Terms of Service

Thank you for using Disseminate. These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the Disseminate platform, website, and related services (collectively, the “Services”) operated by Disseminate (“Company,” “we,” “our,” or “us”).

By creating an account or using the Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Services.

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make significant changes, we will update the date at the top of this page and notify account holders as appropriate. Continued use of the Services after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

Account Terms

1. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and password. The Company cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage resulting from your failure to comply with this obligation.
2. You may not use the Services for any unlawful purpose or in violation of these Terms. You may not permit any users under your account to do so either.
3. You are responsible for all content posted to and activity that occurs under your account, including content posted by other users you have authorized.
4. You must be a human. Accounts registered by automated methods (“bots”) are not permitted.

Use Restrictions

You agree not to use the Services to:

• Upload, post, or transmit content that is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, abusive, fraudulent, or otherwise objectionable.
• Misrepresent your identity, affiliation, or the origin of any content you submit.
• Fabricate, falsify, or plagiarize research data, manuscripts, or peer review content.
• Compromise the integrity or anonymity of the peer review process, including attempting to identify anonymous reviewers or authors when anonymization is in effect.
• Interfere with or disrupt the Services or servers, or violate any requirements, procedures, or policies of networks connected to the Services.
• Use the Services to send unsolicited communications, promotions, or advertisements.
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to other accounts, computer systems, or networks connected to the Services.
• Use the Services in any way that violates applicable laws or regulations.

Payment, Refunds, and Plan Changes

1. If you are using a free version of the Services, it is genuinely free: we do not ask for your credit card and we do not sell your data.
2. For paid Services that offer a free trial, the length of the trial is stated when you sign up. After the trial period, you must pay in advance to continue using the Service. If you do not pay, we will freeze your account until payment is made.
3. All fees are exclusive of taxes, levies, or duties imposed by taxing authorities. Where required, we will collect and remit applicable taxes. Otherwise, you are responsible for payment of all applicable taxes.

Cancellation and Termination

1. You are solely responsible for properly canceling your account. We provide cancellation instructions within the Services. An email or verbal request to cancel is not automatically considered cancellation.
2. Upon cancellation, your content will become inaccessible immediately. We may retain data as necessary to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, or enforce our agreements.
3. If you cancel before the end of your current paid billing period, your cancellation takes effect immediately and you will not be charged again.
4. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of the Services for any reason at any time. Termination will result in the deletion of your account and forfeiture of all content in your account.
5. Verbal, physical, written, or other abuse (including threats of abuse) of a Company employee or officer will result in immediate account termination.

Modifications to the Service and Prices

1. We reserve the right at any time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, any part of the Services with or without notice.
2. If we change pricing for existing customers, we will give at least 30 days’ notice via the email address on record.

Uptime, Security, and Privacy

1. Your use of the Services is at your sole risk. We provide the Services on an “as is” and “as available” basis.
2. We reserve the right to temporarily disable your account if your usage significantly exceeds the average usage of other customers. We will reach out to the account owner before taking action except in rare cases where usage may negatively impact performance for other customers.
3. We take measures to protect and secure your data through backups, redundancies, and encryption. We enforce encryption for data transmission from the public Internet.
4. When you use the Services, you entrust us with your data. You agree that Disseminate may process your data as described in our Privacy Policy and for no other purpose. We as humans can access your data only for the following reasons:
   • To help you with support requests you make. We will ask for express consent before accessing your account.
   • When an error occurs that stops an automated process. In rare cases where we must look at personal data to fix an issue, we aim to fix the root cause to prevent recurrence.
   • To safeguard Disseminate. We may look at logs and metadata to ensure the security of your data and the Services as a whole, or as part of an abuse investigation.
   • To the extent required by applicable law. We only preserve or share customer data if compelled by a legally binding order or proper legal request. If a non-U.S. authority approaches us, our default stance is to refuse unless compelled through established legal mechanisms.
5. We use third-party service providers to supply the infrastructure, software, and related technology required to operate the Services. These providers are bound by data protection obligations and process your data only as necessary to provide the Services. We do not permit any third-party provider, including artificial intelligence or machine learning service providers, to use your content for training models or any purpose other than delivering the Services to you. A current list of subprocessors is available upon request.
6. Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), Disseminate is a “service provider,” not a “business” or “third party,” with respect to your use of the Services. We process data you share with us only for the purpose you signed up for and as described in these Terms and our Privacy Policy. We do not retain, use, disclose, or sell any of that information for any other commercial purposes unless we have your explicit permission.

Copyright and Content Ownership

1. All content posted on the Services must comply with applicable copyright law.
2. You grant us a limited license to use content posted by you and your users solely to provide the Services to you. We claim no ownership rights over your materials. All materials you submit to the Services remain yours.
3. We do not pre-screen content, but we reserve the right (but not the obligation) to refuse or remove any content available via the Services at our sole discretion.
4. The Company owns all right, title, and interest in and to the Services, including all intellectual property rights therein. You obtain no ownership rights in the Services as a result of your use.
5. You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell, or exploit any portion of the Services without express written permission from the Company.

Features and Bugs

We design the Services with care. However, there is no such thing as a service that pleases everybody. We make no guarantees that the Services will meet your specific requirements or expectations. We test all features extensively before shipping them, but as with any software, bugs are inevitable. We track reported bugs and prioritize those related to security or privacy. Not all reported bugs will be fixed, and we do not guarantee completely error-free Services.

Liability

You expressly understand and agree that the Company shall not be liable, in law or in equity, to you or to any third party for any direct, indirect, incidental, lost profits, special, consequential, punitive, or exemplary damages, including but not limited to damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data, or other intangible losses (even if the Company has been advised of the possibility of such damages), resulting from: (i) the use or the inability to use the Services; (ii) the cost of procurement of substitute goods and services; (iii) unauthorized access to or alteration of your transmissions or data; (iv) statements or conduct of any third party on the Services; or (v) any other matter relating to these Terms or the Services, whether as a breach of contract, tort (including negligence), or any other theory of liability.

Contact

If you have questions about these Terms, please contact us at support@disseminate.pub.

These Terms are adapted from the Basecamp open-source policies, licensed under CC BY 4.0.