Service operator and contact
CLIC is operated by the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, Forschungsstrasse 111, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland.
Data-protection contact: datenschutz@psi.ch.
Data we process
Depending on how you use CLIC, the service processes:
- account data such as username, email, optional name, public display name, password hash, roles, and login timestamps;
- optional public affiliation when you choose to provide one for public board or organizations-directory display;
- reviewer preferences, expertise keywords, and notification settings;
- submission contacts, files, filenames, validation results, and scientific metadata, including public author names, affiliations, and ORCIDs where provided;
- contact-form name, email address, optional organization, topic, subject, and message;
- platform issue-report email address, summary and description, plus optional name and affected-page URL, emailed to the recipient disclosed on the form;
- review assignments, recommendations, editor decisions, public comments, and restricted reports;
- bookmarks, download baskets, user-linked download/export events, and aggregate counts;
- technical and security data such as request time, IP address, errors, and session information.
CLIC does not need sensitive personal data. Do not submit credentials, identity documents, confidential personal information, or personal data unrelated to scientific attribution.
Why we process data
Data are used to operate and secure accounts; receive, validate, review, publish, and preserve scientific inventories; support discussion and moderation; prepare downloads; deliver selected notifications; answer requests; and maintain auditable platform operations.
Account data such as username, email, and optional name are used internally to run the service and keep aggregate internal usage statistics. CLIC does not disclose those account details to third parties for their own purposes.
If you choose a public display name, CLIC uses it on new public comments and improvement proposals so you do not need to expose your login username publicly.
If you provide a public affiliation, CLIC may display it on the public editorial and reviewer board or in the public organizations directory when it is linked to a published community submission.
Contact-form data are used only to route and answer the submitted enquiry. CLIC sends the message to the named managing-team recipients and does not create a database copy.
Optional notifications can be disabled from your profile.
Who can see data
Draft submissions and internal contacts are restricted to the contributor, assigned reviewers after invitation acceptance, editors, and authorized operators. Published dataset files and approved scientific metadata are public. Public author affiliations and contributor public affiliations linked to community-submitted published datasets may appear in the organizations directory. New public comments and improvement proposals display the account's chosen public display name. Legacy public activity can still reflect an older username-based label until the account is updated or pseudonymized. Reporter identities, report text, moderation notes, private contacts, and user-linked download history are not public.
Contact-form messages are visible to the named managing-team recipients and the email systems needed to deliver them. They are not published on CLIC.
Approved hosting, email, storage, and operational providers may process the minimum data necessary on PSI's behalf under documented operational controls.
Retention and account closure
CLIC retains records only for their documented operational, scientific, security, or legal purpose. CLIC is configured to remove user identity from download and generated-export events after 30 days when the scheduled maintenance task runs, while aggregate counts remain. Baskets and bookmarks are cleared when an approved account-closure request is completed.
Approved closure requests deactivate and pseudonymize the core account rather than deleting scientific, review, or moderation records through cascading deletion. Free text, backups, logs, email-provider records, and processor copies require a documented manual review.
CLIC does not store contact-form messages or platform issue reports in its database. Delivered copies can remain in sender, recipient, and email-provider systems under their applicable retention rules.
Your rights
Depending on applicable law, you may request access, correction, restriction, objection, erasure, or account closure. Signed-in users can export allowlisted CLIC account records and submit a verified request through the privacy center. If you cannot sign in, contact PSI using the address below. Requests may be limited where a documented legal, scientific-integrity, security, or third-party obligation applies.
Contact and complaints
Contact datenschutz@psi.ch for data-protection questions or requests that cannot be made through your account. You may also contact the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner where applicable.
For ordinary platform questions, use the CLIC contact form.