Privacy policy

1. Who we are

The SoroDoc (the-sorodoc.com) is a personal educational project run by Dr Dionysios (Dio) Malas, who is the "data controller" for the information described here, meaning the person who decides how it is used. In this policy, "we" and "us" mean the person running the site.

The site is independent. It is not an official website of King's College London or any other organisation, and this policy is separate from any university privacy statement.

2. What we collect and why

We collect information in three ways: what you give us through our forms, what your browser sends automatically, and what is saved on your own device.

We only ask for what we need. For the newsletter, that is just your email address; the interest choice is optional. You do not have to give us any information to read the site. We do not ask for sensitive information, such as health details, and we ask you not to include it in messages or descriptions.

3. Cookies, storage and tracking

The site does not set advertising or tracking cookies, and we do not currently use analytics tools that follow you across pages or sites.

The Learn page saves your reading-level choice in your browser's local storage so it can remember it next time. This stays on your device, is not sent to us, and you can clear it at any time in your browser settings.

Because we do not track individual visitors, we do not respond to "Do Not Track" signals. If we add analytics in future, we will choose a privacy-friendly option and update this policy first.

4. How we use your information

• To send the newsletter and any related service messages, such as confirming your signup.
• To respond to your messages and requests.
• To review research you submit and contact you about it.
• To keep the site working and secure, including filtering spam.
• To meet legal obligations.

We do not use your information for advertising, we do not sell it, and we do not make automated decisions about you.

5. Our legal bases

Under UK data protection law, we need a lawful reason to use your information. Ours are:

• Consent, for the newsletter. You give it by ticking an empty box when you subscribe, and you can withdraw it at any time by unsubscribing.
• Consent, for research submissions, which you give when you tick the confirmation box.
• Legitimate interests, for replying to messages, running the site securely and preventing spam. We have considered your interests and think this use is reasonable and expected.
• Legal obligation, where the law requires us to keep or share information.

6. Who we share it with

We share information only with service providers who help us run the site, and only as far as they need to:

• Netlify, which hosts the site and stores form submissions on our behalf. It may also filter spam.
• An email delivery service, which will send the newsletter on our behalf. We will name the provider here before the first issue is sent.
• Google Fonts, which supplies the site's typefaces (see section 12).

These providers handle your information only on our instructions and under data processing terms, and they must keep it secure.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect the safety, rights or property of people or the site. We do not sell or rent your information to anyone.

7. Research submissions and what we publish

If you submit research, we review it before anything goes live. If we accept it, we may publish the paper's title, a link to the paper on the publisher's or repository's page, and a short description, which we may edit for length and clarity. We link only to the original paper and do not host journal content.

We will not publish your email address. We will not publish your name or affiliation other than as it already appears on the published paper, unless we have asked you first. If you want a listing changed or removed, contact us and we will do it.

8. International transfers

Some of our service providers, including Netlify and Google, operate in or from other countries, including the United States. This means your information may be processed outside the United Kingdom. Where that happens, we rely on the safeguards the law recognises, such as adequacy decisions or standard contractual clauses, to protect it.

9. How long we keep it

• Newsletter subscribers: until you unsubscribe, after which we remove your email address, apart from a minimal record to make sure we do not email you again. We also keep a record of when and how you subscribed, and what you agreed to, so we can show we had your consent. We keep that record for a limited period after you unsubscribe.
• Contact messages: for up to 12 months after the conversation ends, unless we need to keep them longer to meet a legal duty.
• Research submissions: unsuccessful submissions are deleted within 12 months. For accepted submissions, we keep your contact details only for as long as the paper is listed and then delete them.
• Server and security logs: for a short period, as set by our hosting provider.

10. How we protect it

The site uses an encrypted (HTTPS) connection, and form submissions are stored by our hosting provider behind a password-protected account. We limit access to the information to the person running the site. No method of transmitting or storing data online is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security, but we take reasonable steps to protect your information.

11. Your rights and choices

Under UK data protection law, you have the right to:

• ask for a copy of the information we hold about you;
• ask us to correct information that is wrong or incomplete;
• ask us to delete your information;
• ask us to restrict how we use it, or to object to certain uses;
• ask for your information in a portable format, where this applies; and
• withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting what we did before you withdrew it.

To unsubscribe from the newsletter, click the one-click unsubscribe link at the bottom of any issue, or contact us. You do not need an account. To use any other right, contact us. We will respond within one month and may need to confirm your identity first.

12. Third-party sites and embedded content

The site links to other websites, such as journal pages, DOI links and Google Scholar. We do not control them and are not responsible for their privacy practices, so please read their policies.

The site loads its typefaces from Google Fonts. When you visit a page, your browser requests the font files from Google's servers, and Google receives your IP address and basic browser details. We may host the fonts ourselves in future to avoid this.

13. Children

The SoroDoc is written for a general adult audience and for students and researchers. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has sent us information, tell us and we will delete it.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will post the new version here with a new "last updated" date, and if a change is significant we will tell newsletter subscribers.

15. Contact and complaints

For any privacy question or request, please use the contact form on the About page and mention "privacy" in your message.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113. We would appreciate the chance to put things right first.