Terms of Service

Research Referee is operated by Eluctari B.V. (KVK 84191554), Laan van Meerdervoort 2H, 2517 AJ Den Haag, The Netherlands. Contact: info@referee-project.com.

Research Referee analyses research papers for methodological weaknesses using the Common Research Weakness Enumeration (CRWE) taxonomy, and lets people post, claim and review bounties for finding such weaknesses.

Automated CRWE analysis is experimental and unvalidated. It does not establish the quality of a paper, and no validated precision or recall claim is made for it.

A check is recorded as found or not found only when it is conclusive. Inconclusive and disputed checks mean no conclusion was reached, never a partial finding.

Findings describe a paper's methods. They are not a judgement of any person, not a substitute for peer review, and not professional, legal or medical advice.

• You must be at least 16 years old to create an account.
• Keep your sign-in credentials secure; you are responsible for use of your account.
• Roles such as sponsor or reviewer are granted by us, and we may change or withdraw them.

You may only upload papers and evidence you have the right to use for this analysis, and you confirm this at every upload. You keep all rights to your content. You give us permission to store and process it, including through the AI provider you consent to, only as far as needed to provide the service and keep its results verifiable, as described in our Privacy Policy.

Do not upload confidential material you are not permitted to share, or personal data beyond what the published research itself contains. In particular, do not upload identifiable health, genetic or other sensitive data about individuals.

• Bounty amounts are commitments advertised by sponsors and are settled off-platform between the people involved. Research Referee does not hold, escrow or transfer money, and does not guarantee that any amount is paid.
• Claims expire after their stated period if no submission is made.
• Submissions are reviewed. A submission rejected by an independent reviewer can be appealed once, within seven days of that review. Withdrawing your own submission is final. Erik Schneider targets a response within two business days. Resolution and human scientific review are not guaranteed.
• Automated output is not automatically converted into human provenance, and it creates no automatic payout.

You agree not to:

• break the law or infringe anyone else's rights through the service;
• use findings to harass, threaten or defame researchers or anyone else;
• scrape the service, bypass rate limits or access controls, or disrupt its operation;
• impersonate others or misrepresent your affiliation or role.

We may suspend or close accounts that breach these terms. Where reasonable we will tell you why first.

Using Research Referee is currently free of charge. Any checkout you may see labelled as a test fee is a test only, and no real amount is payable. If we introduce real fees, we will show them before you commit to anything that incurs one.

We provide the service as it is and may change, interrupt or discontinue features. To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for decisions you or others make based on the analysis. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited under Dutch law, including liability for intent or gross negligence, and nothing affects your mandatory rights as a consumer.

We may update these terms and will show the date of the latest version at the top. Material changes will be announced on the site before they take effect. You can stop using the service and ask us to delete your account at any time.

These terms are governed by Dutch law. Disputes go to the competent court in The Hague, unless mandatory consumer law gives you the right to go to the court where you live.