Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") constitute a legally binding agreement between you ("User," "you," or "your") and ScholaRef ("Company," "we," "us," or "our") governing your access to and use of the ScholaRef platform, including our website, web application, APIs, AI-powered tools, academic exploration databases, and all associated services (collectively, the "Service").

By creating an account, checking the "I agree to the Terms of Service" checkbox during registration, or accessing and using ScholaRef in any manner, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated herein by reference.

If you do not agree to all provisions of these Terms, you must immediately cease access and use of ScholaRef and refrain from creating an account.

2. Definitions

For the purposes of these Terms, the following definitions apply:

• "Account" means the registered user account you create to access the Service, identified by a unique username and email address.
• "Tokens" or "Credits" means the virtual currency used within ScholaRef to access premium AI-powered tools and features.
• "Your Content" means any documents, papers, manuscripts, PDFs, text, or other materials you upload, submit, or input into the Service.
• "AI Output" means any feedback, reviews, recommendations, keywords, abstracts, or other content generated by ScholaRef's AI systems in response to Your Content.
• "Deep Review" means the comprehensive 13-reviewer AI analysis pipeline that evaluates academic papers across structure, writing, and content dimensions.
• "War Room" means the multi-agent AI pipeline providing journal recommendations, reviewer suggestions, keyword extraction, abstract generation, and peer review simulation.
• "Academic Explorer" means the AI-powered natural language search interface for browsing academic works, journals, authors, publishers, and institutions.
• "OCR Processing" means the optical character recognition extraction of text from uploaded PDF documents.
• "Platform" means the ScholaRef website, web application, and all related services, tools, features, and infrastructure.

3. Grant of License

3.1 Limited License

Subject to your compliance with these Terms and applicable laws, ScholaRef grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to access and use the Service solely for your personal academic and research purposes.

3.2 License Restrictions

You may NOT:

• Reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell, or exploit any portion of ScholaRef for commercial purposes without a separate commercial license agreement
• Sublicense, rent, lease, transfer, or otherwise make available your account or access to ScholaRef to third parties
• Attempt to reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, hack, or modify the Service's code, algorithms, AI models, or any underlying functionality
• Remove, obscure, or alter any proprietary notices, labels, watermarks, or marks on the Service or its outputs
• Use automated tools, bots, scrapers, crawlers, or scripts to access, navigate, extract data from, or interact with ScholaRef or its academic databases
• Frame, mirror, or embed ScholaRef or any of its pages within another website, application, or service without explicit written permission
• Use ScholaRef, its AI outputs, review methodologies, or data to develop, train, or enhance competing academic review, analysis, or recommendation services
• Circumvent, disable, or interfere with any security, rate-limiting, or access-control features of the Service
• Systematically download, cache, or store academic metadata, search results, or explorer data for redistribution or offline use
• Use the Service to transmit any malicious software, viruses, or harmful code

3.3 Commercial and Institutional Use

If you wish to use ScholaRef for commercial purposes — including integrating our service into your own platform, white-label solutions, enterprise deployments, institutional licensing, or bulk token purchases — you must contact us at info@scholaref.com to arrange appropriate licensing and commercial agreements. Unauthorized commercial use is a material breach of these Terms.

4. Description of Services

ScholaRef is an AI-powered academic workspace designed to help researchers move from first draft to confident journal submission. The platform offers the following tools and features:

4.1 Deep Review

Upload a PDF academic paper for comprehensive AI analysis across 13 specialized reviewer personas covering structure (completeness, title, abstract), writing quality (grammar & style, clarity, coherence), and content (methodology, experimental design, results, limitations, references, ethics, figures & tables). Consumes 6 tokens per analysis.

4.2 War Room

A multi-agent AI meeting experience providing a 5-step sequential pipeline: journal/paper/publisher recommendations, real-world reviewer suggestions, keyword extraction, abstract generation, and peer review simulation with three distinct AI reviewer personas. Includes interactive chat with 7 role-based AI agents after pipeline completion. Consumes 8 tokens per session.

4.3 Keyword & Abstract Studio

Upload a PDF for AI-powered keyword extraction and abstract generation at configurable word counts. Consumes 1 token per use.

4.4 Submission Recommender

Upload a PDF to receive AI-matched journal, paper, and publisher recommendations based on your research content and keywords. Consumes 1 token per use.

4.5 Peer Review Simulator

Upload a PDF for a simulated peer review experience with structured reviewer feedback including accept, minor revision, or major revision assessments. Consumes 1 token per use.

4.6 Grammar Corrector

Paste text or upload a PDF for grammar and style checking powered by LanguageTool. Supports multiple languages. Free of charge (no token cost).

4.7 Academic Explorer

AI-powered natural language search interface for exploring academic works, journals, authors, publishers, and institutions sourced from the OpenAlex open scholarly database. Includes advanced filtering, sorting, comparison tools, and detailed statistics. Free of charge (no token cost).

4.8 Journal Explorer

Browse, search, filter, and compare academic journals by publisher, citation metrics, H-index, i10-index, and other bibliometric indicators. Includes journal comparison (up to 6 journals side-by-side) and DOI-by-year visualizations.

4.9 Author Explorer

Search and explore author profiles with filters for country, domain, field, subfield, topic, institution, H-index range, and citation count. Includes enriched affiliations, knowledge domains, and institutional histories.

4.10 User Profile and Analytics

Personal dashboard with usage analytics, token consumption charts, tool usage breakdowns, activity statistics, recent papers, War Room reports, and notification preference management.

4.11 Email Notifications

Configurable email notifications for analysis completions, credit alerts, and product updates, with digest cadence and quiet hours settings.

5. User Responsibilities and Conduct

5.1 Account Registration

• You must register an account with a unique username and a valid email address to access the Service
• Your password must contain at least 8 characters, including at least one uppercase letter and one special character
• You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and password
• You must provide accurate, complete, and current information during registration and on your profile
• You are responsible for all activities occurring under your account, whether or not you authorized them
• You must notify us immediately at info@scholaref.com of any unauthorized access, use, or breach of your account
• You may not create multiple accounts, and you may not share, transfer, sell, or allow others to use your account or tokens

5.2 Age and Eligibility

• You must be at least 18 years of age (or the legal age of majority in your jurisdiction) to create an account and use ScholaRef
• Users between 13 and 18 years of age may use ScholaRef only with verifiable parental or legal guardian consent and supervision
• ScholaRef is not intended for children under 13 years of age, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13
• If you are affiliated with an academic institution, you represent that your use of ScholaRef complies with your institution's policies

5.3 Profile Information

You may optionally provide additional profile information including your display name, bio, institution, academic role, ORCID URL, LinkedIn URL, Google Scholar URL, and research interests. You represent and warrant that all profile information is accurate, current, and does not impersonate any other individual or entity. Providing false or misleading information may result in account suspension or termination.

5.4 Password Security and Account Recovery

ScholaRef provides a password reset mechanism via email with time-limited, single-use tokens. You are responsible for maintaining access to the email address associated with your account. We are not responsible for any loss arising from your failure to maintain the security of your account credentials.

6. Intellectual Property Rights

6.1 Company Intellectual Property

• All content within ScholaRef, including text, graphics, logos, icons, images, user interface design, the "ScholaRef" name, AI models, algorithms, reviewer personas, analysis pipelines, prompt engineering, software code, and underlying architecture, is the exclusive property of ScholaRef or our licensors and is protected by applicable intellectual property laws
• The ScholaRef name, logos, and distinctive visual identity are proprietary marks and may not be used without our prior written consent
• Our 13-reviewer Deep Review system, War Room multi-agent pipeline, AI reviewer personas (including Alpha, Beta, and Gamma reviewers), intent-parsing algorithms, and proprietary analysis methodologies are confidential trade secrets and protected intellectual property
• The compilation, arrangement, and presentation of academic data within our explorers is protected as a creative work

6.2 User Feedback and Suggestions

Any feedback, suggestions, ideas, feature requests, bug reports, or improvements you voluntarily provide to ScholaRef may be used by us without compensation, obligation, or attribution. By submitting feedback, you grant us an irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, fully sublicensable license to use, modify, incorporate, and commercialize such feedback in any manner we determine.

6.3 AI Output Ownership

AI-generated outputs, including reviews, feedback, keywords, abstracts, journal recommendations, and reviewer suggestions, are provided to you for your personal academic use. You may use AI Output to improve your research work, include in your submissions, or reference in your academic processes. However:

• You may not represent AI Output as human-generated peer review
• You may not redistribute, republish, or commercially sell AI Output as a standalone product or service
• You may not use AI Output to create or train competing academic services
• You acknowledge that AI Output may be similar across different users who submit similar content

6.4 License Restrictions on ScholaRef Content

• You may view, display, and interact with content within ScholaRef for personal academic reference
• You may download and save your own review reports and AI Output for your personal use
• You may not systematically extract, republish, redistribute, or commercially exploit any content from ScholaRef, including academic explorer data, journal metadata, or author information
• You may not use ScholaRef content, outputs, or methodologies to create, enhance, or market competing academic review, recommendation, or analysis services

7. Content Submission and Usage

7.1 Your Content Ownership

You retain all ownership rights to any documents, papers, manuscripts, PDFs, and other content you upload to ScholaRef ("Your Content"). We do not claim any ownership interest in Your Content at any time.

7.2 License to ScholaRef

By uploading Your Content to ScholaRef, you grant us a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide license to:

• Store: Maintain Your Content securely in our database systems for the duration of your account
• Process: Perform OCR (optical character recognition) to extract text from your PDF documents
• Analyze: Submit extracted text to our AI models and analysis pipelines (Deep Review, War Room, Peer Review Simulator, Submission Recommender, Keyword & Abstract Studio, Grammar Corrector) to generate AI Output
• Display: Present Your Content, analysis results, and AI Output within your account dashboard and generated reports
• Validate: Use AI to determine whether uploaded documents are academic papers
• Aggregate: Use anonymized, aggregated, non-identifiable statistical data derived from platform usage patterns for research and service improvement (never the contents of Your Content)

7.3 What We Do NOT Do With Your Content

7.4 Content Representations and Warranties

By uploading content to ScholaRef, you represent and warrant that:

• You are the author, co-author, or have been granted appropriate rights and permissions to upload the content
• The content does not infringe on any third-party intellectual property rights, copyrights, trademarks, or trade secrets
• The content does not violate any applicable laws, regulations, or ethical standards
• You have obtained all necessary permissions from co-authors, collaborators, supervisors, institutions, or funding bodies as required
• The content does not contain classified, restricted, or export-controlled information
• The content is a genuine academic work and not fabricated, plagiarized, or otherwise fraudulent

7.5 Supported File Types and Limitations

• ScholaRef accepts PDF files (.pdf) only for document upload and analysis
• Uploaded documents must be academic papers or manuscripts suitable for the selected analysis tool
• ScholaRef may reject documents that our AI validation determines are not academic papers
• We reserve the right to set and enforce file size limits, which may change over time

7.6 Content Retention and Deletion

• You can delete individual papers and their associated reviews from your account dashboard at any time
• Deleted content is removed from our active database systems promptly
• Backup copies may retain deleted content for up to 90 days as part of our regular backup rotation
• War Room session data and reports are retained in your account until you delete them or your account is terminated
• Upon account deletion, all Your Content, reviews, reports, and associated data will be permanently deleted as described in our Privacy Policy

8. Acceptable Use Policy

8.1 Prohibited Activities

You agree that you will NOT use ScholaRef to:

• Illegal Content: Upload, transmit, or store content that violates any applicable law, regulation, or court order
• Harmful Content: Submit sexually explicit, obscene, threatening, harassing, defamatory, libelous, or discriminatory material
• Malware and Security Threats: Introduce viruses, malware, trojans, worms, ransomware, keyloggers, or any malicious code or software through uploaded files or any other means
• Unauthorized Access: Attempt to gain unauthorized access to other users' accounts, our servers, networks, databases, or any internal systems
• Impersonation: Impersonate any individual, researcher, institution, or organization, or misrepresent your academic affiliation or identity
• Spam and Abuse: Send unsolicited communications, flood the system with requests, or abuse the Service to consume resources beyond reasonable use
• Plagiarism and Academic Fraud: Use the Service to facilitate plagiarism, ghost-writing, paper mills, contract cheating, academic dishonesty, or fraud of any kind
• Intellectual Property Infringement: Upload copyrighted material for which you do not hold rights or proper authorization
• Circumvention: Attempt to circumvent, disable, or interfere with security measures, token systems, access restrictions, rate limits, or content validation
• Research Ethics Violations: Submit content involving fabricated or falsified data, unethical human or animal experimentation, or violations of research integrity standards
• Token Manipulation: Attempt to artificially inflate your token balance, exploit bugs in the token system, or manipulate promotional codes or coupons in any unauthorized manner
• Data Mining: Systematically scrape, crawl, harvest, or extract data from the Academic Explorer, Journal Explorer, Author Explorer, or any other component of the Service
• Service Disruption: Engage in any activity that disrupts, degrades, or interferes with the functioning of the Service for other users, including denial-of-service actions

8.2 Academic Integrity

ScholaRef is designed to provide constructive feedback and guidance for improving the quality of academic work prior to submission. It is a tool for enhancement, not a substitute for genuine scholarly effort. Users must ensure they use ScholaRef in full compliance with their institution's academic integrity policies, codes of conduct, and ethical guidelines. We do not facilitate, endorse, or condone plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, ghost-writing, contract cheating, or other forms of academic misconduct.

8.3 Enforcement

We reserve the right to, at our sole discretion and without prior notice:

• Monitor your use of ScholaRef for compliance with this Acceptable Use Policy
• Remove, restrict access to, or disable content that violates this policy
• Suspend or permanently terminate accounts engaging in prohibited activities without refund of remaining tokens
• Report suspected illegal activity, fraud, or security threats to relevant law enforcement authorities
• Pursue legal action against users who cause harm to ScholaRef, its users, or third parties
• Cooperate with law enforcement investigations and respond to lawful legal processes

9. Token System, Fees, and Billing

9.1 Token-Based Access Model

ScholaRef operates on a token-based system. Tokens (also referred to as "credits") are a virtual, non-transferable currency used to access premium AI-powered tools. Tokens have no monetary value outside the ScholaRef platform and cannot be exchanged for cash, transferred to other users, or used on any other platform.

9.2 Free Tokens and Free Features

• New users receive 5 complimentary tokens upon account registration, subject to change at our discretion
• The Grammar Corrector and Academic Explorer (including Journal Explorer, Author Explorer, Publisher Explorer, and Institution Explorer) are free to use and do not consume tokens
• Free tokens are granted once per account and cannot be claimed again by creating additional accounts

9.3 Token Consumption

The following token costs apply per use of each premium tool:

• War Room: 8 tokens per session
• Deep Review: 6 tokens per paper analysis
• Peer Review Simulator: 1 token per analysis
• Submission Recommender: 1 token per analysis
• Keyword & Abstract Studio: 1 token per use

Token costs are deducted at the time you initiate an analysis. If a War Room pipeline fails due to a system error (not a user-initiated cancellation), tokens will be automatically refunded to your account. We reserve the right to adjust token costs with prior notice.

9.4 Token Purchase Packages

Tokens may be purchased through the following packages (prices in Canadian Dollars, exclusive of applicable taxes):

• Starter Pack: 10 tokens for C$25.00
• Researcher Pack: 40 tokens for C$79.00
• Lab Pack: 120 tokens for C$199.00

Package availability, pricing, and token quantities are subject to change. Any changes will be reflected on the Platform and will not affect previously completed purchases.

9.5 Payment Processing

• All payments are processed securely through Stripe, a PCI-DSS Level 1 certified payment processor. ScholaRef does not directly store, process, or have access to your full credit card number or payment card details
• By making a purchase, you authorize Stripe to charge the payment method you provide for the selected token package amount plus applicable taxes
• Tokens are credited to your account upon successful payment confirmation
• You will receive a purchase confirmation email and invoice for each transaction
• All prices are displayed in Canadian Dollars (CAD) unless otherwise specified

9.6 Promotional Codes and Coupons

• ScholaRef may offer promotional codes, discount coupons, or special offers from time to time
• Promotional codes are subject to their specific terms, including expiration dates, usage limits, eligibility requirements, and applicable discount types (percentage-off or fixed-amount)
• Promotional codes cannot be combined, resold, transferred, or applied retroactively unless explicitly stated
• We reserve the right to void or revoke promotional codes obtained through fraud, unauthorized channels, or in violation of their terms

9.7 Refund Policy

• Purchased tokens are non-refundable except as required by applicable consumer protection law (including EU, UK, and Australian consumer rights)
• If a system error prevents the completion of a paid analysis and tokens are consumed, we will automatically refund the tokens to your account balance
• Refund requests for extenuating circumstances must be submitted to info@scholaref.com within 14 days of purchase
• We do not provide refunds for unused tokens, dissatisfaction with AI Output quality, or voluntary account deletion
• For EU/EEA residents: You acknowledge and consent that digital tokens are delivered immediately upon purchase, and you waive your 14-day cooling-off period right as permitted under the Consumer Rights Directive (2011/83/EU), Article 16(m)

9.8 Low-Credit Alerts

ScholaRef will send you an email notification when your token balance drops to 3 tokens or fewer, provided you have not disabled email notifications. It is your responsibility to maintain a sufficient token balance for your intended use.

9.9 Taxes

All listed prices are exclusive of applicable taxes (including but not limited to GST, HST, PST, VAT, and sales tax) unless otherwise stated. You are responsible for all applicable taxes imposed by your jurisdiction. Taxes will be calculated and added during the checkout process based on your location.

10. AI-Powered Services and Limitations

10.1 Nature of AI Services

ScholaRef employs artificial intelligence, large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP) to provide its analysis, review, recommendation, and generation services. You acknowledge and understand that:

• AI-generated feedback, reviews, recommendations, keywords, and abstracts are automated outputs produced by machine learning models, not human expert opinions
• AI systems operate based on statistical patterns and may not fully understand the nuances, context, or domain-specific requirements of your research
• The 13 Deep Review personas, the 3 War Room peer review personas (Alpha, Beta, Gamma), and all other AI agents are simulated roles, not real human reviewers
• Reviewer suggestions in the War Room are based on algorithmic matching against academic databases and do not imply any endorsement, availability, or willingness of the suggested individuals to review your paper

10.2 AI Output Accuracy and Reliability

• ScholaRef does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, correctness, or reliability of any AI Output
• Journal recommendations do not guarantee acceptance by those journals
• Peer review simulations do not predict actual peer review outcomes
• Generated keywords and abstracts should be reviewed and refined by you before use in any submission
• Grammar corrections should be verified for contextual accuracy
• Related paper discovery may not be exhaustive and should supplement, not replace, thorough literature reviews

10.3 AI Processing and Document Handling

When you submit a document for analysis, the following processing occurs:

• Your PDF is uploaded and stored securely in our database
• OCR processing extracts the text content from the PDF
• The extracted text is sent to our AI analysis systems for processing by the selected tool
• AI systems generate structured feedback, which is stored in association with your paper record
• Background processing is used for longer analyses (Deep Review, War Room), with email notifications upon completion
• You may stop or cancel in-progress analyses at any time (note: tokens may not be refunded for user-initiated cancellations)

10.4 No Professional Advice

ScholaRef's AI Output does not constitute professional, legal, medical, financial, or expert advice of any kind. ScholaRef is not a substitute for consultation with qualified professionals, human peer reviewers, journal editors, academic advisors, or institutional review boards.

11. Academic Data and Third-Party Databases

11.1 OpenAlex Data

The Academic Explorer, Journal Explorer, Author Explorer, Publisher Explorer, and Institution Explorer features are powered in part by data sourced from OpenAlex, an open catalog of the global research system. OpenAlex data is used under its open license terms.

• Academic metadata (journal information, author profiles, citation counts, H-index values, institutional affiliations, publisher data, and work records) is sourced from OpenAlex and may not reflect real-time updates
• ScholaRef does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or currency of third-party academic data
• Bibliometric indicators (H-index, i10-index, citation counts, mean citedness) are computed from available data and may differ from other sources
• ScholaRef is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or a representative of OpenAlex or any academic publisher, journal, institution, or individual author listed in our explorers

11.2 Academic Data Usage Restrictions

• Academic explorer data is provided for informational and personal research purposes only
• You may not systematically extract, download, scrape, or redistribute academic metadata from ScholaRef
• Commercial use of academic data obtained through ScholaRef requires separate authorization
• The compilation and presentation of academic data as displayed in ScholaRef is our proprietary work

11.3 No Endorsement of Listed Entities

The listing of any journal, author, publisher, or institution in ScholaRef's explorers or recommendations does not constitute endorsement, ranking, or quality certification by ScholaRef. Users should conduct their own due diligence when selecting journals for submission or evaluating academic entities.

12. Warranties and Disclaimers

12.1 "AS-IS" Disclaimer

12.2 No Guarantee of Academic Outcomes

• We do not guarantee that using ScholaRef will result in publication acceptance, favorable peer review, journal selection, grant funding, academic promotion, or improved academic outcomes of any kind
• AI-generated feedback, reviews, and recommendations are automated and may contain errors, biases, or limitations inherent to current AI technology
• Final editorial and peer review decisions rest solely with journal publishers, editors, and human peer reviewers — not ScholaRef
• Results and AI Output quality vary based on the quality and nature of submitted research, the current state of our AI models, and other factors beyond our control

12.3 Service Availability

• We strive for high availability but do not guarantee uninterrupted, continuous, or error-free service
• Scheduled and emergency maintenance may occasionally interrupt service availability
• AI processing pipelines require backend computational resources that may experience capacity limitations, queuing delays, or temporary unavailability
• Third-party service dependencies (payment processing, email delivery, academic databases, AI infrastructure) may experience downtime outside our control
• Internet connectivity and network issues are beyond our control

12.4 AI Technology Limitations

You expressly acknowledge that AI and machine learning technologies are rapidly evolving fields with inherent limitations:

• AI models may produce different results for the same input at different times
• AI models may exhibit biases present in their training data
• AI models may "hallucinate" — generating plausible-sounding but factually incorrect information
• AI systems may not perform equally well across all academic disciplines, languages, or research methodologies
• The quality of AI Output is directly influenced by the quality and clarity of the input document

13. Limitation of Liability

13.1 Exclusion of Damages

13.2 Specific Exclusions

Without limiting the generality of the above, ScholaRef shall not be liable for:

• Paper rejections, unfavorable peer reviews, or any negative academic outcome following use of ScholaRef
• Reliance on AI-generated recommendations, feedback, keywords, abstracts, or journal suggestions
• Loss, corruption, or unauthorized access to uploaded documents or account data
• Inaccuracies in academic data sourced from third-party databases (OpenAlex or others)
• Service interruptions, downtime, or processing delays
• Actions taken by third parties (journals, institutions, reviewers) based on ScholaRef outputs
• Loss of unused tokens due to account termination for Terms violations

13.3 Cap on Liability

Our total aggregate liability for any and all claims arising from or related to these Terms or your use of ScholaRef shall not exceed the greater of: (a) the total amount you paid to ScholaRef in the 12 months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) one hundred Canadian dollars (C$100.00). This limitation applies regardless of the form of action, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability, or otherwise.

13.4 Exceptions

The foregoing limitations do not apply to:

• Liability arising from our gross negligence or willful misconduct
• Death or personal injury caused by our negligence
• Fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation by ScholaRef
• Any liability that cannot be lawfully excluded or limited under applicable mandatory law
• For EU/EEA residents: any rights under GDPR, the Consumer Rights Directive, or other mandatory consumer protection regulations that cannot be waived by contract
• For Canadian residents: any rights under applicable provincial consumer protection legislation that cannot be waived

14. Indemnification

14.1 User Indemnification Obligation

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify, defend (with counsel reasonably acceptable to us), and hold harmless ScholaRef, its founders, owners, officers, directors, employees, agents, contractors, licensors, and successors from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees and court costs) arising from or related to:

• Your use of ScholaRef in violation of these Terms or applicable law
• Your infringement or violation of any third-party intellectual property, privacy, or other rights
• Your Content, including any claim that Your Content infringes on the rights of a third party
• Your breach of representations, warranties, or obligations under these Terms
• Your misuse of AI Output, including representing AI-generated content as human-generated peer review
• Any academic integrity violation or institutional policy breach arising from your use of ScholaRef
• Your fraudulent, abusive, or illegal use of the token system, payment processing, or promotional codes

14.2 Indemnification Process

We will provide you with prompt written notice of any indemnifiable claim. You shall assume full responsibility for the defense at your expense. We reserve the right to participate in the defense with counsel of our choosing at your expense. You may not settle any claim that imposes obligations on ScholaRef or admits fault on our behalf without our prior written consent.

15. Third-Party Content and Integrations

15.1 Third-Party Services

ScholaRef integrates with and relies upon the following third-party services:

• Stripe: Payment processing for token purchases. Subject to Stripe's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
• OpenAlex: Academic metadata for explorers and journal recommendations. Subject to OpenAlex's open data license
• LanguageTool: Grammar and style checking engine for the Grammar Corrector feature
• Zoho Mail (SMTP): Transactional email delivery for notifications, password resets, purchase receipts, and analysis completion alerts

15.2 Third-Party Liability

• ScholaRef is not responsible for the availability, accuracy, performance, security, or policies of any third-party service
• Your interactions with third-party services are governed by their respective terms and privacy policies
• Downtime, errors, or data breaches at third-party services are beyond our control and we shall not be liable for any resulting damages

15.3 External Links

• ScholaRef may contain links to external websites, including journal publishers, institutional websites, DOI resolvers, ORCID profiles, Google Scholar profiles, LinkedIn profiles, and academic repositories
• We do not control, endorse, or assume responsibility for the content, privacy practices, or availability of external websites
• Clicking external links is at your own risk, and you should review the terms and privacy policies of those sites

15.4 No Endorsement

References to, links to, or integration with any third-party product, service, company, or entity do not constitute endorsement, sponsorship, partnership, or affiliation with ScholaRef unless explicitly stated in writing.

16. Service Modifications and Termination

16.1 Right to Modify Service

• We reserve the right to modify, update, suspend, or discontinue any part of ScholaRef at any time, including adding, removing, or changing features, tools, AI models, token costs, and pricing
• We will provide at least 30 days' advance notice for material changes that affect paid features, token pricing, or purchased token validity
• For non-material changes (UI improvements, bug fixes, performance enhancements, new free features), we may implement changes without prior notice
• Continued use of ScholaRef following modifications constitutes acceptance of those changes

16.2 Termination by ScholaRef

ScholaRef may suspend or terminate your account immediately and without prior notice if:

• You violate any provision of these Terms, including the Acceptable Use Policy
• You engage in fraudulent, abusive, or illegal activity
• You attempt to manipulate the token system, exploit bugs, or abuse promotional codes
• Your account poses a security risk to ScholaRef or other users
• We receive a valid legal order or government directive requiring account termination
• We discontinue the Service entirely (with reasonable notice and token refund provisions)

16.3 Effect of Termination

• Upon termination, your license to access and use ScholaRef is immediately revoked
• You must cease all use of the Service
• Your account, uploaded content, reviews, reports, and associated data will be deleted per our data retention schedule and Privacy Policy
• Unused tokens are forfeited upon termination for cause (violation of Terms). If we terminate your account without cause or discontinue the Service, we will provide a pro-rata refund for unused purchased tokens
• Termination does not relieve you of payment obligations for services already rendered or your indemnification obligations
• Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including Intellectual Property, Limitation of Liability, Indemnification, Dispute Resolution, and Governing Law) shall continue in full force and effect

16.4 User-Initiated Account Deletion

You may delete your account at any time by contacting info@scholaref.com. Upon deletion:

• Your personal information, uploaded documents, reviews, reports, and all associated data will be permanently deleted from our active systems
• Backup copies may retain your data for up to 90 days before permanent deletion
• Anonymized, aggregated usage statistics may be retained
• Transaction records may be retained as required by tax and accounting regulations
• Unused tokens are forfeited upon voluntary account deletion

17. Dispute Resolution

17.1 Informal Resolution

Before pursuing formal legal action, we strongly encourage you to contact us at info@scholaref.com to attempt informal resolution of any dispute. Please provide a detailed description of the issue and supporting information. We will attempt to resolve disputes in good faith within 30 days of receiving your notice.

17.2 Arbitration Agreement

PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY — IT AFFECTS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS. By using ScholaRef, you agree that any dispute, claim, or controversy arising from or relating to these Terms, the Service, or your relationship with ScholaRef that cannot be resolved through informal resolution shall be settled through final and binding arbitration rather than in court.

• Arbitration will be conducted by a single independent arbitrator
• For Canadian residents: arbitration will follow the rules of the ADR Institute of Canada or equivalent provincial body
• For U.S. residents: arbitration will follow the rules of the American Arbitration Association (AAA)
• For international residents: arbitration will follow the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules or equivalent rules agreed upon by the parties
• Each party bears its own attorneys' fees and costs unless the arbitrator awards them otherwise
• The arbitrator's decision is final and binding and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction
• Arbitration proceedings will be conducted in English

17.3 Exceptions to Arbitration

Notwithstanding the arbitration requirement, the following may be pursued in court:

• Claims for injunctive or equitable relief to prevent imminent or ongoing harm, including intellectual property infringement
• Small claims court actions within the monetary jurisdiction of such courts
• For EU/EEA residents: any dispute subject to mandatory jurisdiction provisions under EU law, GDPR, or local consumer protection legislation
• For Canadian residents: any claim that cannot be submitted to arbitration under applicable provincial legislation

17.4 Class Action Waiver

17.5 30-Day Notice Requirement

Before initiating arbitration or any legal proceeding, you must send a written Notice of Dispute to ScholaRef at info@scholaref.com. The notice must include: (a) your full name and account email, (b) a detailed description of the dispute, (c) the specific relief sought, and (d) any supporting documentation. Both parties will engage in good-faith negotiation for at least 30 days before pursuing formal proceedings.

18. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

18.1 Governing Law

These Terms and your use of ScholaRef are governed by and construed in accordance with the federal laws of Canada and the provincial laws of Ontario, without regard to conflicts of law principles.

18.2 Jurisdiction and Venue

• For Canadian users: disputes not subject to arbitration shall be brought in the courts of the Province of Ontario, and you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of those courts
• For international users: these Terms are governed by Ontario law. Disputes shall proceed through arbitration as outlined in Section 17, and any court proceedings shall be brought in Ontario
• For EU/EEA residents: nothing in these Terms limits your right to bring proceedings in the courts of your country of residence as required by mandatory law. GDPR and applicable local consumer protection laws apply to the extent they provide greater protection than these Terms

18.3 Survival

The following sections shall survive any termination or expiration of these Terms: Definitions, Intellectual Property Rights, Content Submission and Usage (Sections 7.2 through 7.4), AI-Powered Services and Limitations, Warranties and Disclaimers, Limitation of Liability, Indemnification, Dispute Resolution, Governing Law, and Miscellaneous Provisions.

19. Miscellaneous Provisions

19.1 Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and any additional terms referenced herein, constitute the entire agreement between you and ScholaRef regarding your use of the Service and supersede all prior or contemporaneous agreements, representations, warranties, and understandings, whether oral or written.

19.2 Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found by a court or arbitrator of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, such provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid and enforceable while preserving its original intent. If modification is not possible, the provision shall be severed, and all remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

19.3 Waiver

No failure or delay by ScholaRef in exercising any right, power, or remedy under these Terms shall constitute a waiver of that right, power, or remedy. No single or partial exercise of any right shall preclude further exercise of that or any other right. A waiver of any breach does not constitute a waiver of any subsequent breach.

19.4 Assignment

You may not assign, transfer, or delegate your rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent. ScholaRef may assign these Terms in whole or in part to any successor, affiliate, or acquirer in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of all or substantially all of our assets, with notice to you.

19.5 Force Majeure

ScholaRef shall not be liable for any failure or delay in performance resulting from causes beyond our reasonable control, including but not limited to acts of God, natural disasters, pandemics, war, terrorism, government actions, labor disputes, power failures, internet outages, cyberattacks, or third-party service failures.

19.6 Headings

Section headings are provided for convenience only and do not affect the interpretation of these Terms.

19.7 Language

These Terms are drafted in English. In the event of any conflict between the English version and any translated version, the English version shall prevail.

19.8 Notices

Notices to ScholaRef must be sent via email to info@scholaref.com or by post to our registered address (available upon request). Notices to you will be sent to the email address associated with your account. Email notices are deemed received 24 hours after sending. You are responsible for keeping your email address current.

20. Contact Information

If you have any questions about these Terms of Service, need to report a violation, dispute a charge, or submit a legal notice, please contact us: