Consent and your data protection rights

8: How to contact us regarding your personal data

9: How to contact the appropriate authorities

 

 

1: Categories of personal data collected

 

Research Figures collects and/or handles the following data:

 

• Personal contact and identification information you provide us with when using our Services (name, email address, telephone number, telecommunication application contact name [e.g. Skype/Zoom username], name of your affiliated academic institute or company).

• Descriptive data you may provide us with related to your specific illustration/graphics request (e.g. target journal publication, image size and format requirements).

• Research data or images you provide us with to complete Projects (e.g. raw data you may want plotted, graphed or used in data visualisations).

• Information for accounting purposes from Project invoices (date of order/payment, amount payed, customer name, email, Project title).

 

 

2: Methods of personal data collection and storage

 

When you use our Website and Services, as part of the process, we collect personal information you give us such as your name and email address. Personal information you provide us with is stored via email (Gmail) or the online contact forms on our Website, which is hosted by Wix.com. We collect and process data when you:

 

• Register online or place an order for any of our products or Services.

• Send us an email enquiry regarding a Project or fill out a Design Brief Form.

• Send us data or images to complete a specific Project.

• Pay monies owed using invoice services.

 

Data stored using our email provider, Gmail, is protected by security technology like HTTPS and Transport Layer Security. Gmail emails are also encrypted at rest and in transit by default. You can learn more about Google’s privacy policy here:

 

https://policies.google.com/privacy.

 

 

In relation to the transfer and storage of your data when using the online forms/questionnaires on our Website; the Research Figures Website is hosted on the Wix.com platform. Wix.com provides us with the online platform that allows us to sell our products and Services to you. Your data may be stored through Wix.com’s data storage, databases, and the general Wix.com applications. Wix.com store your data on secure servers behind a firewall. You can read Wix.com’s privacy policy here:

 

https://www.wix.com/about/privacy

 

 

When you send us Project related data and images this data may be stored in a number of ways depending on the file size and type. Data of this kind will generally be sent and stored using Gmail (see above). This data will also be downloaded and stored on a password protected company hard drive for the duration of a specific Project. If the data file you wish to send is too large for email, a Third Party cloud-based file transfer/storage service (Dropbox or OneDrive) will be used. By default we use Dropbox, but if you need to send data over 2GB in size we will send you a OneDrive link which requires a Microsoft user account to access. OneDrive maintains robust, real-time security monitoring systems: Data is protected at rest using a number of physical and network protocols, and in transit using transport layer security (TLS) encryption. Dropbox protects files in transit between their apps and servers, and at rest. Each file is split into discrete blocks, which are encrypted using a strong cipher. Any Project specific data you send to us will not be stored for longer than is needed to complete the Project and will be deleted thereafter (see Section 4 below). You can read more about the Dropbox and OneDrive security and privacy policies here:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/terms#privacy

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https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-gb/privacy

 

 

For billing purposes Research Figures uses the Third Party payment gateway PayPal to send customer invoices. The PayPal gateway allows you to make payments using a credit/debit card, or using a PayPal account. In general PayPal will only collect, use, and disclose your information to the extent that is necessary for them to complete the services they provide to us. We recommend that you read the terms and conditions related to the use of PayPal so that you understand how your personal information will be handled by PayPal. More information on the privacy policy and legal agreements for PayPal Services can be found here:

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https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/ua/legalhub-full

https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/ua/privacy-full

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Research Figures does not have access to, and does not store, any information related to your payment data such as credit card details or bank account information. We do however keep records of sales (customer name, email, project title, monies paid, and payment date) for accounting purposes. This data will be deleted in accordance with data retention periods detailed in Section 4 below. Transactions carried out through the PayPal payment gateway are encrypted to keep your data private. PayPal is PCI level 1 compliant, SCA (Strong Customer Authentication) compliant, PSD2 compliant, and supports Dynamic 3D Secure Authentication to help prevent fraud and ensure secure handling of your information.

The data storage and transfer tools listed above have been selected so as to take reasonable precautions to protect customers’ personal data from loss, misuse, inappropriate access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. However, despite these precautions, no method of data transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. Therefore, Research Figures cannot, and do not, guarantee the absolute protection and security of your personal information/data. We also encourage you to set strong passwords for your email and other user accounts, and avoid providing us, or anyone, with any sensitive information, the disclosure of which you believe could cause you substantial or irreparable harm.

 

 

3: How and why personal data is used

 

Research Figures collects and stores your personal data so that we can:

 

• Provide and operate Services and ongoing customer assistance:

• Process your order (dispatch invoices).

• Contact you to discuss the graphics production process/the Service you have requested.

• Notify you regarding your account, troubleshoot problems with your account; resolve a dispute; collect fees or monies owed; enforce our User Agreement & Terms of Service and any Agreement we may have with you.

• Fulfil our legal obligations.

 

Research Figures may be required to transfer your data to a Third Party body or service in cases where we are legally required to do so, or when the Service we provide requires us to do so. We may, for example, need to send your information to a printing company so you can receive a printed image, or directly send your information to a journal or book publisher. Your data will only be sent to such Third Party services in order to be processed for limited and specified purposes consistent with the Services you require. We may also disclose your personal information if required to do so by law (e.g. for tax purposes) or if you violate our User Agreement & Terms of Service.

 

 

4: Data retention periods

 

GDPR states that personal data should be kept for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it is being processed. In order to fulfil this obligation, while also complying with legal obligations (e.g. Irish tax law) and company interests applicable to the retention of personal and business data, customer’s personal data will generally be stored for a 6 year period after the last customer order/interaction. After this period personal data will be deleted. Any Project specific data (e.g. images or raw data files) sent to us will not be stored longer than is needed to complete the Project, and will be deleted immediately thereafter. If you want to request the deletion of your personal data before the end of the 6 year retention period then you may contact us directly (see Section 8 below).

 

 

5: Cookies policy and management

 

Cookies are text files placed on your computer that collect Internet log information and visitor behaviour information. If you want to learn more about cookies you can visit allaboutcookies.org. You can also check which cookies are used on a web page you visit through your web browser. For example, using Chrome's built-in cookie view; while in incognito mode, click the "Secure" icon next to the URL bar and then select "Cookies". Most browsers also allow you to refuse cookies. For example, In Firefox, you can adjust your cookies settings by clicking “Tools”, “Options” and “Privacy”. Note; blocking cookies will have a negative impact upon the usability of some websites.

 

Our Site is hosted by Wix.com, which use the following cookies on our Web page:

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wix.com First-Party Cookies: