JSTOR's Use of Cookies

JSTOR employs "cookie" technology. A cookie is simply a small piece of text, which is stored on your computer and which acts as a tool for controlling certain system variables in the WWW environment. JSTOR uses cookies to maintain information that will improve the performance of the system or benefit users in some way. Any personal information, other than what is voluntarily submitted, is not extracted in this process, and we do not use cookies to identify what other websites or pages you have visited.

JSTOR will place a cookie on your computer for three purposes:

1. To keep track of predefined customizable options

Currently, there are five customizations that can be made. You may set preferences for printing, downloading, character display, onscreen page size, and image display. These will allow you to lock in your preferred format for article delivery and display settings. Once you have set these preferences, a cookie will be stored on your computer.

2. To enable authorization for access

JSTOR sends a cookie to your computer at the beginning of a session, when you are first authorized to use JSTOR. This cookie includes a "ticket" that tells our server that you are an authorized user so that the server doesn't have to request re-authentication with every request to download pages. This improves system response time and performance. This "ticket" is used throughout your session to allow you access to our on-line resources. When you exit your WWW browser, the cookie holding your ticket will be deleted, and will not be stored on your computer.

3. To save citations

You may save article citations to a Saved Citations List, from which you can export citations in various formats for later use. JSTOR uses cookies to save citations. When you exit your WWW browser, the cookie with your saved citations will be deleted, and will not be stored on your computer.

NOTE: If you are using JSTOR from a computer that is part of the campus network of a participating institution, authorization is automatic. If you have set your browser NOT to accept cookies, you will still be able to use JSTOR, but system response time will be slower.

NOTE: If you enter JSTOR with a user ID and password, you must set your browser to accept cookies in order to use the system.

Last updated on September 8, 2006