Skip to content

Privacy Policy

Welcome to DE GRUYTER Publishing Group!

Please find our privacy statement for authors here.
Please find our privacy statement for customers here.
Please find our privacy statement for job applicants here.
Please find our privacy statement for deutscherkunstverlag.de here.
Please find our privacy statement for jovis.de here.
Please find our privacy statement of staudinger-bgb.de here.

We are pleased that you are visiting our websites and thank you for your interest in our company, our products and our websites. The protection of your privacy when using our websites is important to us. Therefore, please take note of the following information. This information fulfils our duty to provide information in accordance with Art. 13 GDPR for all processing carried out on the websites

(hereinafter: "the website" or "the websites").

We use certain tools on our website, which enable the evaluation of user behavior on the website and the placement of target-group-specific advertising. We use cookies or similar technologies for this purpose.


I. General Information

1. Retrievability

This data protection declaration can be called up, printed out or downloaded permanently and at any time at the web address www.degruyter.com/page/privacy-policy.

2. Controller and Data Protection Officer:

Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Genthiner Straße 13
D-10785 Berlin / Germany
Tel: +49 30 260 05-0
Fax: +49 30 260 05-251
e-mail: service@degruyter.com

Data Protection Officer:

Thorsten Feldmann
JBB Rechtsanwälte
Christinenstraße 18/19
10119 Berlin
e-mail: datenschutz@degruyter.com

II. Functions of our Websites

We offer the following functions on our websites:

1. General Information

Personal data is only collected on this website to the technically necessary extent. During a mere visit to our website, no data is collected that could identify you directly. To establish and maintain the connection, de Gruyter automatically collects and stores only the following server log files that your browser transmits to us:

  • the filename and URL you accessed
  • the HTTP response code
  • the browser type, the browser version
  • the operating system used
  • the referrer URL (the previously visited page)
  • the host name of the accessing computer (IP address/domain name)
  • date and time of the server request
  • and the bytes transferred during the connection.

The collection of the IP address is based on Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest is to offer you our website and service.

2. Contact

You can contact us, for example by email. In this case, we will process the personal data provided by you, primarily your email address, name and message, in order to process your enquiry. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f) GDPR, whereby our legitimate interest lies in the purpose described. After processing your inquiry, we will delete your data immediately, unless it is necessary to keep your email for other reasons.

Where we provide you with a contact form to contact us, the following applies: All data to be provided when using the contact forms is mandatory. These data will only be processed to handle your request. This processing is based on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest is to provide you with a fast and effective way to contact us. After your request has been processed your data will be deleted immediately.

We give you the opportunity to contact us or recipients of your wishes at various locations on our website. For this we partly use the online solution Formstack (https://www.formstack.com, Formstack LLC, 11671 Lantern Rd #300, Fishers, IN 46038, USA). Formstack transmits your entered data to us or your desired recipient. Formstack acts as our data processor on our behalf. Formstack will process the data in the USA. To ensure an adequate level of protection, we have concluded EU standard data protection clauses with Formstack. You can obtain a copy on request at datenschutz@degruyter.com. The processing is based on Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f) GDPR.. It is in our legitimate interest to process your request as requested. After processing, we will immediately delete the data available to us.

3. User Account and Shop

We offer you the opportunity to register with us and create a user account. To register, we will ask you to provide us with the following data: Name, first name, , email address and a password. We use this data for the provision of your user account and its respective functions (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b) GDPR). The data is processed for this purpose for as long as you maintain the user account and then deleted.

We also offer an online shop. To use it, a registration with us is required. If you place an order we will ask you for additional information (e.g. address). When you use the shop, we process your personal data to enable you to place orders and to process and fulfil the orders (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b) GDPR).

We use various payment service providers for this purpose. If the payment is made via ingenico, the payment data will only be collected and processed by Ingenico Group S.A.. , 28/32 Boulevard de Grenelle, 75015 Paris, France, and processed in order to complete the payment process. For more information on the data protection provisions applicable there, please visit https://www.ingenico.com/privacy-policy. If you order directly through Hanseatische Gesellschaft für Verlagsservice (HGV) and receive an invoice, you can transfer the amount or pay by credit card. Credit card payments are processed via the Payone system of PAYONE GmbH, Lyoner Straße 9, 60528 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Payone and ingenico are certified according to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Your credit card data is collected and processed directly by PAYONE and is not stored by us. For more information on the data protection provisions applicable there, please visit www.payone.com/dsgvo.

The legal basis for such processing is Article 6(1)(b) GDPR. We store your registration data for as long as you keep a user account with us. We will then keep this data for a further 4 years and 6 months, in the event that further legal claims arise from this relationship.

If you have placed an order via the online shop, we will also store this data until you cancel the user account. After that, we keep the data contained in the invoices for a further 11 years and 6 months, as we are obliged to fulfil our statutory storage obligation pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. c) GDPR in conjunction with § 147 AO and § 257 HGB.

Our delivery service provider Hanseatische Gesellschaft für Verlagsservice mbH (HGV) uses Sigloch Distribution GmbH & Co. KG (Sigloch). Sigloch ships your goods for HGV e.g. with DHL or UPS. If you wish to have your goods delivered by UPS, Sigloch will pass on your e-mail address and telephone number to UPS (United Parcel Service Deutschland Inc. & Co. OHG, Ursulum 9, 35396 Gießen), provided you have agreed to this (consent). The legal basis for data processing is Article 6 (1) (a) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). If you do not consent to the disclosure of your e-mail address and telephone number, shipping by UPS is not possible. You can revoke your consent to the use of your data at any time in the future.

4. Access to Online Contents

We offer you the possibility to subscribe to online content for certain periods of time. This can be done either via our online shop or in certain cases, such as a test account or if you acquire a student account, via a separate website (Pschyrembel). Regardless of how you order, we need your name, address and e-mail address. Additional data such as training status, educational institution or matriculation information may also be required, depending on the reference option.

The data required for the acquisition or use of the online content will only be used for the provision of the online content. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b) GDPR.

We store this information for the duration of your subscription. Thereafter, we will hold them for another 4 years and 6 months, in the event that further legal claims arise from this relationship. The data contained in invoices is retained for a further 11 years and 6 months, as we are obliged to fulfil our statutory storage obligation pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. c) GDPR in conjunction with § 147 AO and § 257 HGB.

We use external service providers for technical implementation. Your data will be transmitted to these service providers.

5. Newsletter

If you would like to receive the newsletter or e-mail alerts, you must already be registered. We will then use the e-mail address you have already provided to verify your newsletter subscription and then to send the notification you have ordered. Further data will not be collected. You can revoke your consent to the use of the e-mail address for sending the newsletter at any time by clicking on the corresponding link at the end of the respective newsletter.

The processing is based on Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a) GDPR in conjunction with Art. 95 GDPR and § 7 para. 2 no. 3 UWG. We process your data for this function until you revoke your consent.

III. Internet-specific technologies, in particular cookies

1. Cookies

We use cookies and other technologies such as tracking pixels on our website. We use these cookies and other technologies to provide you with certain technical functions that make your use of our site more pleasant and comfortable and to analyze the use of our site. You can read what cookies are, which ones we use and how you can refuse non-essential cookies in our Cookie Policy.

2. VG-Wort / METIS-Procedure

We use the VG Wort's tracking pixel procedure (METIS procedure) so that our authors can participate in the VG Wort's distributions when their texts are accessed online. Through the use of the tracking pixel, IP addresses of website users and usage data are transmitted to VG Wort without concretely identifying individual users. Through the METIS process, we ensure the statutory remuneration for online uses of copyrighted works in accordance with Section 53 (German) UrhG.

IV. Recipients of data

Internally, the departments responsible for processing the respective task have access to personal data. External data transfers take place in addition to those mentioned under II. and III. above all to external service providers, which we use, as far as we cannot provide services or cannot provide them sensibly ourselves. These are primarily IT and communication service providers.

V. Data Subject Rights

The basic data protection regulation guarantees you certain rights which you can assert against us - insofar as the legal requirements are met.

  • § Art. 15 GDPR - Right of the data subject to obtain information: You have the right to request confirmation from us as to whether personal data relating to you are processed and, if so, what these are and the detailed circumstances of data processing.
  • § Art. 16 GDPR - Right to rectification: You have the right to request us to rectify any inaccurate personal data concerning you without delay. Taking into account the purposes of the processing, you also have the right to request the completion of incomplete personal data - also by means of a supplementary declaration.
  • § Art. 17 GDPR - Right of deletion: You have the right to request us to delete personal data concerning you without delay.
  • § Art. 18 GDPR - Right to limitation of processing: You have the right to request us to restrict processing.
  • § Art. 20 GDPR - Right to data transferability: You have the right, in the event of processing on the basis of consent or in order to fulfil a contract, to receive the personal data concerning you that you have provided us in a structured, current and machine-readable format, and to transmit this data to another person responsible without our interference or to have the data transmitted directly to the other responsible person if this is technically feasible.
  • § Art. 21 GDPR - Right of objection: You have the right to object at any time, for reasons arising from your particular situation, to the processing of personal data concerning you, which is necessary for our legitimate interest or for the protection of a task in the public interest, or which is carried out in the exercise of official authority. To do so, please contact one of the addresses given in the data protection declaration.
    If you object, we will no longer process your personal data, unless we can prove compelling reasons worthy of protection for the processing, which outweigh your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing serves to assert, exercise or defend legal claims.
    If we process your personal data for direct marketing purposes, you have the right to object to the processing at any time. If you object to the processing for direct advertising purposes, we will no longer process your personal data for these purposes.
  • § Art. 77 GDPR in conjunction with § 19 BDSG - Right of appeal to a supervisory authority: You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of your place of residence, your workplace or the place of suspected infringement, at any time if you believe that the processing of personal data concerning you is contrary to applicable law.

If you have given us your consent, you have the right to revoke your consent at any time. All data processing that we have carried out up to your revocation remains legal in this case. For this purpose you can send us a message to datenschutz@degruyter.com.

VI. Obligation to Provide Data

You have no contractual or legal obligation to provide us with personal data. However, we will not be able to offer you our services without the information you provide.

VII. Existence of Automated Decision Making (Including Profiling)

We do not use automated decision making that has legal effects on you or affects you.

VIII. Data Security

The transmission of payment data to the payment service provider is encrypted using a 256-bit RSA TLS protocol. By entering the domain as https, the user can effect the encrypted transmission of other personal data to de Gruyter.


Status: April 2022

Downloaded on 31.12.2022 from https://www.degruyter.com/publishing/our-privacy-policy
Scroll Up Arrow