Terms of Use

1. These Terms of Use govern the use of the MDPI websites or any other MDPI online services you access. This includes any updates or releases thereof. By using our online services, you are legally bound by and hereby consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. These Terms of Use form a contract between MDPI AG, registered at Grosspeteranlage 5, 4052 Basel, Switzerland (“MDPI”) and you as the user (“User”). These Terms of Use shall be governed by and construed in accordance with Swiss law, applicable at the place of jurisdiction of MDPI in Basel, Switzerland.

2. Unless otherwise stated, the website and affiliated online services are the property of MDPI and the copyright of the website belongs to MDPI or its licensors. You may not copy, hack or modify the website or online services, or falsely claim that some other site is associated with MDPI. You agree not to use the website in any manner that violates any applicable laws, these Terms of Use or infringes the intellectual property of, or interferes with any other rights of, MDPI and third parties. Any use of this website in violation of these principles may give rise to civil claims, a claim for damages and/or result in criminal proceedings being taken against you. MDPI is a registered brand protected by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property.

3. Unless otherwise stated, articles published on the MDPI websites are labeled as “Open Access” and licensed by the respective authors in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license. Within the limitations mentioned in §4 of these Terms of Use, the “Open Access” license allows for unlimited distribution and reuse as long as appropriate credit is given to the original source and any changes made compared to the original are indicated.

4. Some articles published on this website (especially articles labeled as “Review” or similar) may make use of copyrighted material for which the author(s) have obtained a reprint permission from the copyright holder. Usually such reprint permissions do not allow author(s) and/or MDPI to further license the copyrighted material. The licensing described in §3 of these terms and conditions are therefore not applicable to such kind of material enclosed within articles. It is the user’s responsibility to identify reusability of material provided on this website, for which he may take direct contact with the authors of the article.

5. You may register or otherwise create a user account, user name or password (your “Registration”) that allows you to access or receive certain content and/or to participate or utilize certain features of our online service, including features in which you interact with us or other users. You represent and warrant that the information provided in your registration is accurate to the best of your knowledge. You are responsible for the use of any password you create as part of your registration and for maintaining its confidentiality, and you agree that MDPI may use this password to identify you. We reserve the right to deny, terminate or restrict your access to any content or feature reached via such registration process for any reason, at our sole discretion. MDPI reserves the right to block or to terminate the user’s access to the website at any time and without prior notice.

6. The MDPI website and online services may provide links to other websites or external resources. As part of these Terms of Use, you acknowledge that MDPI is not responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources, and that MDPI is not liable for any content, services, advertising, or materials available from such external sites or resources.

7. The website may contain advertising. MDPI does not endorse any responsibility of any kind for the content of the advertisement or sponsorship or the advertised product or service, which is the responsibility of the advertiser or sponsor, unless the advertised product or service is offered by MDPI.

8. There is no warranty for the website and its content, to the extent permitted by applicable law. MDPI, the copyright holders and/or other parties provide the website and its content “as is” without representations or warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, satisfactory quality and fitness for a particular purpose relating to this website, its content or any to which it is linked. No representations or warranties are given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information provided on this website, or any website to which it is linked. The content available on this website is for information purposes only. It does not constitute advice or a binding offer. Any liability for possible damages resulting from the use of the website or information available on it is excluded.

9. In no event, unless required by applicable law shall MDPI, its employees, agents, suppliers, contractors or any other party, be liable to the user for any damages of any nature, including any general, special, incidental or consequential damages, loss, cost, claim or any expense of any kind arising out of the use, inability to access, or in connection with the use of the website, its content and information, even if the user has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

10. MDPI reserves the right to change these Terms of Use at any time by posting changes to this page of the website without prior notice. Please check these Terms of Use periodically for any modifications. Your continued use of any Service following the posting of any changes will mean that you have accepted and agreed to the changes. MDPI expressly reserves the right to amend, supplement, delete or temporarily or definitively cease publication of parts of the website or the entire website without prior notice.

11. Basel, Switzerland shall be the place of jurisdiction for all legal disputes arising of these Terms of Use, even if the Customer has her/his domicile outside of Switzerland.

12. Swiss law applicable at the place of jurisdiction of MDPI shall apply exclusively.

13. If any provisions of the Terms of Use should be found invalid, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. In any such case, the contracting parties shall negotiate on the invalid clause to substitute by a valid arrangement as close as possible to the original provision

Terms of Use of MDPI (pdf)

These Terms of Use were last updated on 15 March 2023