Welcome to ScieBeta. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the ScieBeta platform, including the website at sciebeta.com, all associated features — Studio, Labs, Collab, Archive, Chat, the Public API, and the newsletter — and any content published or accessible through the platform.

By accessing or using ScieBeta, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, you must not use the platform.

To register for a ScieBeta account, you must:

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  Be at least 18 years of age, or at least 13 with verifiable parental or guardian consent.
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  Have the legal capacity to enter into a binding agreement.
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  Not be prohibited from using the platform under applicable Indian law or the laws of your jurisdiction.

By registering, you confirm that the information you provide is accurate and up to date.

• 4.1
  You may create only one account per person. Creating multiple accounts to circumvent restrictions is prohibited.
• 4.2
  You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials. Do not share your password.
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  You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account.
• 4.4
  If you suspect unauthorised access to your account, notify us immediately at contact@sciebeta.com.
• 4.5
  We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.

5.1 Permitted Uses

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  Read, browse, and engage with published scientific content.
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  Publish original scientific digests and research communications as a registered researcher.
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  Collaborate with other researchers via the Collab feature.
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  Use the Public API for non-commercial, attribution-compliant access to digest metadata.
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  Subscribe to the newsletter for science updates.

5.2 Prohibited Uses

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  Post content that is false, misleading, plagiarised, or fabricated.
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  Infringe the intellectual property rights of any person or organisation.
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  Harass, threaten, defame, or harm any individual.
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  Distribute malware, spam, or unsolicited commercial messages.
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  Scrape the platform systematically in violation of these Terms or in a manner that disrupts service.
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  Attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the platform, its backend, or other users' accounts.
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  Impersonate another person, researcher, or institution.
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  Use AI features to generate and publish fabricated research or deliberately misleading scientific content.
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  Use the platform for any unlawful purpose under Indian law or the laws of your jurisdiction.

6.1 Researcher Responsibility

Researchers who publish content on ScieBeta are solely responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of their submissions. ScieBeta does not peer-review submissions before publication, though we reserve the right to remove content that violates these Terms.

6.2 Originality and Attribution

You must not submit content that is copied verbatim from another source without attribution, misrepresents authorship, or falsifies citations, references, or research findings. References cited in digests must correspond to real, published academic works.

6.3 AI-Assisted Content

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  You must review, verify, and edit AI output before publishing.
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  Publishing AI-generated content that is factually false or designed to deceive is prohibited.
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  AI-generated digests must comply with the same standards as manually written content.

6.4 Licence Granted to ScieBeta

By publishing content on ScieBeta, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, display, distribute, and make your content publicly accessible on the platform; index it and make it available via the Public API; and format it for display across devices. This licence does not transfer ownership of your content to ScieBeta.

6.5 Open Access Commitment

ScieBeta is an open-access platform. Content you publish will be publicly accessible to all users, search engines, and API consumers. Do not publish content that you do not intend to make publicly available.

7.1 Your Content

You retain full ownership of original content you create and publish on ScieBeta, subject to the licence granted in Section 6.4.

7.2 ScieBeta's Intellectual Property

All platform code, design, UI elements, branding (including the ScieBeta name and β logo), and editorial features are the intellectual property of ScieBeta. You may not reproduce, copy, modify, or distribute these without our prior written permission.

7.3 Third-Party Content

The platform aggregates and links to scientific content from third-party sources (journals, news outlets, academic databases). ScieBeta respects the intellectual property of these sources. Links to third-party content do not imply endorsement, and responsibility for accuracy rests with the original publisher.

ScieBeta provides a Public API at sciebeta.com/api/v1/digests under the following terms:

We reserve the right to rate-limit, restrict, or discontinue API access at any time without notice.

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  Your input (text, URLs, instructions) is processed by third-party AI providers (currently Google Gemini) subject to their terms.
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  We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of AI-generated output.
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  ScieBeta is not liable for errors, omissions, or hallucinations in AI-generated content.
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  AI features are tools to assist researchers — not authoritative scientific sources.

By subscribing to the ScieBeta newsletter, you consent to receive weekly science digest emails from us. You may unsubscribe at any time using the link in any email. We do not send unsolicited commercial email.

11.1 By You

You may close your account at any time by contacting contact@sciebeta.com. Upon closure, your personal data will be deleted per our Privacy Policy. Published digests may remain on the platform with your authorship preserved, unless you request their removal.

11.2 By ScieBeta

We may suspend or terminate your account, without prior notice, if you violate these Terms, engage in conduct that harms other users or the platform, provide false registration information, or are required to be removed under applicable law.

• 12.1
  We do not guarantee that the platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free from security vulnerabilities.
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  Scientific content on ScieBeta is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute professional medical, legal, financial, or other expert advice.
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  ScieBeta does not endorse any specific scientific findings, products, or institutions featured on the platform.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law:

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  ScieBeta and its operators shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising from your use of the platform.
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  Our total aggregate liability to you for any claim shall not exceed ₹500 (Indian Rupees five hundred), or the equivalent in your local currency.
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  These limitations apply even if ScieBeta has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Nothing in these Terms excludes liability for death, personal injury, or fraud caused by gross negligence.

You agree to indemnify and hold ScieBeta and its operators harmless from any claims, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including legal fees) arising from your use of the platform, content you submit or publish, your violation of these Terms or any applicable law, or your infringement of third-party intellectual property rights.

We may revise these Terms at any time. Updated Terms will be posted at sciebeta.com/terms with a new effective date. For material changes, we will notify registered users by email at least 7 days before the changes take effect. Continued use of the platform after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

For questions, concerns, or notices regarding these Terms: