Advertising Policy for the Society for Scholarly Publishing
Policy
This policy, developed by approved by the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) Board of Directors ensures adherence to the ethical standards of advertising and defines the eligibility of products and services for advertising in SSP media.
SSP’s media shall not appear to be dominated by advertising and some space may not be available for sale to commercial advertisers.
The appearance of advertising in SSP media not an endorsement by SSP of the product or service. As a matter of policy, SSP will sell advertising space in its media properties when the inclusion of advertising does not interfere with the mission or objectives of SSP or its publications.
To maintain the integrity of SSP media, advertising cannot influence editorial decisions or editorial content. Advertising sales representatives have no prior knowledge of specific editorial content before it is published. SSP editors or authors are not permitted to shape content to support advertising. Digital advertisements may not be sold to be intentionally juxtaposed with, appear in line with, or appear adjacent to an article on the same topic. However, because ads rotate in various positions, adjacency may occur coincidentally or at random. SSP, at its discretion, may suppress an advertisement on a particular article page if it determines displaying the advertisement could imply a conflict of interest. In-text linking within an article to an advertisement is not permitted.
SSP, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to decline any submitted advertisement or to discontinue publication of any advertisement previously accepted, including the right to decline or cancel advertising deemed directly competitive with SSP products and services. By submitting ads for consideration, all advertisers agree to SSP’s Advertising Policy.
Products or services eligible for advertising shall be Advertising in SSP media properties is primarily for products and services germane to, effective in, and useful in the practice of scholarly communication. Advertising for products and services for the general public (direct to consumer advertising for products and services and public service advertising) is accepted for some SSP media and will be reviewed on an individual basis.
Advertisers on SSP websites receive only aggregated data about responses to advertisements. No personal information is released. Such data may include the number of impressions (views) and the number of clickthroughs to an advertiser’s site.
Advertisements will not be accepted if they:
- contain unsubstantiated claims;
- are deceptive or misleading;
- are offensive in either text or artwork, or contain attacks or derogations of a personal, racial, sexual, or religious nature, or are demeaning or discriminatory toward an individual or group on the basis of age, sex, race, ethnicity, religion, physical appearance, or disability;
- promote alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, recreational drugs, or any illegal products;
- falsely imply a sponsor relationship or other relationship between the advertiser and SSP;
- or are made to look and read like editorial content (advertorials/native content).
SSP is not responsible for content on other sites reached by click-throughs from advertisements on SSP media nor for any information requested by the producers of such non-SSP websites after a click through.
Digital Ad Guidelines
Digital advertisements must be readily distinguishable from editorial content in format and appearance and the word “Advertisement” must be displayed.
Viewers will not be sent to a commercial site unless they choose to do so by clicking on an advertisement. Advertisements may link off-site to a commercial website, however, they shall not prevent the viewer from returning to the SSP publication or other previously viewed screens, and shall not redirect the viewer to a website the viewer did not intend to visit. SSP reserves the right to not link to or to remove links to other websites. The website URL to which the advertisement links must clearly display the organization sponsoring the website and must not require registration of personal information before reaching the website.
Digital advertisements may appear as static, rotating, or animated advertisements. Expanding, audio, and video advertisements are prohibited.
All advertising must be reviewed and approved by SSP staff. Such review will include the website landing page to which the advertisement links.
