Privacy Policy

Last updated: February 10, 2026

1. Information We Collect

When you interact with the ResearchTwin Discord bot, we process:

• Query content: The questions you send via slash commands
• Researcher slugs: The researcher identifiers you provide

We do not collect or store your Discord user ID, username, server information, or message history beyond what is needed to respond to your current request.

2. Registration Data

When you register for a hosted ResearchTwin account (Tier 3), we collect and store:

• Name and email: Used to create your researcher profile and for account communication
• Research identifiers (optional): Semantic Scholar ID, Google Scholar ID, GitHub username, Figshare author name, ORCID — used to fetch your publicly available research outputs

This data is stored in our database on dedicated servers. We do not share registration data with third parties. You may request deletion of your account by contacting us via the link below.

3. How We Use Information

Your queries are sent to our backend API solely to generate a response. Queries are not logged, stored, or used for training purposes.

4. Third-Party Data Sources

ResearchTwin retrieves publicly available research metadata from:

• Semantic Scholar API (publication and citation data)
• GitHub API (code repository metadata)
• Figshare API (dataset metadata)

These services have their own privacy policies governing the data they provide.

5. Data Storage

ResearchTwin caches publicly available research metadata to improve response times. No personal user data is stored. Cached research data may be refreshed or purged periodically.

6. Data Sharing

We do not sell, trade, or share any user data with third parties. Your queries are processed in real-time and not retained.

7. Security

All communication between Discord and our servers occurs over encrypted connections (HTTPS/WSS). Our infrastructure is hosted on dedicated servers with standard security practices.

8. Children's Privacy

ResearchTwin is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy at any time. Changes will be reflected by the "Last updated" date above.

10. Contact

For privacy-related questions, reach out via GitHub.