Last Updated on: 11/11/2025

This Notice of Your US State Privacy Rights (“US Notice”) supplements and should be read in conjunction with the privacy policies of the product sites listed below (“Privacy Policies”):

https://www.nature.com/info/privacy
https://www.springer.com/gp/privacy-policy
https://www.biomedcentral.com/privacy-statement
https://www.scientificamerican.com/page/privacy-policy/

For a full list of Springer Nature-owned platforms that this US Notice may apply to, please click on the link directly below.

www.springernature.com/gp/products

This US Notice applies solely to the residents of states with a state-level comprehensive privacy law that applies to us. In the event of any conflict or inconsistency between this US Notice and our Privacy Policies, this US Notice governs with respect to such state residents’ personal information.
We reserve the right to amend this US Notice at our discretion and at any time. When we make changes to this US Notice, we will post the updated notice on the website and update the notice's effective date. Your continued use of our website following the posting of changes constitutes your acceptance of such changes.

Notice for Residents of California

This Notice for California Residents (“California Notice”) applies solely to California consumers and addresses personal information we collect online and offline. 
This California Notice uses certain terms that have the meaning given to them in the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, and its implementing regulations (collectively, the “CCPA”).

1. NOTICE OF COLLECTION AND USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may collect (and may have collected during the 12-month period prior to the Last Updated date of this US Notice) the following categories of personal information about you: 

• Identifiers: identifiers such as a real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier (such as a device identifier; cookies, beacons, pixel tags, mobile ad identifiers and similar technology; customer number, proprietary ID,  unique pseudonym, or user alias; and other forms of persistent or probabilistic identifiers), online identifier, internet protocol address, email address, telephone number, account name, classifications under California or federal law (e.g. race, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, gender, gender identity) and other similar identifiers. 
• Additional Data subject to Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80: including credit card number, debit card number, bank account information and other financial information.
• Commercial Information: including records of products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, and other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.
• Employment Information: professional or employment-related information. 
• Education Information: education information that is not publicly available personally identifiable information as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g; 34 C.F.R. Part 99).
• Internet or other similar network activity: including, Browsing history, search history, information on a consumer's interaction with a website, application, or advertisement.
• Inferences: inferences drawn from any of the information identified above to create a profile about you reflecting your preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes.

We may use (and may have used during the 12-month period prior to the Last Updated date of this US Notice) your personal information for the purposes described in our Privacy Policies and for the following business purposes specified in the CCPA (“Business Purposes”): 

• Performing services, including maintaining or servicing accounts, providing customer service, processing or fulfilling orders and transactions, verifying customer information, processing payments, providing advertising or marketing services, providing analytics services, or providing similar services;
• Auditing related to counting ad impressions to unique visitors, verifying positioning and quality of ad impressions, and auditing compliance with this specification and other standards;
• Short-term, transient use, including, but not limited to, non-personalized advertising shown as part of a consumer’s current interaction with the business;
• Helping to ensure security and integrity to the extent the use of the consumer’s personal information is reasonably necessary proportionate for these purposes;
• Debugging to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality;
• Undertaking internal research for technological development and demonstration;
• Undertaking activities to verify or maintain the quality or safety of a service or device that is owned, manufactured, manufactured for, or controlled by us, and to improve, upgrade, or enhance the service or device that is owned, manufactured, manufactured for, or controlled by us;
• Providing advertising and marketing services, except for cross-context behavioral advertising, to the consumer, provided that for the purpose of advertising and marketing, a service provider or contractor shall not combine the personal information of opted-out consumers which the service provider or contractor receives from or on behalf of the business with personal information which the service provider or contractor receives from or on behalf of another person or persons, or collects from its own interaction with consumers.

Data Retention

We strive to limit retention of your personal information for as long as we reasonably need it to fulfill the purpose for which we have collected it and, if applicable, as long as permitted or required by legal, regulatory or industry retention requirements.

2. SOURCES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

During the 12-month period prior to the effective date of this US Notice, we may have obtained personal information about you from the following categories of sources:

• Directly from you, such as when you register for our services or subscribe to our newsletters;
• Your devices, such as when you visit our website;
• Our affiliates;
• Vendors who provide services on our behalf; 
• Our joint marketing partners;
• Our publishing partners;
• Data analytics providers;
• Government entities;
• Operating systems and platforms;
• Social networks;
• Data brokers;
• Institutional customers; or
• Cooperative Databases.

3. SALE OR SHARING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION 

We do not sell your personal information in exchange for monetary consideration.  We may allow certain third parties (such as online advertising services) to collect your personal information via automated technologies on our website for marketing or promotional purposes. We share the categories of personal information listed below for online advertising purposes. You have the right to opt-out of this disclosure of your information, which may be considered a “sale” or “sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising”, via cookie management in the privacy preference centers of each platform listed above.

Your opt-out of cookies setting would only apply to the browser and device you are currently using, as we do not attempt to link devices you use. If you clear cookies or if you use a new browser or device, your opt-out cookie may no longer be available. As a result, in those situations we may still ask that you authorize the “sale” or “sharing” of your personal information when you visit our platforms, by asking you to accept cookies even if you have previously opted-out on another device or browser. During the 12-month period prior to the effective date of this US Notice, we may have “sold” or “shared” the following categories of personal information about you to online advertising services and social networks:

• Identifiers;
• Commercial information;
• Internet or other similar network activity; and
• Inferences.

Our websites are not directed at minors, and we do not knowingly collect, much less sell or share, any personal information from minors under the age of 16. However, if the parent or the guardian of a minor under 16 years old believes that the minor has provided us with personal information, the parent or guardian of that minor should contact us at customerservice@springernature.com to request the deletion of this information from our files.

4. DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION 

During the 12-month period prior to the effective date of this US Notice, we may have shared your personal information with certain categories of third parties, as described below. For specific third party recipients, please see the applicable Privacy Policy. We may have shared  the following categories of personal information about you for a Business Purpose to the following categories of third parties:

5. CALIFORNIA CONSUMER PRIVACY RIGHTS 

You may have certain choices regarding your personal information, as described below and subject to applicable law.

Access: You have the right to request, twice in a 12-month period, that we disclose to you the personal information we have collected, used, disclosed, or shared or sold (if any) about you. 

Deletion: You have the right to request that we delete certain personal information we have collected from you. 

Opt-Out of Sale or Share: You have the right to opt-out of the sale or sharing of your personal information. 

Shine the Light Request: You also may have the right to request that we provide you with (a) a list of certain categories of personal information we have disclosed to third parties for their direct marketing purposes during the immediately preceding calendar year and (b) the identity of those third parties.

Correct Inaccurate Personal Information: You have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate personal information, taking into account the nature of the personal information and the purposes of the processing of the personal information.

Right to Limit: We do not process sensitive personal information in a way that requires us to provide the right to limit the use or disclosure of sensitive personal information.

How to Submit a Request. To submit an access, correction or deletion request or if you have any question about this notice or need to access it in an alternative format due to having a disability, please email us at customerservice@springernature.com or call us at 1-800-777-4643and indicate what you wish to access and what you wish to have deleted or corrected. 
We do not offer financial incentives for the collection, sale, or sharing of personal information, although we may offer individuals the opportunity to receive coupons or discounts via email. If you ask us to delete your information, we will not be able to send you additional coupons or discounts via email, however coupons or discounts sent to you previously will continue to be honored according to their original terms.  We will not discriminate against you if you exercise your rights under CPRA.
To the extent certain advertising technology activities (e.g., online advertising, e-commerce and related tools) are interpreted  as a “sale” or “sharing” under the CCPA, please visit the cookie preference center when you first visit a Springer Nature site to opt out of such “sale” or “sharing.” You have the ability to update your preferences at any time via the "Your Privacy Choices / Manage Cookies" link in the page footer of the same site.  
To submit a request as an authorized agent on behalf of a consumer, please send an email from the authorized agent’s email address to customerservice@springernature.com indicating the name and email address of yourself and the consumer you represent. We will respond to requests using both your email address and the represented consumer’s email address. The request must provide enough information for us to reasonably verify you are the authorized representative of the person about whom we collected personal information, and are authorized to act on such person’s behalf. For questions or concerns about our privacy policies and practices, please contact us as described in the Contacting Us section of the Privacy Policy of the website you are visiting.

Verifying Requests. To help protect your privacy and maintain security, we will take steps to verify your identity before granting you access to your personal information or complying with your request.  If you have an account with us, we may verify your identity by requiring you to sign in to your account.  If you do not have an account with us, we may require you to provide additional information reasonable enough to verify your identity.  In addition, if you do not have an account and you ask us to provide you with specific pieces of personal information, we may require you to sign a declaration under penalty of perjury that you are the consumer whose personal information is the subject of the request.

Additional Information. If you choose to exercise any of your rights under the CCPA, you have the right to not receive discriminatory treatment by us.  To the extent permitted by applicable law, we may charge a reasonable fee to comply with your verifiable consumer request, if it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.

Response Timing and Format. We will confirm receipt of your verifiable consumer request within ten (10) business days. If you do not receive confirmation within the 10-day timeframe, please contact us again. We endeavor to substantively respond to a verifiable consumer request within forty-five (45) days of its receipt. If we require more time (up to another 45 days), we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing.
If you have an account with us, we will deliver our written response to that account. If you do not have an account with us, we will deliver our written response by mail or electronically, at your option.
The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable. For data portability requests, we will select a format to provide your personal information that is readily usable and should allow you to transmit the information from one entity to another entity without hindrance.