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BMJ cookie notice

BMJ cookie notice

BMJ Cookies Notice

This Cookie Policy (Policy) explains how BMJ Publishing Group Limited, a company registered in England (company number 3102371) with its registered office at BMJ, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JR (BMJ, we, our, us), uses cookies on its websites, (such as www.bmj.com, bestpractice.bmj.com, journals.bmj.com (Websites)). Those BMJ apps (Apps) that use cookies and similar technologies have their own cookie notices that are accessible through the Apps themselves.

For the purposes of applicable data protection laws in England and Wales, BMJ is the data controller of your personal data. For further information on how we process personal data, our privacy notice is linked here https://www.bmj.com/company/your-privacy/.

If you have any questions about cookies or how your personal data is used by us, you should contact the Data Protection Officer using the details below:

Post – Data Protection Lead, BMJ, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JR

Email – dataprotectionlead@bmj.com

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files which our Websites and Apps may put on your computer or mobile device when you use our Websites and Apps. Cookies are widely used by websites and applications to help remember small amounts of information and to give you a better experience using the website or application. For example, a cookie will help a website or application to recognise your device the next time you visit so you don’t have to log on again.

Certain cookies contain a limited amount of personal information. For example, if you click “remember me” when logging in, a cookie will store your username. Most cookies won’t collect information that identifies you and will instead collect more general information to help us analyse how well our Website and Apps are performing overall so we can try and improve them.

How we use cookies

BMJ uses cookies on its Website and Apps to perform different functions. These are grouped into four main categories:

Strictly necessary cookies. Some essential functions of our Websites and Apps are only possible if cookies are stored persistently between each page you look at. These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your, logging in or filling in forms so you do not have to enter your details on each page you visit. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will then not work.

Performance cookies. We utilise other cookies to analyse how our visitors use our Websites and Apps and to monitor performance.  These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources. This allows us to provide a high quality experience by customising our offering and quickly identifying and fixing any issues that arise. These cookies also help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance. When we send marketing emails to users who have chosen to receive them, we use a cookie that lets us track the success of campaigns. We may use this information to determine which of our emails are more interesting to users. 

Functional cookies.  These cookies enable the Website to provide enhanced functionality. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. The purpose of these cookies is to provide you with a more personalised experience on our site based on your previous visits and selections. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly, the services that may not function include the ability to share BMJ content through Social Media widgets, rejecting these cookies may also cause website audio and video to stop working.

Targeting and advertising cookies. In order to allow us to customise our content and advertising for you, we need to remember who you are and what you want. We use cookies to record your preferences regarding Website appearance, what content you’ve already read, and to present the information that is most relevant to you. Like most commercial publishers we also sell advertising space on some of our Websites.  These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They place cookies on your browser in order to track how many people have seen a particular ad, to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites and for other technical reasons. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

How to remove or block cookies

Your internet browser and our apps have tools that allow you to remove or block cookies. You can also specify which categories of cookies you want to accept through our cookies banner.

Last updated 25.07.22