Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Dissertationist (“we”, “us”, “our”) is a UK-based academic proofreading and editing service operating from 71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom. We are the data controller for the personal information described in this policy.

This policy explains what we do with the information you give us when you request a free sample review, place an order, contact us by WhatsApp, phone or email, or simply browse this website. If anything here is unclear, contact us at info@dissertationist.co.uk and we will explain it.

2. Data We Collect

We only collect what we need to quote for, deliver and support your editorial work.

We do not deliberately collect special category data (such as health or ethnicity). Please avoid including sensitive personal information in your documents where it is not necessary for the academic work itself.

3. How We Use Your Data

• To prepare and send your free 500-word sample and a fixed quote.
• To assign a subject-matched editor and complete the proofreading work you order.
• To communicate with you about your order, deadlines, revisions and re-checks.
• To take payment, issue invoices and process refunds where they apply.
• To provide customer support and resolve complaints.
• To improve our service quality, website performance and editorial standards.
• To meet legal, accounting and tax obligations in the United Kingdom.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

• Contract — processing needed to quote for and deliver the editorial services you request.
• Legitimate interests — running, securing and improving our business, provided your rights are not overridden.
• Consent — for optional marketing messages and non-essential cookies. You may withdraw consent at any time.
• Legal obligation — retaining financial records and responding to lawful requests from authorities.

5. Your Academic Documents

Your manuscript is your intellectual property and stays that way. We use it only to carry out the editorial work you have asked for. Specifically:

• Documents are accessible only to the assigned editor, your project manager and quality control.
• All editors and staff are bound by written non-disclosure agreements.
• We never resell, republish or reuse your work, in whole or in part, for any other client.
• We never upload your document to any public similarity or content database.
• You may ask us to permanently delete every copy of your files after delivery, and we will confirm once it is done.

6. Sharing & Third Parties

We share personal data only with parties who help us deliver the service, and only as far as needed:

• Editors and proofreaders working under confidentiality agreements.
• Payment providers who process card payments securely; we never see or store your full card number.
• Hosting and IT providers who keep this website and our systems running.
• Professional advisers such as accountants and lawyers where strictly necessary.
• Authorities where we are legally required to disclose information.

Where a provider is located outside the UK, we ensure an appropriate safeguard is in place, such as UK adequacy regulations or standard contractual clauses.

7. Data Retention

• Enquiries that do not become orders — kept for up to 12 months, then deleted.
• Completed order documents — kept for up to 12 months so we can honour re-checks and disputes, unless you ask for earlier deletion.
• Financial records — kept for 6 years as required by UK tax law.
• Website technical logs — typically kept for up to 26 months.

8. Security Measures

We protect your information with encryption in transit (TLS/HTTPS) and at rest, access controls that limit files to the staff working on your order, password policies and multi-factor authentication on internal systems, and regular backups. No system can be guaranteed perfectly secure, but we take these safeguards seriously and review them regularly.

9. Cookies

This website uses a small number of cookies. Essential cookies keep the site functioning and cannot be switched off. Analytics cookies, where enabled, help us understand which pages are useful and where visitors struggle; these are only set with your consent. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, though some features may then not work as intended.

10. Your Rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

• Be told what personal data we hold about you and request a copy of it.
• Have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected.
• Ask us to erase your data where there is no ongoing legal or contractual reason to keep it.
• Restrict or object to certain processing, including direct marketing.
• Request your data in a portable, machine-readable format.
• Withdraw consent at any time where consent is the basis for processing.

To exercise any of these rights, email info@dissertationist.co.uk. We respond within one month. If you are unhappy with our response you may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

11. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for university-level students and are not directed at anyone under 16. We do not knowingly collect data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

12. Changes & Contact

We may update this policy as our services or legal obligations change. The “last updated” date at the top of this page always reflects the current version, and material changes will be highlighted on this page.