Terms of Service

1. Definitions

• “Account” means the account you register to access the Service.
• “Content” means any data, text, files, and information you create, upload, or submit to the Service — including projects, lists, comments, grants, and notes.
• “Member Data” means information you add about other people — such as researchers, group members, or collaborators — including their names, email addresses, affiliations, and associated publication and citation records, whether or not those individuals are users of the Service.
• “Researcher Data” means publication, citation, grant, and related bibliographic information that the Service retrieves from third-party and public sources.

2. Eligibility and your account

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract to use the Service. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information when you register and to keep it up to date.

Authentication is handled through our identity provider. You are responsible for safeguarding your login credentials and for all activity that occurs under your Account. Notify us promptly at support@myresearchfocus.com if you suspect any unauthorized use. If you use the Service on behalf of an organization, you represent that you are authorized to bind that organization to these Terms, and “you” refers to that organization.

3. Acceptable use

You agree not to, and not to permit anyone else to:

• use the Service for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable law or regulation;
• upload or process data you do not have the right to provide, or that infringes the intellectual property, privacy, or other rights of any person;
• upload viruses, malware, or any code designed to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorized access to any system or data;
• probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Service, or breach or circumvent any security or authentication measure;
• access the Service through automated means in a way that imposes an unreasonable load, or scrape, harvest, or copy the Service except through functionality we provide;
• reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code of the Service;
• resell, sublicense, or commercially exploit the Service without our prior written permission;
• use the Service to send unsolicited communications, or to attempt to re-identify, de-anonymize, surveil, or harm any individual; or
• harass, threaten, or abuse our staff.

We may investigate and take appropriate action, including suspending or terminating Accounts, for violations.

4. Your content

You retain all ownership rights in your Content and Member Data. We do not claim ownership of it. You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, process, copy, display, and transmit your Content and Member Data solely as needed to operate, secure, maintain, and improve the Service and to provide it to you, and as otherwise instructed by you. This license ends when your Content is deleted, except for residual copies retained in backups for a limited period as described in our Privacy Policy.

You are responsible for your Content and Member Data and for ensuring you have the rights to use it with the Service.

5. Member Data and other people’s information

The Service lets you build and manage lists of researchers and group members and enrich them with publication and citation data. That information may include personal data about individuals who are not users of the Service. With respect to Member Data, you act as the controller and MyResearchFocus acts as a processor that processes Member Data only on your documented instructions and as described in these Terms and the Privacy Policy.

You represent and warrant that:

• you have a valid legal basis and all rights and authority necessary to provide Member Data to us and to instruct us to process it; and
• your use of the Service, and your collection and use of Member Data, complies with all applicable laws, including data protection and privacy laws.

You are responsible for responding to requests from individuals whose Member Data you control (for example, requests to access or delete their information), and you agree to honor valid removal requests. We will provide reasonable assistance and will act on your instructions to correct or delete Member Data.

6. Researcher, publication, and citation data

The Service retrieves Researcher Data — including publication records, citations, and related metadata — from third-party databases and publicly available sources, and uses automated matching to associate that data with the members you track. Researcher Data is provided “as is.” Automated matching and enrichment may be incomplete, out of date, or inaccurate, and is not an authoritative record. You are responsible for verifying Researcher Data before relying on it.

7. Plans, payments, and renewals

Parts of the Service are offered free of charge. If and when we offer paid plans, the following applies. Fees, billing periods, and the features included in each plan are described at the point of purchase. Unless stated otherwise:

• fees are billed in advance and are stated exclusive of taxes, which we may collect where required;
• paid plans renew automatically for successive billing periods until you cancel;
• plan upgrades take effect immediately and are charged on a prorated basis; downgrades take effect at the start of the next billing period;
• except where required by law or expressly stated in a refund policy, payments are non-refundable; and
• we may change prices on a going-forward basis and will give at least 30 days’ notice of price changes that affect you.

8. Cancellation and termination

You may stop using the Service and cancel your Account at any time. If you cancel a paid plan, the cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period and you will not be charged again; we do not provide prorated refunds for partial periods except where required by law.

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, with or without notice, if you breach these Terms, create risk or legal exposure for us, or use the Service in a way that may harm others. Upon termination, your right to use the Service ends. Deletion of your Content and Member Data after termination is described in our Privacy Policy.

9. Changes to the Service

We are continually improving the Service and may add, change, or remove features. We may also discontinue the Service or any part of it. Where a change is material and within our reasonable control, we will give you advance notice.

10. Intellectual property

The Service, including its software, design, text, and trademarks, is owned by MyResearchFocus and its licensors and is protected by intellectual property laws. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Service in accordance with these Terms. You obtain no ownership rights in the Service through your use of it. If you send us feedback or suggestions, you grant us a perpetual, royalty-free license to use them without restriction or obligation to you.

11. Third-party services

The Service relies on, and may integrate with, third-party services — including for authentication, email delivery, hosting, and Researcher Data sources. Your use of those services may be subject to their own terms, and we are not responsible for them. Connecting a third-party service at your direction authorizes us to exchange information with it as needed to provide the integration.

12. Disclaimers

The Service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, error-free, or that any data (including Researcher Data) will be accurate or complete. We do not offer a service-level agreement, but we take availability and security seriously.

13. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, MyResearchFocus and its officers, employees, and suppliers will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, or goodwill, arising out of or related to your use of (or inability to use) the Service, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Our total liability for any claim arising out of or related to the Service or these Terms is limited to the greater of the amounts you paid us for the Service in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, or USD $100.

14. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless My Research Focus, LLC and its officers, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or related to your Content or Member Data, your use of the Service, or your violation of these Terms or applicable law.

15. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. You and MyResearchFocus agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Delaware for any dispute that is not subject to another agreed dispute-resolution process. Before filing a claim, you agree to first contact us at support@myresearchfocus.com and attempt to resolve the dispute informally.

16. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will provide notice — for example, by posting the updated Terms with a new “Last updated” date or by email. Your continued use of the Service after the changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

17. General

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service and supersede any prior agreements. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.

18. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at support@myresearchfocus.com.