Pre-launch beta
SciMatch is currently provided as a beta service. These terms apply to the beta and will be revisited together with the Data Protection Officer of Wrocław University of Science and Technology before the full public launch on
scimatch.pwr.edu.pl. A binding Polish-language version (regulamin) will be published alongside this document.
1. About these terms
These Terms of Service (the "Terms") govern your access to and use of SciMatch (the "Service"), available at scimatch.pwr.edu.pl and related URLs. By creating an account or otherwise using the Service, you confirm that you have read, understood and accepted these Terms.
2. Provider
The Service is operated by the Applied Artificial Intelligence Center at Wrocław University of Science and Technology (Politechnika Wrocławska), ul. Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland, NIP 896-000-58-51, REGON 000001614, in collaboration with the UNITE! European University Alliance. We refer to this entity as "we", "us" or the "Provider".
3. What SciMatch does
SciMatch is a research discovery platform. It aggregates publicly available academic metadata about researchers and their publications across the nine universities of the UNITE! Alliance and surrounding research ecosystem, and it provides search, filtering, visualization and AI-assisted exploration over that metadata. The Service is intended for academic, educational and non-commercial research use.
The Service may include, among others:
- semantic and keyword search over researcher profiles,
- publication-level search and filtering,
- researcher collections (personal lists you can save),
- an AI assistant that can answer questions about researchers and publications,
- document analysis, which extracts topics and keywords from files you upload in order to suggest relevant researchers.
4. Eligibility and accounts
During the beta phase, account creation is limited to members of Wrocław University of Science and Technology holding a valid @pwr.edu.pl or @student.pwr.edu.pl email address. You must be at least 16 years old. Eligibility may be extended to other UNITE! Alliance institutions after the beta.
You are responsible for keeping your account credentials confidential and for all activity that occurs under your account. Notify us through the contact form if you suspect unauthorized access.
5. Acceptable use
You agree not to:
- use the Service in a way that violates applicable law or the rights of others,
- scrape, mirror or bulk-download data from the Service through automated means without prior written consent,
- attempt to circumvent access controls, rate limits, security mechanisms or authentication,
- upload documents that you do not have the right to process, or that contain special-category personal data of others (e.g. health information),
- use the Service to harass, defame, profile or surveil individual researchers,
- use the Service to train or fine-tune third-party AI models without our written consent,
- interfere with the operation of the Service or place an undue load on its infrastructure.
6. AI assistant and document analysis
The AI features of the Service rely on large language models provided by third parties such as OpenAI and Anthropic. When you use the AI assistant or upload a document for analysis, the relevant content is transmitted to those providers solely for the purpose of generating the response or extracting the metadata you requested. We describe this processing in the Privacy Policy.
AI-generated output may be incomplete, inaccurate or out of date. It must not be relied upon as legal, medical, financial or professional advice, and it should always be independently verified before being used in academic publications, funding applications or any decision affecting individuals.
7. Your content
You retain all rights to the content you submit, including search queries, notes, collection names and uploaded documents ("Your Content"). You grant us a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, process and display Your Content solely as necessary to provide the Service to you, to operate and improve the Service in aggregate, non-identifying form, and to comply with legal obligations.
You represent that you have all rights necessary to submit Your Content and that doing so does not infringe the rights of any third party.
8. Data sources and accuracy
Researcher profiles and publication metadata displayed in the Service are aggregated from public sources, including OpenAlex, Scopus (where licensed), and the institutional pages of UNITE! Alliance members. We use automated matching and de-duplication to consolidate this data, which may occasionally produce errors. We do not guarantee completeness, accuracy or timeliness of the aggregated information.
If you are a researcher whose profile contains incorrect data or who wishes to have their profile removed, see Section 9 below.
9. Researcher takedown and correction
Researchers whose academic profile appears in SciMatch may at any time request correction or removal of their entry by writing to us via the contact form. We will respond without undue delay and in any event within the timeframes required by applicable data protection law.
10. Intellectual property
The SciMatch software, user interface, logos, search ranking models and aggregation pipelines are the intellectual property of Wrocław University of Science and Technology and its contributors. Bibliographic metadata is made available under the licences of the respective upstream sources (e.g. CC0 for OpenAlex). Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of our intellectual property to you.
11. Disclaimers
The Service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we disclaim all warranties, whether express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy of search results, and non-infringement.
This clause does not exclude or limit any rights granted to you as a consumer under the mandatory provisions of Polish law.
12. Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the Provider shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, or for loss of profits, data, goodwill or opportunity, arising out of or related to your use of, or inability to use, the Service. Our aggregate liability for direct damages is limited to the amount you paid us for the Service in the twelve months preceding the event giving rise to liability; during the beta the Service is provided free of charge and that amount is zero. Nothing in this clause limits liability that cannot be limited under applicable law.
13. Suspension and termination
You may delete your account at any time from your profile page or by contacting us. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service if you breach these Terms, if required by law, or if necessary to protect the integrity or security of the Service. Where reasonable, we will give you prior notice and an opportunity to remedy the breach.
14. Changes to the Service and to these Terms
The Service is under active development and its features may change, be added or be discontinued. We may also update these Terms from time to time. We will announce material changes through the Service or by email to registered users at least 14 days before they take effect, unless a shorter period is required by law. Continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.
15. Governing law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Poland. Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms or your use of the Service shall first be addressed by good-faith negotiation. If the dispute cannot be resolved that way, it shall be submitted to the competent court for the seat of the Provider (Wrocław). Consumers retain the right to bring proceedings in the courts of their place of residence as provided by mandatory law.
16. Contact
Questions about these Terms or about the Service can be directed to the SciMatch team through the contact page. For data-protection matters, see the contact details in our Privacy Policy.
See also our Privacy Policy.