Website Terms and Conditions

The website and other BMJ Group websites which link to this page are owned by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited (“BMJ Group”) and its co-owners and licensors. Find out more about the BMJ Group.

Use of our websites

Please read the following Website Terms and Conditions, which relate to information regarding general use of our websites. By using our websites, you are agreeing to these Terms and Conditions whether as a guest or registered user. By using our sites you are indicating you accept these terms of use and that you agree to abide by them. From time to time we may change these Terms and Conditions, and will post revisions on this website. We recommend that you read these Terms and Conditions prior to using our sites and thereafter regularly review any chamges and you are responsible for doing so.

If you have purchased a licence, subscription or otherwise entered into an agreement with us (for example as a delegate at a conference) you will also be governed by the terms of that agreement, which shall prevail in the event of a conflict. Online purchases have additional terms and conditions relating to the transaction as indicated on the relevant website.

Privacy

Use of the data that you provide us, or which is collected by use on our websites, is governed by our Privacy Policy. By using our site(s) you consent to such processing.

Access to BMJ Group websites

We try to ensure that website availability is uninterrupted and that transmissions will be error-free. However, we cannot, guarantee that your access will not be suspended or restricted from time to time, including to allow for repairs, maintenance or the introduction of new facilities or services. We of course try to limit the frequency and duration of any suspension or restriction.

Accounts and passwords

If you have registered or subscribed to a BMJ Group website, any user identification code or password must be kept confidential and used only by you (unless agreed in writing with the BMJ Group). We have the right to disable any user identification code or password whether chosen by you or allocated by us at any time if in our option you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these terms of use.

Intellectual property rights

The content, layout, design, data, databases and graphics on this website are protected by UK and other international intellectual property laws and are owned by the BMJ Group or is Licensors. Unless expressly permitted in writing a licence agreement and other than printing a small proportion of content or displaying this on your screen or both, (strictly for your personal non-commercial use), no part of the website may be reproduced, stored in any medium, including but not limited to a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, broadcasting nor,shown in public. You may not create any derivative work or make any other adaptation, without our prior written consent. You must not modify the copies you have displayed or printed in any way and you may not use any illustrations, photographs, videos or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text. Any permitted use of our material is subject to ensuring that our copyright notices and trade marks appear as they do on all copies online and customary bibliographical citations including author attribution, date article title (where applicable) and the URL to the relevant BMJ Group website are included. If you print off or download any material from our website(s) in breach of thes terms of use, your right to use our site(s) will cease immediately and you must at our option return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made. All rights not expressly granted in these terms or any express written licence, are reserved.

The BMJ Publishing Group Limited trademarks and logos which are displayed on the website are the trademarks of the BMJ Publishing Group Limited and its Licensors. Any use including framing, metatags or other text utilising the BMJ Publishing Group Limited's trademarks or other trademarks displayed, is strictly prohibited without our (or our Licensor's) express written consent.

Any material you upload to our sites will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary (unless otherwise stated on the site) and we have the right to use, copy, distribute and disclose to third parties any such material for any purpose. We also have the right to disclose your identity to ay third party who is claiming that any material posted or uploaded by you to our site constitutes a violation of their intellectal property rights, or of their right to privacy.

Permission for use of our intellectual property

Any request for permission of our content or images, or other use of our intellectual property not authorised under a subscription, should be made using the contact us form. For BMJ Journals we recommend you first visit: http://journals.bmj.com/misc/permissions.dtl. If however the request relates to an item published before a full text was online you must use the permission request form at http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/permissions. BMJ Journals reprint requests should be made via http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform.

Links

Our websites contain links including hyperlinks which may take you outside BMJ Group websites. Links are provided for your convenience, and an inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement or approval by us of the linked website, its operator or content. We have no control over the contents or functionality of those sites and accept no responsibility for any loss or damages that may arise from your use of them. We are not responsible for any website outside the BMJ Group websites, and such websites use will be subject to relevant terms and conditions and privacy policies.

You may link to articles or the home page of the BMJ or BMJ Journals websites otherwise you must not deep link to any of our websites or link to our home pages without our agreement in writing. You may not provide a link which suggests a form of association, approval or endorsement on our part, unless we have expressly agreed to this in writing. We reserve the right to withdraw any linking permission upon notice to you or by amending these terms and conditions.

Disclaimers and limitations of liability

i) Disclaimers
Description or reference to a product or publication does not imply endorsement of that product or publication, unless it is owned by the BMJ Group and in which case it is subject to the disclaimers limitations of liability herein and within any licence or other agreement with you the latter of which shall prevail in the event of a conflict. The material and information displayed on our websites is provided without any guarantees, conditions or warranties as to accuracy.

BMJ Best Treatments
BMJ Best Treatments is designed for non medically trained individuals. It does not offer medical advice and should not be seen as a replacement for consultation with a doctor or other health professional. The articles and information on the BMJ Best Treatments website are designed for you to help talk to your doctor not to be used instead of seeing your doctor.

Categories presented in BMJ Best Treatments indicate a judgement about the strength of evidence and the relevant importance of benefits and risks. We rely on our authors to confirm accuracy. Readers should be aware that professionals in the field may have different opinions. Also there are regular advances in medical research. Our categories do not indicate whether a particular treatment is generally appropriate or whether it is suitable for an individual

BMJ Clinical Evidence
The information contained in this publication is intended for medical professionals. Categories presented in BMJ Clinical Evidence indicate a judgement about the strength of the evidence available to our authors prior to publication and the relevant importance of benefit and harms. We rely on our authors to confirm the accuracy of the information presented to describe generally accepted practices. Readers should be aware that professionals in the field may have different opinions. Because of this fact and because of regular advances in medical research we strongly recommend that readers independently verify specified treatments and drugs including manufacturers guidance. Also, the categories do not indicate whether a particular treatment is generally appropriate or whether it is suitable for a particular individual. Ultimately it is the readers responsibility to make their own professional judgements, so to appropriately advise and treat their patients. Opinions posted on BMJ Clinical Evidence are those of the individuals and not the views of the BMJ Group

BMJ Updates
The information contained in BMJ Updates is intended for medical professionals. BVMJ Updates provides an educational service for practising clinicians, designed to alert clinicians to important new research; however we cannot warrant its accuracy. It is intended to support evidence based decision making, by providing links to published research reports about the diagnosis, treatment, preduction and prognosis, etilogy and economics of medical conditions. However, “evidence does not make decisions”. Clinicians making decisions about the care of their patients must take into account the limitations of evidence from research as well as the unique nature of their patients’ circumstances and wishes. Readers should also be aware that professionals in the field may have different opinions. Because of this fact and also because of regular advances in medical research, we strongly recommend that readers independently verify any information they chose to rely on. Ultimately it is the readers responsibility to make their own professional judgements.

BMJ Updates attempts to provide access to the best new research of relevance for clinical practice in the fields of primary medical care and sub specialties of internal medicine. It does not report all research but uses explicit criteria (http://www.acpjc.org/shared/purpose_and_procedure.htm) to define a subset of published researchj that is likely to be valid and ready for clinical attention. Practising physicians then provide their assessments of the relevance and newsworthiness of the reports through an online review process, the McMaster Online Rating of Evidence (MORE, http://hiru.mcmaster.ca/MORE). Individual clinicans who then receive these reviews must then apply their own judgement concerning the strength and applicability of this evidence to their own patients.

BMJ, Student BMJ, BMJ Journals, BMJ Careers and BMJ Health Intelligence
We rely on our authors of articles, contractors and third party data providers to confirm the accuracy of information presented and to describe generally accepted practices and therefore we as the publisher and editors cannot warrant its accuracy. Readers should be aware that professionals in the field may have different opinions. Because of this fact and also because of regular advances in medical research we strongly recommend that readers independently verify any information that they chose to rely upon. Ultimately it is the readers responsibility to make their own professional judgements. Opinions posted on Rapid Responses, the Advice Zone international experience and any other parts of the sites are not of those of the individuals posting them and not the views of the BMJ Group.

BMJ Masterclasses and BMJ Conferences (including International Forum on Quality and Safety in Health Care)
We do not confirm the accuracy of any information contained on these websites, including the accuracy of any speakers content or presentations and dates or venues for events.

ii) Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, BMJ Group and its editors and third parties providing services for us expressly exclude:

1. all conditions, warranties and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law or the law of equity;
2. any liability for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage incurred by any user in connection with the information contained on or use or inability to use or result of the use of our website(s), any websites linked to it and any material posted on it, including without limitation any liability for loss of income or revenue, loss of business, loss of profits or contracts, loss of anticipated savings, loss of data, loss of goodwill, wasted management or office time and for any other loss or damage of any kind, however arising and whether caused by tort (including negligence), breach of contract or otherwise, even if foreseeable.

Nothing in this provision affects our or our contractors liability for death or personal injury arising from our (or their) negligence nor our (or their) liability for fradulent misreprsentation or misrepresentation as to a fundamental matter nor any other liability which cannot be excluded or limited under an applicable law. This does not affect your statutory rights.

Your conduct

You must not use the website in any way that causes or is likely to cause the website or access to it to be interrupted, damaged or impaired in any way. You understand that you are solely responsible for all electronic communications and contents sent from your computer to us. You must use the website for lawful purposes only. You must not use the website for any of the following:

• Fraudulent purposes in connection with a criminal offence or otherwise unlawful activity
• To send, use or re-use any material that is illegal, offensive, abusive, indecent, harmful, defamatory, obscene or menacing; or in breach of copyright, trademark, confidence, privacy or any other right; or is otherwise injurious to third parties; or objectionable; or which consists of or contains software viruses, trojan horses, worms, time bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware, political campaigning, commercial solicitation, chain letters, mass mailings or any spam
• To cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety
• To reproduce, duplicate, copy or resell any part of our site in contravention with these terms of use.

Governing law

These Terms and Conditions shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales, whose courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction, although we retain the right to bring proceedings against you for breach of these conditions in your country of residence or other relevant country.

View our Website Terms and Conditions as a PDF.