Terms of use

1. Your account

• You must be at least 16 years old.
• One person, one account. Accounts for fake or extra identities can be removed.
• Keep your password to yourself. You are responsible for what happens under your account.
• Sciency is free and in beta. Features can change, and there may be downtime or bugs.
• During the beta you need an invite to join. Invite only people you know do research. Your invites stay linked to your account, and we can withdraw invites or stop them working if they are misused.

2. Community rules

The community rules in the Town Hall are part of these terms. In short: be kind, criticise methods not people, don't share anyone's personal information, be open about conflicts of interest, and only share data you are allowed to share. Do not post anything illegal, hateful, harassing, sexually explicit, or advertising that isn't declared as such.

3. Your content

• What you post stays yours. You give us the right to store it, show it to members and display it within Sciency for as long as it is online.
• Only post content you have the right to share. Unpublished results and protocols often belong to your lab or institution, so check first.
• You can delete your posts at any time, and everything when you delete your account.

4. Advice is not a guarantee

Answers on Sciency come from other members, not from us, and may be wrong or incomplete. Always follow your institution's safety rules, biosafety regulations and the instructions of your supervisors and manufacturers. Never act on advice that could put people, animals or the environment at risk without checking it properly.

5. Moderation

Members can report content. Content that several members report is paused or hidden automatically until a moderator reviews it. Moderators can hide content that breaks these terms and tell the author why. We can suspend or close accounts that seriously or repeatedly break them. If you think a decision is wrong, write to us through the Town Hall help form or the contact page and a person will look at it again.

6. Verification

Verified researchers get a badge and can vote in the Town Hall and redeem rewards. You may verify only your own account, with an email address you are entitled to use. We can remove a badge that was obtained by misuse.

7. Points, bounties and rewards

• Points are a thank-you within Sciency. They have no cash value, can't be bought, sold or transferred, and can't be exchanged for money.
• Points you put on a bounty are paid to the answer you accept, or returned if nobody answers in time, as explained on the Bounties page.
• Rewards depend on availability and on our sponsors. We may change, replace or end rewards, and we check every redemption before delivering it.
• Points gained through fake accounts, abuse or errors can be removed, and related redemptions cancelled.
• If Sciency closes, points and undelivered rewards lapse. We will give advance notice where we can.

8. Liability

Sciency is provided free of charge. We are fully liable for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, and where the law requires it. For slight negligence we are liable only for breaches of essential obligations, and only for damage that was typical and foreseeable. We are not responsible for content posted by members.

9. Ending

You can delete your account at any time in Settings. We can end the service for an account with reasonable notice, or immediately for serious breaches of these terms.

10. Changes and law

We may update these terms. We tell you about important changes in the app before they take effect; if you don't agree, you can delete your account. German law applies. If you are a consumer living in another EU country, the consumer protection rules of that country still apply to you.