Terms and conditions

Nature Research Group Terms and Conditions - July 2016

These Terms and Conditions shall apply to all Advertisements submitted to NRG. An Advertisement submitted to NRG for publication shall not be deemed to have been accepted unless and until either confirmed in writing by NRG or the campaign commences and the first Advertisement appears in the relevant NRG Publication. By submitting an Advertisement to NRG, the Customer agrees to be bound by these Terms and Conditions and the Rate Card, even if it is acting as agent or buyer for the actual advertiser. For the avoidance of doubt, the Customer’s standard terms and conditions of purchase or any other standard terms and conditions shall not apply.

1. DEFINITIONS

In these terms and conditions the following definitions shall apply:

"Actual Advertisement Placements" means the actual number of placements of an Advertisement in any NRG Publication in any 12 month period preceding any anniversary of the Publication Date;

"Advertisement" means an advertisement published, reproduced or inserted in or on any Journal, E-Mail Campaign or Digital Format pursuant to an Advertisement Order;

"Advertisement Order" means any order for an Advertisement submitted to NRG for the publication, reproduction or insertion of Material in or on any NRG Publication;

"Digital Format" means any internet site, application or other digital format operated, owned or controlled by NRG or any third party partner of NRG comprising its partner network;

"Expected Advertisement Placements" means the expected number of placements of an Advertisement in any NRG Publication used to calculate the rates (prior to the Publication Date) the Customer will pay NRG;

"Customer" means the person or legal entity who submits an Advertisement Order, whether such person or legal entity is the advertiser of the relevant product or service, the Advertiser's advertising agency, media buyer, or a recruiter representing a prospective employer;

"E-Mail Campaign" means any e-mail campaign undertaken by or on behalf of NRG;

"Journal" means any journal or other print publication published by or on behalf of NRG;

"Publication Date" means the date the Customer’s Advertisement is first published in a NRG Publication;

"NRG" means the contracting entity set out on the invoice(s) submitted to the Customer by NRG, being Nature Research Group, a division of either:

  • Springer Nature Limited (company number 785998), registered in England whose registered office is at The Campus, 4 Crinan Street, London N1 9XW United Kingdom; or
  • Springer Nature America Inc. of 1 New York Plaza, Suite 4500, New York, NY, 10004-1562 USA; or
  • Nature Japan K.K. of Springer Nature, Shiroyama Trust Tower 5F, 4-3-1 Toranomon, Minato-Ku, Tokyo 105-6005 Japan.

"NRG Publication" means any Journal, Digital Format or E-mail Campaign;

"Material" means any advertising material/copy, artwork, photographs or other material provided or to be provided by the Customer in connection with the Advertisement Order;

"Rate Card" means the rate card of NRG as amended by NRG from time to time in accordance with clause7.12;

"Terms and Conditions" means the terms and conditions set out on this page as amended by NRG from time to time in accordance with clause 7.12.

2. PUBLICATION OF ADVERTISEMENTS

2.1. The Customer grants NRG an irrevocable, world-wide, royalty-free licence to reproduce, publish and republish the Advertisement within the relevant NRG Publication (irrespective of the medium or platform in or on which it is published) in accordance with the provisions of the Advertisement Order.

2.2. NRG may reject, refuse, omit, postpone, cancel, or require changes to the whole or part of any Material, Advertisement Order or Advertisement submitted for insertion into a NRG Publication at any time, whether or not it has accepted the Advertisement Order, including the dates for publication and positioning of the Advertisement, or to accept the Advertisement Order subject to additional conditions which will be notified by NRG to the Customer.

2.3. The Customer shall submit all Advertisements to NRG in accordance with NRG’s then current technical specifications (as may be updated from time to time), the current version of which is available on request;

2.4. Save to the extent caused by its negligence, NRG shall not be responsible for any error or omission in the insertion of any Advertisement, or for any damage or loss of any copy, electronic files, data, drawings or other materials supplied for the purpose of an Advertisement or any shrinkage or colour alteration that may occur during the normal course of production.

2.5. It is the Customer's responsibility to ensure that all Advertisements are correct, accurate and not misleading. NRG accepts no responsibility for any errors in an Advertisement including (without limitation) any errors which arise as a result of any changes or alterations undertaken by NRG at the Customer’s request. In respect of any Advertisement in a Journal, in the event of an error in a published Advertisement as a result of a material typographical error caused by NRG, NRG agrees to re-run the Advertisement free of charge in the next available edition of such Journal.

2.6. The Customer acknowledges and agrees that any Advertisements published on any Digital Format may be available on NRG’s network of partner Digital Formats. NRG reserves the right to add or remove a partner Digital Format from its partner network, at its sole discretion. NRG hereby disclaims all responsibility and liability for the services, software and/or results of or provided by any of the Digital Formats comprising NRG’s partner network.

3. WARRANTIES

3.1. The Customer contracts with NRG as a principal and warrants and represents to the NRG that:

3.1.1. it has full capacity and authority to enter into a binding contract with NRG on the provisions of these Terms and Conditions.

3.1.2. all information and Material supplied to NRG is true, accurate and not misleading, and nothing contained in it is liable to bring NRG or any NRG Publication into disrepute;

3.1.3. the Material is not obscene, defamatory, fraudulent, misleading or libelous, and shall not give cause, whether directly or indirectly, for any action to be brought against NRG for libel, fraud or publication of a false or misleading statement;

3.1.4. the Material will not infringe the intellectual property rights or any other rights (including without limitation any right of privacy or confidence) whatsoever of any third party or unfairly prejudice the legitimate interest of any third party by implication or otherwise;

3.1.5. the Material complies with all applicable legislation, laws, regulations and codes of practice (or similar);

3.1.6. the Material complies with the requirements from time to time of English financial services legislation both as to content and authorisation (including but not limited to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000);

3.1.7. the Material complies with the Committee of Advertising Practice’s British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing and all other codes under the general supervision of the Advertising Standards Authority or any successor body (as may be amended from time to time) and that without limitation all material included within an Advertisement is accurate, legal, decent, honest and truthful;

3.1.8. it shall not represent to any third party that NRG in any way endorses the Customer, the Advertisement and/or the Customer’s products or services;

3.1.9. it shall ensure that all Advertisements submitted for publication are clearly recognisable as advertising and not designed to resemble editorial content. Where an Advertisement resembles editorial content or advertorial, the Customer warrants that the Advertisement and the Material complies with NRG's guidelines concerning advertisements that resemble editorial content which are available to the Customer on request;

3.1.10. where an Advertisement includes a competition, prize draw or similar promotion, the Material complies with, and the competition, prize draw or promotion shall be conducted by the Customer, in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations, and the Customer shall be responsible for the provision of all prizes;

3.1.11. the Material shall not indicate an intention to discriminate on grounds of sex, race, religion or belief, disability, ethnic origin, age or sexual orientation (unless such an Advertisement is exempted from any statutory requirements relating to such forms of discrimination and the Customer notifies NRG of the applicability of such an exemption at the time when the Advertisement Order is submitted to NRG);

3.1.12. the Material shall not cause disruption to any computer, computer system, network or any Digital Format, and shall be free from viruses or malicious code;

3.1.13. the Material shall not be prejudicial or damaging to the reputation of NRG or the NRG Publications;

3.1.14. it shall provide NRG with all necessary Material by the date notified by NRG to the Customer, such date being of the essence. If the Customer fails to provide such Material by such date, the Customer acknowledges and agrees that NRG may not be able to fulfil its obligations under the Advertisement Order or these Terms and Conditions and accepts that NRG will not be liable for any such failure to any extent or at all;

3.1.15. it shall not without the prior permission of NRG embed any tracking device, cookies, beacon, floodlight or other technological device in or as part of an Advertisement published on any Digital Format that enables the Customer to track or analyse the online behaviour of any user to which such Advertisement is served; and

3.1.16. it has all necessary rights, licences and consents (including where necessary regulatory consents and consents from persons or entities cited or quoted in the Material) needed to permit NRG to use, display, reproduce, insert or publish the Material pursuant to clause 2.1.

3.2. The Publisher warrants to the Customer that it shall use reasonable care and skill in carrying out its obligations under these Terms and Conditions. Except as otherwise expressly provided herein, all conditions, warranties, terms, prior representations, and undertakings express or implied, statutory or otherwise in respect of the services provided hereunder by NRG are to the fullest extent permitted by law expressly excluded.

3.3. Without limiting clause 3.2, the Customer agrees and acknowledges that NRG makes no representation or warranty:

3.3.1. that any publication of any Advertisement will be confined to persons resident in any particular legal jurisdiction(s);

3.3.2. as to the exact number of page impressions that will be delivered on specific dates during an online campaign;

3.3.3. as to the quality of reproduction of Advertisements in any of the NRG Publications;

3.3.4. the exact layout and format of any NRG Publications which shall be in the discretion of NRG;

3.3.5. as to the availability of any Digital Format,
and in each case NRG accepts no liability to the Customer in respect of the same.

4. LIABILITY AND INDEMNITY

4.1. Nothing in this clause 4 shall be construed as excluding or limiting NRG’s liability for death or personal injury caused by its negligence or fraud.

4.2. Subject to clause 4.1, NRG shall not be liable to the Customer in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise for any indirect, consequential or special loss or any loss of Material, loss of profits, loss of business, loss of contracts, loss of orders, loss of revenue, loss of goodwill, loss of data or loss of anticipated savings.

4.3. Subject to clause 4.1, the liability of NRG in respect of any and all other claims (whether in contract or tort) arising out of or in connection with an Advertisement or Advertisement Order shall not exceed the amount the Customer has paid NRG in connection with that Advertisement or Advertisement Order.

4.4. The Customer agrees to on demand fully indemnify and keep fully indemnified NRG, its directors, agents and employees against any and all losses, liabilities, costs, claims, damages, demands, expenses and fees (including but without limitation legal and other professional fees) suffered or incurred by NRG arising out of or in connection with:

4.4.1. any other breach of these Terms and Conditions by the Customer; or

4.4.2. any actual or potential infringement of a third party’s intellectual property rights;

4.4.3. the publication by NRG of an Advertisement in accordance with an Advertisement Order.

5. Payment

5.1. The Customer shall pay NRG for all Advertisements submitted to NRG (and which are accepted by NRG) in accordance with this clause 5.

5.2. Rates for Advertisements are specified in the Rate Card or as may otherwise be agreed and/or notified in writing to the Customer from time to time. All rates are exclusive of VAT (or any other sales tax) which shall be due and payable by the Customer to NRG in addition.

5.3. Unless otherwise agreed by NRG in writing, NRG shall invoice the Customer for all amounts as they become due, which shall be after the date of first publication of the applicable Advertisement.

5.4. The Customer shall pay all invoices within 30 days of the date of the invoice.

5.5. Without prejudice to any other rights or remedies that NRG may have, if the Customer fails to pay NRG on the due date for payment, NRG may:

5.5.1. claim interest under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 and the Customer shall pay the interest immediately on demand; and

5.5.2. remove any and all Advertisements NRG may have in any NRG Publications until payment has been made in full.

5.6. If, on the anniversary of the Publication Date and where applicable:

5.6.1. the number of Actual Advertisement Placements is less than the number of Expected Advertisement Placements for the preceding 12 month period, the Customer shall not be entitled to a refund of any amount from NRG;

5.6.2. the number of Actual Advertisement Placements is greater than the number of Expected Advertisement Placements for the preceding 12 month period, NRG shall apply the relevant rate (as set out in the Rate Card) applicable to the number of Actual Advertisement Placements. In the event that the Customer still owes any amount to NRG (notwithstanding the application of a lower rate pursuant to the Rate Card), NRG may invoice the Customer for such amount which shall be payable by the Customer in accordance with clause 5.4

5.7. The Customer may terminate any Advertisement in accordance with clause 6.1. The Customer has no other rights of cancellation. In the event that the Customer cancels an Advertisement other than in accordance with clause 6, the Customer acknowledges and agrees that it shall remain fully liable to pay to NRG for the Advertisement.

5.8. NRG reserves the right to change the rates in the Rate Card at any time and to publish the amended rates on nature.com. The then current prevailing Rate Card is available to the Customer on request from the NRG advertising department.

6. Cancellation

6.1. Once an Advertisement Order has been accepted by NRG, the Customer may only cancel or alter the Advertisement, the Materials or the Advertisement Order up to 8 weeks from the agreed insertion date of the Advertisement in the relevant NRG Publication. On the expiry of this date, the written consent of NRG is required for any and all cancellation or alteration pursuant to this clause 6.1. If such consent is not granted then the Customer will be liable for all sums due to NRG pursuant to clause 5.7.

6.2. Without prejudice to any other rights or remedies which NRG may have, NRG may terminate the contract between it and the Customer (without any liability) immediately on giving notice to the Customer in the event that if:

6.2.1. the Customer fails to pay any amount due to NRG on or by the due date for payment; or

6.2.2. the Customer commits a material breach of any of the material Terms and Conditions; or

6.2.3. the Customer repeatedly breaches any of these Terms and Conditions in such a manner as to reasonably justify the opinion that its conduct is inconsistent with it having the intention or ability to give effect to these Terms and conditions; or

6.2.4. the Customer enters into liquidation whether compulsorily or voluntarily (otherwise than for the purposes of a solvent amalgamation or reconstruction); becomes insolvent; ceases or threatens to cease to carry on business; compounds or makes any voluntary arrangement with its-creditors; becomes subject to an administration order; is unable to pay its debts as they fall due; has an encumbrancer take possession of, or a receiver or administrative receiver appointed over, all or any part of its assets; takes or suffers any similar action due to debt; or if the equivalent of any of the above events under the law of any jurisdiction occurs in relation to the Buyer.

7. General

7.1. NRG reserves the right to place the word "Advertisement" in any Advertisement containing Material which NRG considers, in its sole opinion, to too closely resemble editorial content.

7.2. With the exception of the Customer’s payment obligations, neither NRG nor the Customer shall be liable to each other for any failure to comply with the provisions of these Terms and Conditions as a result of any event beyond the reasonable control of either of them.

7.3. Any notice or correspondence required to be given under these Terms and Conditions may be delivered personally or sent by prepaid registered post to the other party at the addresses set out in the Advertisement Order, or such other address as may be notified in accordance to the other party from time to time. Any notice so sent shall be deemed to have been duly given upon delivery at the address of the relevant party.

7.4. If any provision of these Terms and Conditions is held for any reason to be ineffective or unenforceable (in whole or in part) this shall not affect the validity or enforceability of the other Terms and Conditions set out herein, which shall remain in full force and effect.

7.5. A waiver by NRG of any breach if these Terms and Conditions will not be treated as a waiver of any subsequent breach of the same or any other provision by the Customer.

7.6. No third party shall have any rights to enforce these Terms and Conditions against NRG.

7.7. These Terms and Conditions and the Rate Card (both as amended from time to time in accordance with clause 7.12) shall constitute the entire agreement between the parties with regard to its subject matter and shall supersede all prior understandings, commitments and undertakings that either party may have given.

7.8. The contract between the Customer and NRG is personal to the Customer. The Customer may not assign, sub-license, sub-contract, transfer or charge the contract or any part of it without the prior written consent of NRG.

7.9. If NRG’s invoice(s) submitted to the Customer indicate that NRG’s contracting entity is Nature America, Inc. then these terms and conditions shall be governed by the laws of the State of New York without regards to any conflict of law provisions. Subject to clause 7.11, the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in New York, New York.

7.10. If NRG’s invoice(s) submitted to the Customer indicate that NRG’s contracting entity is either Springer Nature Limited or Nature Japan KK (or it is unclear or ambiguous having regard to such invoice(s)) then these terms and conditions will be subject to the laws of England and Wales. Subject to clause 7.11, the Customer and NRG acknowledge and agree that the courts of the England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any such dispute which may arise out of these Terms and Conditions and shall submit all disputes to the jurisdiction of those courts.

7.11. Notwithstanding the provisions of clauses 7.9 and 7.10, for NRG’s exclusive benefit and to the extent possible in the applicable jurisdiction, NRG retains the right to bring or enforce proceedings as to the substance of the matter in the courts of the country of the Customer’s residence or, where these Terms are entered into in the course of the Customer’s trade or profession, the country of the place of business in which these Terms were agreed to or (if different) the country of Customer’s principal place of business.

7.12. NRG may from time to time modify these Terms and Conditions or the Rate Card by publishing any changes online. The Customer should check online before placing an Advertisement Order since by placing an order for the insertion of an Advertisement, the Customer agrees to be bound by any updates to such Terms and Conditions or Rate Card.

7.13. No variation or addition to these Terms and Conditions without the prior written consent of NRG shall be effective unless agreed to in writing by NRG and any additional terms the Customer may seek to impose shall be void and/or unenforceable.

7.12 NRG may from time to time offer Advertisement discounts for paid-up members of the British Dental Association in the British Dental Journal. Any such discount is subject to NRG’s sole discretion and NRG may without prior notice, withdraw any such discount for cause, which includes a) abuse of the system, b) unreasonable use (in the opinion of NRG) and c) for commercial purposes other than recruitment for that member’s practice (no agencies).

7.13 NRG may from time to time modify these Terms and Conditions or the Rate Card by publishing any changes online. The Customer should check online before placing an Advertisement Order since by placing an order for the insertion of an Advertisement, the Customer agrees to be bound by any updates to such Terms and Conditions or Rate Card.

7.14. No variation or addition to these Terms and Conditions without the prior written consent of NRG shall be effective unless agreed to in writing by NRG and any additional terms the Customer may seek to impose shall be void and/or unenforceable.