Privacy policy

This policy was last updated on 20/03/2025.

This is the privacy policy (“policy”) for researchassistant.nature.com which is run and provided by Springer Nature Ltd.. Springer Nature Ltd. is located at The Campus, 4 Crinan Street, London N1 9XW (we, us and our).

We can also be contacted at customerservice@springernature.com.

We will only use the personal data gathered over this website as set out in this policy. Below you will find information on how we use your personal data, for which purposes your personal data is used, with whom it is shared and what control and information rights you may have

I. Summary of our processing activities

The following summary offers a quick overview of the data processing activities that are undertaken on our website. You will find more detailed information under the indicated sections below.

• When you visit our website for informational reasons without setting up an account, only limited personal data will be processed to provide you with the website itself (see III).

• In case you register for one of our services, further personal data will be processed in the scope of such services (see IV and V).

• Furthermore, your personal data will be used to provide you with relevant advertising for our services and products (see VII) and for statistical analysis that helps us to improve our website (see VIII). Additionally, we improve your website experience with third party content (see IX).

• Your personal data may be disclosed to third parties (see X) that might be located outside your country of residence; potentially, different data protection standards may apply (see XI).

• We have implemented appropriate safeguards to secure your personal data (see XII) and retain your personal data only as long as necessary (see XIII).

• Under the legislation applicable to you, you may be entitled to exercise certain rights with regard to the processing of your personal data (see XIV).

II. Definitions

Personal data : means any information relating to a natural person who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, or an online identifier.

Processing : means any operation which is performed on personal data, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or any kind of disclosure or other use.

III. Informational use of the website

When you visit our website for informational reasons, i.e. without registering for any of our provided services listed under IV and without providing us with personal data in any other form, we may automatically collect additional information about you which will contain personal data only in limited cases and which is automatically recognised by our server, such as:

Examples might include:

• your IP address;

• your device type, name and IDs;

• the date and time of your requests;

• the content of your requests;

• information on your browser version;

• your screen resolution;

• information on your operating system, including language settings.

We use such information only to assist us in providing an effective service (e.g. to adapt our website to the needs of your device or to allow you to log in to our website), and to collect broad demographic information for anonymised, aggregated use.

The personal data automatically collected is necessary for us to provide the website, Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. b GDPR, and for our legitimate interest to guarantee the website’s stability and security, Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. f GDPR.

IV. Registration for our services

If you need to create a personal login with us, then we will store and process the following:

• Information (such as your name, user name and email address) that is provided by registration;

• Information in connection with an account sign-in facility (e.g. log-in and password details);

• Communications sent by you (e.g. via e-mail or website communication forms).

The information that is necessary for the performance of the service is labelled accordingly. All further information is provided voluntarily.

We will process the personal data you provide to:

• Identify you at sign-in;

• Provide you with the services and information offered through the website or which you request;

• Administer your account;

• Communicate with you;

• (behavioural) Advertising and profiling.

For this, the legal basis is Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. b GDPR. The use of your personal data for behavioural advertising and profiling is done with consent, Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a GDPR.

We use the personal data and contact data you provide by registration to inform you directly about our additional products and services. The use of your personal data for directly advertising related products and services is with consent, Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a GDPR.

You can object to the use of your personal data for direct marketing at any time. We will then refrain from any processing to the extent it is related to such purposes. You may opt-out of direct marketing via opt-out links in any marketing communication or via user profile pages on the website (where available). You can also inform us about your objection by contacting our Customer Service Team at customerservice@springernature.com.

Registration data is kept until such time as an account deletion request is made. If such a request is received we will erase your data within 30 days. Statutory storage obligations or the need for legal actions that may arise from misconduct within the services or payment problems can lead to a longer retention of your personal data. In this case, we will inform you accordingly.

V. Information about the specific uses that require registration/identification

1. Article alerts and newsletters

With your email address you can subscribe to our newsletters that provide you with the latest news about our products and services if you consent to receiving such newsletters. The legal basis for this processing is Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a GDPR. Your email address will be retained as long as you subscribe to our newsletters.

You can unsubscribe from this service by opting out via the link provided in each newsletter.

You can sign up for newsletters and request to be contacted about our products and services via Facebook. For this purpose, we are using Facebook Lead Ads, a service by Facebook Inc., 1601 South California Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304 U.S. ("Facebook"). Lead Ads makes it even easier for you to sign up to newsletters and request to be contacted as the form will already be pre-populated via Facebook with your data and you only need to submit the form. Of course, you have the opportunity to amend and review the data before submission. For more information on how lead ads works see here - https://www.facebook.com/business/ads/lead-ads.

The legal basis for this processing is Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a GDPR. Your email address will be retained as long as you subscribe to our newsletters or until you request the removal of your email address.

You can unsubscribe from newsletters by opting out via the link provided in each newsletter. If you inquired about a product or service and no longer wish to be contacted, you can email onlineservice@springernature.com, citing the name of the product or service, and request that your email address be removed.

2. Participation in product pilots, beta services

You may participate in pilots or gain access to prototypes before launch of a new product. Participation is subject to specific terms and conditions, to be able to join you need to consent to those and the collection of the (personal) data categories listed in the prototype description. We will store this consent and any information provided by you during the use of the prototype (including, but not limited to, login details and history, feedback provided by you, chat histories, recordings of calls you may have joined) for the period and purposes defined in the pilot description and create reports from your feedback to enable further development of the planned product. We will pseudonymize your input as soon as possible and will not publish or share any input in a form that is attributable to the contributing individual. You may revoke your consent and quit the pilot at any time, a contact to do so is published in the pilot description.

3. Customer service

If you contact us by either

• e-mail or physical mail

• telephone or fax

• Chat/messaging support

• through a website communication or submission form

we will process the personal data you provide to process and fulfil your request. For this, the legal basis is Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a and b GDPR. To provide the requested service your data may be stored in a ticketing system and/or on a support platform to enable data access by the relevant customer support team member. Where appropriate the data will also be forwarded to a different team to fulfil the request (e.g. to update your data) or be used on physical data records, e.g. invoices. We may use generative AI to support us in providing the response or service requested; any output is subject to human oversight before being used. We use Freshdesk (provided by Freshworks GmbH, Neue Grünstraße 17, 10179 Berlin, Germany) as a ticketing system to store and process your requests. Depending on the region you call from and team providing support we use different telephony solutions. For the most part, customers contacting customer service are directed to our level 1 teams at our data processor Straive (77 Robinson Road, # 13-00 Singapore 068896), if necessary, the service ticket is forwarded to a local level 2 Springer Nature Customer Service team or another relevant team at Springer Nature. We do not process any sensitive data unless provided by you because you e.g. need support in coping with access issues due to a disability or reveal any protected characteristics during communication. For this, the legal basis is Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a GDPR. We share anonymous, aggregated data within the business. We forward emails internally, or provide access to tickets for other teams to e.g. share positive feedback with a stakeholder, or for review by internal teams seeking to improve the products and services. For this the legal basis is Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. f GDPR and represents our legitimate interest to improve our service quality and provide tailored solutions to the customers. We store your data until completion of the request and, if applicable, as long as required by statutory retention requirements (e.g. for 3 years after completion to prove adequate handling of service requests or subject access requests made under the GDPR).

VI. Automated decision making

We do not use your personal data for automated decision making which produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you; however we do use your personal data to offer you content and services which we believe may be of interest.

VII. Online advertising, e-commerce and related tools

We use marketing services to provide you with interesting offers. For this purpose, we place advertisements via advertising service providers that use cookies and/or web beacons that are activated when you visit our website. Cookies are small text files that are stored locally in the internet browser and allow recognition of a user. Web beacons are small image files, which allow log file recording and log file analysis. To present online advertising we use the services of, inter alia, Google AdExchange, Google AdSens. Respective advertisement is labelled as “ADVERTISEMENT” or “AdChoices”.

The cookies and web beacons enable our service providers to collect information about you and your surfing behaviour, e.g. IP address, browser information, information on user activities and click data, and to recognize visitors to our website under a pseudonym and only display products that are likely to be of interest to our visitors. Most of the tools use pseudonymised or aggregated data, e.g. shortened IP addresses. The data is used to analyse the use of our website and, thereby, improve and optimize the website and to display advertising tailored to your needs. We collect this data (to improve your website experience and to promote our products and services). You can update your preferences via the “Your Privacy Choices / Manage Cookies” link in the page footer.

Personal data collected via first party cookies is based on consent, Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a GDPR, to improve your website experience and promote our products and services. We collect this data via a cookie management tool; you can update your preferences via the “Your Privacy Choices / Manage Cookies” link in the page footer.

Personal data collected via third party targeting cookies is based on your consent, Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a GDPR. You can update your preferences via the “Your Privacy Choices / Manage Cookies” link in the page footer.

Please note that we neither have the control of the extent of personal data that is collected by the respective plug-in provider nor do we know the processing’s purpose or the period your personal data will be retained. Your personal data will be transferred to and processed inside and outside of the EEA. For further information about the potential risks of a cross border data transfer refer to XI.

It is possible that the above providers may disclose your personal data to its business partners, third parties or authorities.

You can prevent the installation of such a cookie (i) by a respective setting of your browser that blocks the installation of third party cookies, (ii) by deactivating the interest-related advertising under https://www.google.co.uk/ads/preferences, (iii) generally blocking cookies under https://www.google.co.uk/settings/ads/plugin or (iv) by deselecting the option for tracking cookies via the Springer Nature cookie preference center.

Google AdWords Remarketing and Facebook Custom Audience

In this Website, we use the remarketing or “Similar audiences” feature of AdWords offered by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 USA, hereinafter referred to as “Google”

Google uses Cookies/tracking technologies, i.e., text files that are stored on your computer and that allow us to analyze your use of our Website. Information generated by Cookies/tracking technology on your use of this Website (including your IP address) will be transferred to a Google server in the U.S. and stored on that server. After that, the last three digits of the IP address will be deleted by Google so that it is no longer possible to clearly match this IP address with personal data. Google will use this information to analyze your use of the Website, to create website activity reports for the website operators and to provide additional services in connection with the use of the Website and the Internet. Furthermore, Google may transfer this information to third parties, if it is required to do so in accordance with statutory provisions or if third parties process data on behalf of Google.

Third party providers, including Google, place advertisements on websites on the Internet. Third party providers, including Google, use stored Cookies/tracking information to place advertisements based on previous visits of a user on this Website.

For additional information on the anonymous analysis of your search behaviour please refer to:

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de

http://www.google.com/policies/technologies/ads/

You may object to data collection and storage for the purpose of remarketing at any time - this objection will be effective for the future, but not retroactively - by deactivating interest-based advertising in Google or by deactivating the services on the website of the Network Advertising Initiative. Note: in that case, you may not be able to use all features of this Website anymore. By using this Website, you grant your consent to the processing of data collected about you by Google in the manner and for the purpose described above.

Furthermore, this Website uses retargeting tags and Custom Audience of Facebook Inc., 1601 South California Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304 U.S., hereinafter referred to as “Facebook”.

When you visit our web pages, remarketing tags will build a direct connection between your browser and the Facebook server. This way, Facebook learns that you have visited our web page with your IP address. This will enable Facebook to match your visit of our pages with your user account. The information obtained this way can be used to display Facebook ads. Please note that we as the provider of the webpages do not receive any information on the contents of data transferred and their use by Facebook.

With regard to the use of Custom Audience we would like to point out that Facebook and third parties use cookies, web beacons or similar technologies to collect or gather information on this Website. Based on the data gained we can make our Facebook activities more efficient and, e.g., arrange for contents or ads to be shown only to visitors of our Website. The data collected this way will be encrypted and transferred to Facebook and is anonymous for us, e.g., we cannot see personal data of individual users.

For further information on the privacy policy of Facebook and Custom Audience please refer to https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/ or https://www.facebook.com/business/a/online-sales/custom-audiences-website.

If you do not wish your data to be collected via Custom Audience, you can deactivate Custom Audience using the above link.

Targeted online advertising using email address and third party advertising platforms

With your consent, we may occasionally run online advertising activities targeting you specifically by utilising personal information you have shared with us, namely your email address. This allows us to advertise in the most relevant way, promoting products, services and opportunities that we deem beneficial to you.

The legal basis for this processing is Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a GDPR, consent to the use of your email address for this purpose, including its transfer to third party advertising platforms.

This targeting method may be used on the following third party advertising platforms: Meta, Google, LinkedIn, X, Microsoft ads and Criteo.

Your personal data may be transferred outside of the EU to countries with varying data protection regulations.

To enable this, your personal data is shared in an encrypted form (hashed data). This means that you can only be identified by these companies if you have previously registered with them, adhering to their data processing terms and conditions. If you haven’t, your personal data will remain encrypted, protecting you from any identification thus not allowing this type of targeting method. In the same way, only personal data already shared with these platforms will be matched.

Depending on the platform, ads can be served on social media feeds, on third party websites/mobile applications or as sponsored links on search engines results pages.

If you no longer wish your personal data to be used in this manner, you can email onlineservice@springernature.com, and request that your consent be removed. Equally, you can stop emails by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email you receive. Related digital advertising can also be stopped directly via the third party platform.

Hotjar

Hotjar is a behaviour and analytics software provided by Hotjar LTD, Dragonara Business Centre, 5th Floor, Dragonara Road, Paceville St Julian's STJ 3141 Malta. We use Hotjar in order to better understand our users’ needs and to optimize our service and experience. Hotjar is a technology service that helps us better understand our users’ experience (e.g. how much time they spend on which pages, which links they choose to click, what users do and don’t like, etc.) and this enables us to build and maintain our service with user feedback. Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on our users’ behaviour and their devices and may include recording of sample behaviours. This includes a device's IP address (processed during your session and stored in a de-identified form), device screen size, device type (unique device identifiers), browser information, geographic location (country only), and the preferred language used to display our website. Hotjar stores this information on our behalf in a pseudonymized user profile. Hotjar is contractually forbidden to sell any of the data collected on our behalf. The legal basis for this processing is Art. 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a GDPR and reflects your consent to non-essential cookies.

HubSpot and SAP Marketing Cloud (SMC)

HubSpot and SMC use cookies, Google Analytics, and a pseudonymized user ID to aggregate user behaviour on the website and in emails in order to personalize the content that is provided to newsletter subscribers. Google Analytics does not receive individual email addresses or other personal data, only a number. That number can only be connected to a specific user on Springer Nature's systems. The legal basis for this process is your consent to the use of cookies on our website (Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a GDPR.). You can always unsubscribe from this process by rejecting the cookies that measure website use.

Twilio Segment

Twilio Segment is a Customer Data Platform, which facilitates the aggregation of user data from different systems. We use Segment to better understand the touchpoints our customers have across the Springer Nature landscape and facilitate more personalized marketing. The personal data shared with Twilio is for the most part based on consent and in other cases legitimate interest, Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a and f GDPR. For more information on how Twilio Segment processes personal data, see their privacy policy here.

VIII. Analytics

Necessary cookies

We currently use the following necessary cookies:

Name	Domain	Expires
__session	researchassistant.nature.com	Session	An encrypted session cookie placed by the frontend application. We store some user information in it.
idp_marker	*.nature.com	1 year	placed by the Springer Nature Identity Provider
idp_session	*.nature.com	Session	placed by the Springer Nature Identity Provider
idp_session_http	*.nature.com	Session	placed by the Springer Nature Identity Provider

Our Consent Management Platform

Our CMP places the following cookie on your computer:

• sncc

This allows us to identify if the cookie banner is displayed, which choices you made and how to act upon those choices (Opt-in or Opt-out of cookie categories). This cookie is necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. This is usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences. Please click here to review your current settings. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

You can set your browser to block these cookies, but some parts of the site may then not perform as designed.

Our CMP will also automatically collect additional information about you which will contain personal data only in limited cases and which is automatically recognised by our server (as per Section III, above). It is used to collect broad demographic information based on your IP address for anonymised, aggregated use. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interest in optimising our service by monitoring the effectiveness of our CMP, Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. f GDPR.

For statistical analyses we use web analytics services such as Google Analytics, collect information about the use of this site.

General tracking information

The tools collect information such as:

Device and browser information (operating system information, Mobile device identifier, mobile operating system, etc.)

• IP address

• Page accessed; URL click stream (the chronological order of our internet sites you visited)

• Geographic location

• Time of visit

• Referring site, application, or service

We use the information we get from the providers to determine the most useful information you are looking for, and to improve and optimise this website.

We will track your behaviour online for the purposes described above; this data will not be shared outside of Springer Nature. The legal basis for this processing via Google Analytics is consent, Art. 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a GDPR, to analyse our website’s traffic, improve the user’s experience and optimise the website in general.

We do not share information on your web behaviour with any 3rd party providers without your explicit consent. Consent is provided by clicking the appropriate button on the web banner that appears on your first visit to the website. The legal basis for this processing is Art. 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a GDPR and represents you consent to accepting 3rd party targeting cookies.

Depending on the provider the information generated about your use of the website may be transferred to and processed in third countries, e.g. the United States. For further information about the potential risks of a cross border data transfer please refer to section XI. The tools collect only the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit this site, rather than your name or any other identifying information. The provider will use this information in order to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activities and to provide other services relating to website and internet use to us.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (“Google”). On our behalf Google will use the information generated by a cookie for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity and providing other services relating to website activity and internet activity in connection with the use of the website and according to your consent preferences. You can access the Google Analytics privacy policy here.

The legal basis for the data transfer is Art. 28 GDPR in conjunction with the data processing agreement.

You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser or by amending your preferences. In addition to that you may prevent the collection of the information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) and the processing of this data by Google if you download and install the browser plug-in available at the following link: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

IX. Third party content and social media plug-ins

This website may contain links to third party websites. We are not responsible for the content and the data collection on respective third party websites; please check the privacy policy of respective websites for information of respective websites’ data processing activities.

1. Dimensions

We use Dimensions by Digital Science, based at 6 Briset St, London, EC1M 5NR, UK to identify the publications by an author in some of our applications and services. The applications may show an author’s publications as per Dimensions and/or their co-authorships with the aim of furthering the collaboration between scientists and generally supporting individual scientists in their work. Digital Science is a data controller in this regard and we have no say in how the data is processed in Dimensions, please see their privacy policy for information on how Digital Science process personal data more broadly.

X. Information sharing

Where personal data is disclosed to third parties for the purposes mentioned above the legal basis for the transfer of your personal data is Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. b and f GDPR. Some of the recipients may reside outside the EEA. For further information about cross border transfer in general and transfers outside of the EEA see section on Cross border data transfers .

We may disclose your personal data to contractors/data processors who assist us in providing the services we offer through the website. Such a transfer will be based on data processing agreements (Art. 28 GDPR). Therefore, our contractors will only use your personal data to the extent necessary to perform their functions and will be contractually bound to process your personal data only on our behalf and in compliance with our requests.

In the event that we undergo re-organisation or are sold to a third party, any personal data we hold about you may be transferred to that re-organised entity or third party in compliance with applicable law.

We may disclose your personal data if legally entitled or required to do so (for example if required by law or by a court order). The legal basis for this will be Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. c GDPR (in conjunction with the respective national law).

XI. Cross border data transfers

Within the scope of our information sharing activities set out above, your personal data may be transferred to other countries (including countries outside the EEA) which may have different data protection standards from your country of residence. Please note that data processed in a foreign country may be subject to foreign laws and accessible to foreign governments, courts, law enforcement, and regulatory agencies. However, we will endeavour to take reasonable measures to maintain an adequate level of data protection when sharing your personal data with such countries.

In the case of a transfer outside of the EEA, this transfer is safeguarded by EU Model Clauses in accordance with Article 46 GDPR. You can find further information about the aforementioned safeguards by following this link https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection_en or contact our Group Data Protection Officer via dataprotection@springernature.com for specific information on respective safeguards.

XII. Security

We have reasonable state of the art security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of personal data under our control. For example, our security and privacy policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary and only authorised personnel have access to personal data. Whilst we cannot ensure or guarantee that loss, misuse or alteration of information will never occur, we use all reasonable efforts to prevent it.

You should bear in mind that submission of information over the internet is never entirely secure. We cannot guarantee the security of information you submit via our website whilst it is in transit over the internet and any such submission is at your own risk.

Though we aim at the same state of the art security for prototypes you might experience performance failure or delay due to the pilot character of such services that may affect the submission of data.

XIII. Data retention

We strive to keep our processing activities with respect to your personal data as limited as possible. In the absence of specific retention periods set out in this policy, your personal data will be retained only for as long as we need it to fulfil the purpose for which we have collected it and, if applicable, as long as required by statutory retention requirements.

XIV. Your rights

Under the legislation applicable to you, you may be entitled to exercise some or all of the following rights:

• require (i) information as to whether your personal data is retained and (ii) access to and/or duplicates of your personal data retained, including the purposes of the processing, the categories of personal data concerned, and the data recipients as well as potential retention periods;

• request rectification, removal or restriction of your personal data, e.g. because (i) it is incomplete or inaccurate, (ii) it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected, or (iii) the consent on which the processing was based has been withdrawn;

• refuse to provide and – without impact to data processing activities that have taken place before such withdrawal – withdraw your consent to processing of your personal data at any time;

• object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, that your personal data shall be subject to a processing. In this case, please provide us with information about your particular situation. After the assessment of the facts presented by you we will either stop processing your personal data or present you our compelling legitimate grounds for an ongoing processing;

• take legal actions in relation to any potential breach of your rights regarding the processing of your personal data, as well as to lodge complaints before the competent data protection regulators;

• require (i) to receive the personal data concerning you, which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and (ii) to transmit those data to another controller without hindrance from our side; where technically feasible you shall have the right to have the personal data transmitted directly from us to another controller; and/or

• not to be subject to any automated decision making, including profiling (automatic decisions based on data processing by automatic means, for the purpose of assessing several personal aspects) which produce legal effects on you or affects you with similar significance.

You may (i) exercise the rights referred to above or (ii) pose any questions or (iii) make any complaints regarding our data processing by contacting us using the contact details set out below.

XV. Contacting us

Please submit any questions, concerns or comments you have about this privacy policy or any requests concerning your personal data by email to our Group Data Protection Officer. You can contact our Group Data Protection Officer via dataprotection@springernature.com

The information you provide when contacting us at dataprotection@springernature.com will be processed to handle your request and will be erased when your request is completed. Alternatively, we will restrict the processing of the respective information in accordance with statutory retention requirements.

XVI. Amendments to this policy

We reserve the right to change this policy from time to time by updating our website respectively. Please visit the website regularly and check our respective current privacy policy. This policy was last updated on 20/03/2025.