Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Sciverdict (sciverdict.com) is an academic journal and conference accountability platform. We provide a space for researchers to share honest submission experiences. When this policy says “we,” “us,” or “our,” it refers to Sciverdict. Questions? Email us at sciverdict@gmail.com.

2. What we collect

• Account information: email address, full name, institution, education level, and academic position — provided when you sign up.
• OAuth data: if you sign in with a third-party provider, we receive your email and public profile name from that provider.
• Review content: ratings, written verdicts, submission dates, outcomes, flags, and optional proof URLs you submit for journals or conferences.
• Usage data: anonymous page-view analytics. No cookies, no cross-site tracking.
• Payment and billing data: if you buy credits or subscribe, our payment processor (Stripe) shares with us your name, email, purchase amount, and subscription status. We never receive or store your full card number.
• Manuscript content you submit to paid tools: the reference list (Citation Checker) or title and abstract (Journal Recommender) you submit is sent to a third-party AI language model provider and to scholarly databases (OpenAlex, Crossref, Semantic Scholar, arXiv) solely to produce your results. We do not store this content ourselves; a cache of the resulting public bibliographic lookups (titles, DOIs, publication venues) is kept to avoid repeat lookups and is shared across users, not tied to your submission.

3. How we use it

• To operate your account and let you submit and manage verdicts.
• To display your profile information alongside your reviews (unless you post anonymously).
• To detect and remove spam, fraudulent reviews, or policy violations.
• To improve the platform based on aggregate usage patterns.
• To contact you about your account or significant platform changes.
• To process payments and manage your credit balance or subscription.

We do not sell your data. We do not use it for advertising.

4. Anonymous reviews

When you post a verdict anonymously, your name and profile are hidden from other users. Your identity is still associated with the review in our database for moderation purposes and to prevent duplicate submissions. We will not reveal your identity publicly unless required to do so by law.

5. Data retention

We retain your account data and reviews for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, your profile information is removed. Reviews may be retained in anonymized form to preserve the integrity of the platform record. Billing and transaction records are kept as required for accounting, tax, and legal compliance, even after account deletion.

6. Your rights

You can, at any time:

• Access or update your profile information from your account settings.
• Delete your account and associated personal data by contacting us.
• Request a copy of your data.

Email sciverdict@gmail.com for any data requests.

7. Cookies

We use only a session cookie to keep you signed in. We do not use tracking cookies or third-party advertising cookies.

8. Payments and third-party processors

Payments are handled by Stripe, a PCI-DSS-compliant payment processor — we never see or store your full card details. Paid tool results are produced with help from a third-party AI language model provider and public scholarly databases (OpenAlex, Crossref, Semantic Scholar, arXiv), which receive the manuscript text you submit to those specific tools in order to generate your results. We do not sell any of this data and do not use it for advertising. See our Terms of Service for credit, subscription, and refund terms.

9. Changes to this policy

If we make material changes, we will update the effective date above and, where appropriate, notify you by email. Continued use of Sciverdict after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.