The JAMA & Archives Journals Web site is guided by the Principles Governing AMA Publications Web Sites (Winker MA, Flanagin A, Chi-Lum B, et al. Guidelines for medical and health information sites on the Internet: principles governing AMA Web sites. JAMA. 2000;283:1600-1606.) These guidelines were first published March 22/29, 2000. This privacy policy was updated and posted July 21, 2004.

E-mail addresses and other personal information. The JAMA & Archives Journals Web site is committed to preserving site visitors' privacy of personal information. The JAMA & Archives Journals Web site does not collect personal information from a site visitor unless that visitor explicitly and intentionally provides it.

Collection, retention, and use of personal information about site visitors may occur if you choose to interact with the JAMA & Archives Journals Web site; for example, you can choose to subscribe to JAMA & Archives Journals, receive e-mail notifications regarding JAMA & Archives Journals tables of contents, topic collections, and citation alerts whether or not you are a subscriber, or learn about new offerings from JAMA & Archives Journals. Depending on the type of product or service that you request, you may be asked to provide different personal information. The JAMA & Archives Journals Web site may require your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, credit card number, Internet protocol (IP) address, and/or other identifying information. For a specific listing of the type of personal information collected, please refer to the appropriate online form.

Should you choose to receive e-mail alerts, note that all e-mail alerts contain an "unsubscribe" option in case you want to discontinue the alert(s) at any time. If you choose to receive e-mail alerts when an article is cited by another journal ("Alert me when..." other journals cite a particular article, also known as the Cite Track function) and that journal is not part of the JAMA & Archives group of journals, your e-mail address will be sent to the participating journals. Please see those journals' privacy policies to determine how your e-mail may be used by those journals.

The JAMA & Archives Journals Web site may use your personal information collected via the Web site (in addition to the e-mail address information use outlined above) for the following purposes:

• Provide access to journal content.
• Process, fulfill, and follow-up on orders.
• Answer your e-mails.
• Send information you request.
• Send and process surveys.
• Ensure the JAMA & Archives Journals Web site is relevant to your needs.
• Notify you about new products/services, special offers, upgrades and other related information from JAMA & Archives Journals.

The JAMA & Archives Journals Web site also occasionally hires other companies to provide limited services on our behalf, including, but not limited to, packaging, mailing, and delivering purchases, answering customer questions about products or services, sending postal mail, and processing event registration. We will provide those companies only the information they need to deliver the service, and they are prohibited from using that information for any other purpose.

The JAMA & Archives Journals Web site may disclose your personal information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) conform to legal requirements or comply with legal process served on the AMA, (b) protect and defend the rights or property of AMA, or (c) protect the personal safety of AMA personnel or members of the public in urgent circumstances.

In addition to the uses identified above, if the site visitor is a physician or medical student and changes his or her personal information on the JAMA & Archives Journals Web site, that information may be incorporated into the AMA’s physician database commonly known as the Physician Masterfile. The exception to this rule is e-mail addresses; e-mail addresses provided on the JAMA & Archives Journals Web site are not incorporated into the Physician Masterfile. The AMA has licensed its Physician Masterfile to third parties for more than 50 years. This information is licensed to database licensees under strict guidelines. The names and addresses of physicians and medical students in the AMA Physician Masterfile are made available only for communications that are germane to the practice of medicine or of interest to physicians or medical students as consumers. For further information about the Physician Masterfile, click here.

Non-identifiable Web site visitor data may be collected and used in aggregate to help shape and direct the creation and maintenance of content and to determine the type of advertisement to be seen by site visitors while on the JAMA & Archives Journals Web site.

Cookies. A cookie is a small file stored on the site user's computer or Web server and is used to aid Web page navigation. Session cookies are temporary files created when a user signs in on the Web site or uses the personalized features such as purchasing temporary access to an article or site-wide access. Session cookies are removed when a user logs off or when the browser is closed. Persistent cookies are permanent files and must be deleted manually. Persistent cookies are used on the JAMA & Archives Journals Web site (1) when a user asks to save user name and password to prevent the need to enter this information again, and (2) by advertisements to identify the number of unique computers from which viewers have viewed an advertisement and to manage the number of times a viewer will see an advertisement and similar advertising efficiencies. No personally identifiable information is collected from the latter persistent cookie, and only the user name and password is collected for the former persistent cookie and the session cookie.

E-mail messages. E-mail messages sent to or from a Web site may not be secure. Confidential information should not be sent by e-mail. Site visitors sending e-mail accept the risk that a third party may intercept e-mail messages.

Updating Data. All physicians, medical students, and nonphysician JAMA & Archives Journals subscribers may review and update data by contacting the Unified Service Center at 1-800-262-2350 or 1-312-670-7827 or via e-mail at ama-subs{at}ama-assn.org. Physicians licensed in the United States may update or correct any information the AMA has on file by clicking here.

Policy Revisions. As the JAMA & Archives Journals Web site evolves over time, this Privacy Statement is expected to change as well. JAMA & Archives Journals reserve the right to amend this Privacy Policy at any time, for any reason. We will post notice that this Policy has been amended by revising the "last updated" date at the top of the Privacy Policy.

Online Policy. This Privacy Policy applies ONLY to information collected via the JAMA & Archives Journals Web site by the AMA or those AMA has hired to provide limited services on our behalf.

Credit card privacy. All credit card transactions are conducted over a secure socket layer connection. Only authorized personnel with specific identification and passwords can access credit card information solely for the purpose of performing adjustments or refunds at the customer's request.

Limitation of Liability. Neither the AMA, which owns JAMA & Archives Journals, nor any of its subsidiaries or affiliate entities, agents, employees, or subcontractors shall be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential, punitive, or exemplary damages, including lost profits (even if we are advised of the possibility) arising in any way from the information contained in this Web site or any information transmitted via this web site. The AMA is not liable for any damages or losses that may be caused to any equipment and other software due to any viruses, defects or malfunctions in connection with access or use of this Web site.

Contact us. We welcome your feedback. If you have questions or comments about our Privacy Policy, please contact us at jama-comments{at}jama-archives.org.

The Privacy Policy for AMA members who receive the journal as benefit of membership is available at www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/17270.html.