Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Lyra Science collects, uses, and protects your personal data when you visit our website (lyrascience.org) and use our author dashboard. We are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Spanish Organic Law 3/2018 on the Protection of Personal Data and Guarantee of Digital Rights (LOPDGDD).

1. Data controller

The data controller responsible for your personal data is Aleksandr Tkachev, an independent professional (autónomo) registered in Spain with Tax ID (NIF/NIE) Z5041445B, with a registered business address at Carrer D'en Robador 2, 08001 Barcelona, Spain, doing business under the commercial name "Lyra Science".

Contact email: editorial@lyrascience.org.

2. What Data We Collect and Legal Basis

We collect and process personal data for the following purposes:

• Manuscript Submissions and Account Management. When you register an account, submit a manuscript, or act as a reviewer/editor, we collect your name, e-mail address, affiliation, country, ORCID iD, and the content of your communications. Legal basis: Processing is necessary for the performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) and our legitimate interest in managing the peer-review and publication process (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
• Co-authors and Suggested Reviewers. When an author submits a manuscript, they give us their co-authors' names, e-mail addresses, affiliations, countries and ORCID iDs, and may name people they suggest as reviewers or ask us to avoid (name, institution, e-mail or ORCID iD). We use these to run peer review and, if the article is published, to credit the authors in the article and its metadata (Crossref and indexing services). Editors see these details; under double-blind review, reviewers don't. On publication, the authors' names, affiliations and ORCID iDs become public; an author's e-mail address only if the submitting author chose to show it, and anyone can ask us to remove it. We never publish who was suggested, or asked to be avoided, as a reviewer. We keep these data as described in section 4. Everyone named in a submission has the rights in section 5, including the right to object (Art. 21 GDPR). Legal basis: Our legitimate interest in running peer review and in publishing and crediting scholarly work (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
• Billing and Payments. When you pay an Article Processing Charge (APC), payment is processed by our third-party payment processor (Stripe). We do not directly collect or store your credit card details. Legal basis: Compliance with legal and tax obligations (Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR) and performance of a contract.
• Website Analytics. We use Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity to understand traffic patterns and improve our site. This involves collecting IP addresses and usage data via cookies. Microsoft Clarity additionally records anonymized sessions (clicks, scrolling and mouse movement) and produces heatmaps; text you type into forms is masked and is not recorded. Our author dashboard uses Google Analytics only, with no session recording. Legal basis: Your explicit consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR) obtained via our cookie banner.
• Advertising Measurement. We advertise with Google Ads. If you arrive from one of our ads and accept advertising cookies, Google Ads stores a click identifier so we can see which ads lead to sign-ups, submissions and payments. We don't use ad personalisation or remarketing. Until you accept, the identifier is only passed along in page addresses, and nothing is stored on your device. Legal basis: Your explicit consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR) obtained via our cookie banner.

3. Data Sharing and International Transfers

We do not sell your personal data. We only share it with:

• Editors and Reviewers. Relevant manuscript data is shared securely within our dashboard to facilitate the double-blind peer review process.
• Service Providers. We use third-party providers for hosting, payment processing, emails, analytics and advertising measurement (e.g., Google LLC, Microsoft Corporation), and AI-based tools for typesetting and metadata after acceptance.

International Transfers. Some of our service providers (like Google and Microsoft) may process analytics and advertising data outside the European Economic Area (EEA), including in the United States. By consenting to analytics or advertising cookies, you acknowledge this transfer. Where required, we rely on Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs), adequacy decisions, or your explicit consent (Art. 49(1)(a) GDPR) to legitimize these cross-border transfers.

4. Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary:

• Published Articles: Author names, affiliations, and ORCID iDs associated with published articles are retained indefinitely as an integral part of the permanent scholarly record.
• Rejected/Withdrawn Submissions: Account and submission data for manuscripts that are not published are retained for up to 24 months after the final decision to handle appeals or future related submissions, after which they are securely deleted.
• Unconfirmed Accounts: An account whose e-mail address is never confirmed is deleted after 30 days.
• Financial Records: Billing, payment, and invoice data are kept for a minimum of 6 years to comply with Spanish tax and accounting laws.

5. Your Rights

Under the GDPR and the Spanish LOPDGDD, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectify or correct inaccurate data.
• Erase your data (subject to limitations regarding the permanent scholarly record and legal retention requirements).
• Restrict or object to certain processing.
• Withdraw your consent at any time (e.g., for analytics or advertising cookies) through "Cookie settings" at the bottom of every page.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at editorial@lyrascience.org.

If you believe our processing of your personal data violates data protection laws, you have the absolute right to lodge a complaint with the Spanish Data Protection Agency (Agencia Española de Protección de Datos - AEPD) at www.aepd.es.