Research.gov Web Privacy Policy

Thank you for visiting Research.gov and reviewing our privacy policy. The Research.gov web privacy policy protects the rights of individual users under section 552a of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the 'Privacy Act', and other laws relevant to the protection of the privacy of an individual). All information is gathered, stored, and used in accordance with the above-mentioned Privacy Act.

Information Collection and Use

If you are visiting Research.gov to browse through the site, read pages, or download information, we will gather and store certain information about your visit automatically. This information does not identify you personally. We automatically collect and store only the following information about your visit:

1. The Internet domain (for example, "xcompany.com" if you use a private Internet access account, or "yourschool.edu" if you connect from a university's domain) and IP address (an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are surfing the Web) from which you access our web site;
2. The type of browser and operating system used to access our site;
3. The date and time you access our site;
4. The pages you visit; and
5. If you linked to Research.gov from another web site, the address of that web site.

Research.gov is the sole owner of the information collected on our web site. Research.gov collects information at several different points on our Web site.

Information will be collected from members of the research community for the purpose of allowing Research.gov users to view the Grant Application data associated with their institutions. Users have the option to participate in this activity. If you request information or services from NSF and submit personal information to facilitate response to your request, we use the information provided to respond to your request. Pressing the "submit" button indicates your consent to use the information you provide for this purpose. We will not share the information you give us with another government agency unless your inquiry relates to that agency, or as otherwise provided by law.

In addition to the information listed above, personally identifiable information may also be collected, including: government-issued identifiers (government issued identifiers), online contact information (email address), transaction information (account transactions), user's name, user's login information, organization department user is employed by, user's business contact information, 3rd party name, 3rd party login information, organization department 3rd party is employed, 3rd party business contact information, business/organization name, department/division of business/organization and contact information for the business/organization. We use this information to complete the current transaction, contact user by email or regular mail, and enhance user's experience by customizing our site and maintain and secure our site. We retain this information as stated by our business practices.

Cookies

Research.gov uses "session cookies" to facilitate a visitor’s activity within a single session, but these cookies are not written as files to your computer’s hard drive and do not persist after you close your browser. Research.gov does not use "persistent cookies."

Profiles

Research.gov does create a user profile. User profiles are used to associate users to Grant Application information belonging to their institution.

Communications from the Site

When users provide us contact information through the website, we do not use the information to contact the user to deliver sales and product information from third party vendors.

Sharing Information

Legal Disclaimer
Although we make every effort to preserve user privacy, we may need to disclose personal information when required by law wherein we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order or legal process served on our Web site.

Personally Identifiable Information

Personally Identifiable information is not shared with any third parties.

Aggregate Information (non-personally identifiable)

Aggregate information is not shared with any third parties.

Security

Research.gov has physical security in our facilities to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of information. Our organization uses secure encryption technology (secure socket connection) for all sensitive data transmitted on our site. For website security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, NSF employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage to the information on our Web sites. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act.

Correcting/Updating/Deleting/Deactivating Personal Information

If a user's personally identifiable information changes such as zip code, phone, email or postal address they can change all information. If a user wishes to correct/update information or no longer desires our service, they can notify us of what they desire by contacting us using any of the information in the "Contact us" section of Research.gov.

Links and Advertisements

Our website contains links to other sites. We do not partner with or have special relationships with any ad server companies. Research.gov is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any other web sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every Web site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Changes to the Privacy Statement

The information you submit to us is controlled by the privacy policy in effect at the time you submit it. If we significantly change our policy, we will post a notice in a conspicuous place on our website notifying visitors of policy changes.

Contact Information

If you have questions or concerns about the Research.gov privacy policy, please contact Leslie Jensen, Office of the General Counsel, phone: 703-292-5065, email: ljensen@nsf.gov.