Terms of Use
Effective date: March 31, 2026
These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the FigScan website at figscan.org and the scientific image integrity screening services we provide (the “Services”). By using the Services, you agree to these Terms. If you are using the Services on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that organization.
1. The Services
FigScan provides tools to help detect potential duplication, manipulation, and transformed reuse in scientific figures and manuscripts, and to generate reviewable findings and reports. The Services provide decision support and do not constitute legal advice or a final determination of misconduct, compliance, or publication suitability.
2. Accounts and access
- You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your credentials and for activities under your account.
- You must provide accurate information and keep it up to date.
- We may suspend or terminate access if we reasonably believe your account is compromised or misused.
3. Your content
You retain ownership of content you upload to the Services (“Customer Content”). You grant FigScan a limited, non-exclusive license to host, process, and analyze Customer Content solely to provide and support the Services and to generate outputs you request.
You represent that you have the rights and permissions necessary to upload and process Customer Content, including any personal data or third-party materials contained within it.
4. Acceptable use
You agree not to:
- Use the Services for unlawful, harmful, or fraudulent purposes.
- Upload malware or attempt to disrupt, probe, or compromise the Services.
- Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code or underlying models except to the extent such restriction is prohibited by law.
- Access or use the Services to build a competing product or to scrape at scale without permission.
5. Confidentiality
We treat Customer Content and generated reports as confidential and use them to provide the Services. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any reports or outputs you download or share.
6. Intellectual property
FigScan and its licensors own all rights in the Services, including software, designs, and trademarks. These Terms do not grant you ownership of the Services. Subject to these Terms, you may use the Services and generated outputs for your internal review, editorial, compliance, and research integrity workflows.
7. Disclaimers
The Services are provided “as is” and “as available.” Screening results may contain false positives or false negatives. You are responsible for human review and for decisions made using the outputs. To the maximum extent permitted by law, FigScan disclaims warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.
8. Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, FigScan will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, or goodwill, arising from or related to the Services. To the extent liability cannot be excluded, FigScan’s total liability will be limited to the amount paid for the Services during the twelve (12) months before the event giving rise to the claim.
9. Suspension and termination
We may suspend or terminate access to the Services if you violate these Terms or if continued access poses a security, legal, or operational risk. Upon termination, your right to use the Services will end. We may retain and delete data according to our Privacy Policy and contractual obligations.
10. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. If changes are material, we will provide reasonable notice (for example, by posting an updated effective date). Continued use of the Services after changes become effective constitutes acceptance.
11. Contact
Questions about these Terms can be sent to contact@figscan.org.