Terms of Service

1. Acceptance

By creating an account or using Sciverdict (sciverdict.com), you agree to these Terms of Service. If you do not agree, do not use the platform.

2. What Sciverdict is

Sciverdict is a community accountability platform where researchers share their firsthand experiences submitting to academic journals and conferences. We do not endorse or verify any specific verdict. Opinions expressed by users are their own.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years old to use Sciverdict. By using the platform you confirm that you meet this requirement and that all information you provide is accurate.

4. Your account

• You are responsible for keeping your account credentials secure.
• You may not create accounts on behalf of others or impersonate anyone.
• One account per person. Duplicate accounts used to inflate or suppress ratings are prohibited.
• We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms.

5. Content rules

When submitting a verdict, you agree that your content:

• Is based on your genuine, firsthand submission experience.
• Does not contain false statements of fact presented as true.
• Does not include personal attacks on individual editors, reviewers, or staff — only institutional conduct.
• Does not contain hate speech, harassment, or illegal content.
• Does not reveal confidential peer review communications in a way that breaches any agreement you signed.

We reserve the right to remove any content that violates these rules, with or without notice.

6. Ownership of your content

You retain ownership of the verdicts and content you submit. By posting, you grant Sciverdict a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to display, store, and distribute your content as part of operating the platform. This license ends if you delete your content or account, except where copies have been made for archival or legal purposes.

7. Paid features, credits and subscriptions

Some tools (currently the Citation Checker and Journal Recommender) are metered. Every account gets one free use of each per calendar month; beyond that, using them requires prepaid credits or an active subscription.

• Credits are sold in packs, are usable across all metered tools, and expire 12 months after purchase.
• Subscriptions (monthly or yearly) include a set number of tool runs per month and renew automatically until cancelled. You can cancel at any time from your account; cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period, and you keep access until then.
• Payments are processed by Stripe. We do not receive or store your full card number.
• Prices, included quotas, and credit-pack sizes may change. Changes apply to future purchases only, never to credits or subscription periods you have already paid for.
• All purchases are final. Credits and subscription charges are non-refundable once purchased, except where required by applicable law.

8. Prohibited uses

You may not:

• Submit fake, fabricated, or incentivized reviews.
• Use Sciverdict to defame, harass, or intimidate any person or organization.
• Scrape or systematically download platform data without written permission.
• Attempt to manipulate ratings or rankings through coordinated inauthentic behavior.
• Reverse-engineer, copy, or redistribute Sciverdict's source code or design.

9. Disclaimers

Sciverdict is provided “as is” without warranties of any kind. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any user-submitted content. Use of this platform and reliance on any information found here is at your own risk.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Sciverdict and its operators shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the platform, including but not limited to loss of data, loss of reputation, or decisions made based on content found here.

11. Dispute resolution

If a journal or conference believes a verdict about them is factually false, they may contact us at sciverdict@gmail.com with evidence. We will review disputes in good faith and may remove or flag content at our discretion.

12. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of Mexico. Any disputes shall be resolved in the competent courts of Mexico.

13. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. We will update the effective date above and notify you by email for material changes. Continued use of Sciverdict after changes take effect constitutes acceptance.

14. Contact

Questions about these terms? Email us at sciverdict@gmail.com.