Terms of Use

In force since November 7, 2026. These terms govern your use of ScholarFolk at https://scholarfolk.com, operated by ScholarFolk ("we"). By creating an account or continuing to use the service you accept them. Read them together with the Privacy Notice.

1. The service

ScholarFolk is an academic social platform. It lets you keep a researcher profile, list publications, publish posts and articles, share photos, stories and videos, exchange direct messages and follow other members. The service is provided as a public beta; features may change, be added or be removed.

2. Who may use it

You must be at least 18 years old. You confirm your age when you join, and we may ask you to verify it where the law requires this. We close accounts that belong to people under 18. You must provide accurate information and keep your sign-in methods secure. One person may hold one account. Organisations may hold an account for their official communications if a named person is responsible for it.

3. Your account

• Sign-in works through one-time e-mail links, ORCID or Google. Keep access to your e-mail account and, if you enable it, to your authenticator app and recovery codes.
• You are responsible for everything published from your account. Tell us immediately if you suspect unauthorised use; you can sign out all devices from Settings > Security.
• Linking an ORCID iD only records that you control that iD. It does not certify your identity, affiliation or expertise, and we never claim otherwise on your behalf.

4. Your content

You keep all rights to the content you publish. So that we can run the service, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to store, reproduce, adapt (for example to create thumbnails, image variants and video renditions), display and distribute your content to the audience you choose, for as long as the content remains on the service. The licence ends when you delete the content or your account, except for copies in backups that are rotated within 35 days, and content that other members have legitimately reshared within the service.

You confirm that you have the rights needed to publish your content and that it does not infringe the rights of others.

5. Publications and bibliographic data

Bibliographic metadata (titles, author lists, venues, identifiers) is factual information shared across the service. When several members list the same work, they share one record; your personal notes and corrections stay attached to your profile. Listing a work does not grant access to its full text. Do not upload copyrighted full texts you are not entitled to share. Metrics such as citation counts are shown only when they come from a stated source; we do not invent them.

6. Acceptable use

Do not:

• harass, threaten, defame or impersonate anyone, or publish private information about others without their consent,
• publish content that is unlawful where you are or where it is directed, including hate speech, incitement, sexual content involving minors or content that glorifies violence,
• misrepresent research results, fabricate data or present the labels "opinion", "question", "announcement" and "method" as peer review outcomes,
• send spam, use the service for advertising without permission, or operate automated accounts without identifying them as such,
• interfere with the service, probe its security, scrape data at scale or circumvent access controls and rate limits,
• upload malware or files designed to damage devices or data,
• infringe intellectual property rights, including by uploading paywalled articles you are not allowed to distribute.

Members can report content and accounts. Moderators may remove content, restrict features, suspend or terminate accounts for violations, and record the action. You may ask for a review of a moderation decision through the contact address below.

7. Intellectual property notices

If you believe content on the service infringes your copyright or other rights, write to the contact address published on this page with: the work concerned, the location of the infringing content, your contact details and a statement that you act in good faith and are authorised to act. We will respond, and where appropriate remove or disable access to the content and inform the member who posted it, who may respond.

8. Termination

You may delete your account at any time in Settings > Your data and legal. We may suspend or terminate accounts that breach these terms or endanger the service or its members, with notice where the law requires it. Sections 4 (licence for content remaining in backups and legitimate reshares), 9, 10 and 11 survive termination.

9. Disclaimers

The service is provided "as is" during the beta. We do not guarantee uninterrupted availability or that content published by members is accurate. Content published by members represents their own views, not ours. Bibliographic data imported from external sources may contain errors we did not introduce.

10. Liability

To the extent permitted by law we are liable only for damage caused intentionally or by gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, and under mandatory product liability or consumer protection rules. Nothing in these terms limits rights that consumer protection law grants you and that cannot be waived.

11. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the law of the country where the operator has its seat, without prejudice to mandatory consumer protection provisions of the country where you live. The seat will be published here before the public launch. Consumers in the European Union may use the online dispute resolution platform of the European Commission.

12. Changes

We may change these terms. When a change matters, we show a banner asking you to review and confirm, and we update the date at the top. If you do not agree, you can stop using the service and delete your account.

13. Contact

ScholarFolk.