Privacy at JoST.

JoST collects only what it needs to run the journal. It shows no ads, sells no data, and uses no third-party tracking scripts.

Reading and downloading papers needs no account, and JoST stores nothing about people who only read.

When someone creates an account or contributes, the site stores:

• Their email address.
• Their name and any profile details they choose to enter, such as title, institution, affiliations, and a short bio.
• Which sign-in method they used: Google, Microsoft, ORCID, or an emailed code. During the private preview, sign-in also goes through a Cloudflare access gate.
• Their ORCID iD, if they connect one.
• What they contribute: ratings, reviews, comments, responses, reviewer applications, submissions, and uploaded files.

JoST is an open-review journal, so contributions are public by design. Reviews, ratings, comments, author responses, and the names attached to them are shown on the site. Reviewers' ORCID iDs are shown with their reviews.

Email addresses are not shown publicly. Editors can see them when they handle submissions, applications, and conduct issues.

• jost_session keeps a person signed in. It lasts 30 days, or until they sign out.
• Short-lived cookies are used during sign-in with Google, Microsoft, or ORCID, and expire within minutes.
• During the private preview, Cloudflare sets a cookie for the access gate.

JoST uses no advertising or tracking cookies.

• Cloudflare hosts the site, its database, and its file storage.
• Google, Microsoft, and ORCID receive a sign-in request only when a person chooses to sign in with them. JoST receives the person's name, email, and (for ORCID) their ORCID iD.
• Crossref receives the metadata of published papers, including titles, author names, and authors' ORCID iDs, when JoST registers DOIs.

Anyone can ask for a copy of the information JoST holds about them, or ask for their account to be deleted, by writing to hub@jost.science.

Published papers and posted reviews are part of the scholarly record, so they stay public. Where appropriate, the editors can remove a person's name from a contribution on request. The editors will explain what can and cannot be changed in each case.

Questions about privacy go to the editors at hub@jost.science.