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What ResearchGate's terms say

B privacy grade · researchgate.net · Learning

ResearchGate's terms of service and privacy policy have 50 rated points: 0 serious, 10 bad, 21 worth knowing and 19 good. 31 apply whenever you use the site, signed in or not; 19 only once you have an account.

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Signed in or not

Whenever you use ResearchGate

Bad 8

  • You waive your right to a class action

    You waive your right to a class action.

    Where it says this ↗

  • Any liability on behalf of the service is only limited to the fees you paid as a user

    Any liability on behalf of the service is only limited to the fees you paid as a user or U.S. $100

    Note: This provision only exclusively applies to certain U.S. residents

  • You are forced into binding arbitration in case of disputes

    Note: This provision only applies to U.S. residents.

  • Referring and/or exit pages are tracked

  • Your personal data may be sold or otherwise transferred as part of a bankruptcy proceeding or other type of financial transaction

  • You are tracked via web beacons, tracking pixels, browser fingerprinting, and/or device fingerprinting

  • Third-party cookies are used for advertising

  • If you offer suggestions to the service, they become the owner of the ideas that you give them

Worth knowing 10

  • Harming minors in any ways is prohibited

  • Spidering, crawling, or accessing the site through any automated means is not allowed

  • You agree to indemnify and hold the service harmless in case of a claim related to your use of the service

  • The court of law governing the terms is in location X

    The court of law governing the terms is in the State of California, U.S.A.

    Note: This provision only applies to U.S. residents

  • This service does not condone any ideas contained in its user-generated contents

  • Invalidity of any portion of the Terms of Service does not entail invalidity of its remainder

  • Failure to enforce any provision of the Terms of Service does not constitute a waiver of such provision

  • There is a date of the last update of the agreements

  • Your IP address is collected, which can be used to view your approximate location

  • Your personal data may be aggregated into statistics

    Your personal data is aggregated into statistics

Good 13

  • Information is provided about what kind of personal information is collected

  • Information is provided about how your personal data is used

  • The terms for this service are easy to read

  • The court of law governing the terms is in a jurisdiction that is friendlier to user privacy protection

    The court of law governing the terms is in a jurisdiction that is friendlier to user privacy protection (Federal Republic of Germany)

  • You can limit how your information is used by third parties and the service

  • You aren’t forced into binding arbitration in case of disputes

    You aren’t forced into binding arbitration in case of disputes (E.U. users only)

  • Contact information from a Data Protection Officer (DPO) is provided

  • The service claims to be CCPA compliant for California users

  • A complaint mechanism is provided for the handling of personal data

  • The service claims to be GDPR compliant for European users

  • This service provides a list of third parties involved in its operation

  • When the service wants to make a material change to its terms, you are notified at least 30 days in advance

  • You can request access, correction and/or deletion of your data

With an account

If you have a ResearchGate account

Bad 2

  • Your content can be licensed to third parties

  • Tracking pixels are used in service-to-user communication

Worth knowing 11

  • You are prohibited from posting content which promotes violence or politically or religiously extremist values

  • You are prohibited from sending chain letters, junk mail, spam or any unsolicited messages

  • The posting of pornographic content is prohibited

  • You must keep your information up to date and accurate

  • Alternative accounts are not allowed

  • You agree not to submit libelous, harassing or threatening content

  • You cannot distribute or disclose your account to third parties

  • This service is only available to users over a certain age

    This service is only available to users over 18 years old

  • The service suspends your account after inactivity for a certain or uncertain time

    The service suspends your account after 1 year of inactivity

  • Banned users are prohibited from creating a new account

  • You are not allowed to use pseudonyms, as trust and transparency between users regarding their identities is relevant to the service

Good 6

  • You maintain ownership of your content

  • The service has non-exclusive use of your content

  • You aren’t allowed to publicly post private messages

  • You are prohibited from publishing any third party’s personally identifiable information without their consent

  • You can opt out of receiving promotional communications

  • You can retrieve an archive of your data

The documents

Ratings by ToS;DR volunteers; they can lag behind the current terms. Not legal advice.