Acceptable Use Policy

1. Scope of this policy

This Acceptable Use Policy applies to all users of the EAIPAM website, manuscript-submission portal, assessment services, reports, administrator tools and associated systems.

It forms part of the EAIPAM Terms of Service. Users must comply with this policy whenever they access or use the platform.

2. Permitted use

EAIPAM may be used for legitimate editorial, scholarly, institutional and publishing purposes, including:

• Assessing a manuscript that the user owns or is authorised to submit.
• Reviewing reference integrity and bibliographic accuracy.
• Conducting plagiarism and similarity analysis where included in the selected service.
• Examining citation-to-claim alignment.
• Identifying scientific inaccuracies or inconsistencies.
• Assessing the depth and quality of supporting evidence.
• Supporting editorial, institutional or publishing review.
• Reviewing and responding to findings in a professional manner.

3. Authority to submit material

A user may upload a manuscript only where the user:

• Owns the manuscript.
• Has permission from the author or copyright holder.
• Is acting on behalf of an authorised publisher, institution or organisation.
• Has another lawful basis for submitting the material for assessment.

Users must not upload manuscripts obtained through unauthorised access, breach of confidence, deception, theft or improper disclosure.

EAIPAM may request evidence of the user's authority to submit a manuscript.

4. Prohibited manuscript uploads

Users must not upload:

• Material they do not have authority to submit.
• Stolen, leaked or unlawfully obtained manuscripts.
• Material submitted in breach of a confidentiality agreement.
• Content that infringes copyright, database rights, privacy rights or other legal rights.
• Files containing malware, ransomware, viruses, spyware or harmful code.
• Files intended to disrupt, overload or compromise the platform.
• Material that is illegal to possess, transmit or process.
• Personal data that is unnecessary for the selected assessment.

5. Confidential and unpublished material

Users may submit unpublished manuscripts only when they have appropriate authority and have considered any confidentiality obligations applying to the material.

Users should remove unnecessary confidential information, unpublished personal data, passwords, access credentials and unrelated sensitive information before uploading a file.

Manuscript confidentiality is addressed further in the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

6. Personal and sensitive information

Users must avoid uploading personal information that is not reasonably necessary for the assessment.

Users should not intentionally submit:

• Government identification numbers.
• Payment-card or banking credentials.
• Account passwords or security codes.
• Private medical records unrelated to the scholarly content.
• Personal information concerning children unless its processing is lawful and necessary.
• Confidential employment or disciplinary records unrelated to the assessment.

7. Account and credential misuse

Users must not:

• Share account credentials with unauthorised persons.
• Access another user's account without permission.
• Impersonate another person or organisation.
• Provide false account, institutional or payment information.
• Attempt to bypass authentication or access controls.
• Use compromised, stolen or fraudulently obtained credentials.

Users must notify EAIPAM promptly if they believe their account or credentials have been compromised.

8. System and security abuse

Users must not attempt to:

• Gain unauthorised access to EAIPAM systems, databases, storage or administrator tools.
• Probe, scan or test the platform for vulnerabilities without written permission.
• Circumvent technical limitations or security controls.
• Interfere with platform availability or performance.
• Introduce malicious software, scripts or automated attacks.
• Access or extract another user's manuscript, findings or report.
• Modify, delete or corrupt platform data without authorisation.
• Conceal or falsify the source of malicious activity.

9. Automated access and excessive use

Users must not use bots, scrapers, scripts or automated systems to access EAIPAM unless the activity is expressly authorised.

Prohibited automated activity includes:

• Submitting excessive numbers of requests.
• Circumventing upload, usage or payment limits.
• Extracting reports, database records or platform content in bulk.
• Creating accounts automatically or fraudulently.
• Testing the service in a manner that affects other users.

10. Reverse engineering and manipulation

Users must not:

• Reverse engineer or attempt to reconstruct EAIPAM's proprietary scoring logic.
• Copy or reproduce protected platform software.
• Attempt to manipulate integrity scores or findings.
• Submit deliberately altered content solely to test or defeat the assessment system.
• Circumvent service restrictions or payment requirements.
• Misrepresent an altered report as an official EAIPAM report.

This section does not prevent legitimate professional evaluation, academic criticism or authorised security testing.

11. Misuse of assessment reports

EAIPAM reports must not be used:

• As conclusive proof of AI authorship or misconduct.
• To present a similarity percentage or source match as conclusive proof of plagiarism, copyright infringement or research misconduct.
• To make knowingly false, misleading or defamatory allegations.
• To conceal relevant limitations or qualifications stated in the report.
• To present a preliminary finding as a final institutional or legal determination.
• To harass, threaten, intimidate or discriminate against an author.
• To create a misleading edited or incomplete version of an EAIPAM report.

Similarity percentages indicate textual overlap with identified sources. They must be interpreted in context and are not mathematically combined with the EAIPAM integrity-risk score.

Reports should be interpreted by an appropriately qualified editor, reviewer, publisher or institutional decision-maker.

12. Scientific and editorial responsibility

Users must consider findings in context and apply professional judgement.

Users should recognise that:

• Reference-verification failure does not automatically establish fabrication.
• Citation mismatch findings require editorial review.
• Scientific-accuracy findings are decision-support observations.
• Similarity findings require contextual review and do not independently establish plagiarism.
• Integrity-risk scores do not prove wrongdoing.
• AI-mediated writing indicators are corroborative rather than determinative.
• EAIPAM does not replace peer review or subject-matter review.

Further limitations are explained in the Scientific and Editorial Disclaimer.

13. Fraudulent and unlawful use

Users must not use EAIPAM for:

• Fraud, deception or identity misuse.
• Unlawful surveillance or unauthorised profiling.
• Extortion, coercion or harassment.
• Falsification of scholarly or publishing records.
• Concealing unauthorised manuscript access.
• Avoiding legal, institutional or contractual obligations.
• Any activity prohibited by applicable law.

14. Payment and commercial abuse

Users must not:

• Use stolen or unauthorised payment methods.
• Submit fraudulent refund or chargeback claims.
• Create multiple accounts to misuse discounts or promotional offers.
• Resell EAIPAM services without written authorisation.
• Misrepresent the source or status of a purchased report.

15. Intellectual-property rights

Users retain ownership of manuscripts they lawfully own or control.

Users must respect the copyright, database, trademark and other intellectual-property rights of EAIPAM and third parties.

Users must not copy, reproduce, publish, sell or create derivative commercial products from EAIPAM software, report templates, methodology or proprietary platform material except where expressly permitted.

16. Reporting suspected misuse

Users may report suspected unauthorised uploads, account compromise, report misuse or platform abuse.

A report should include, where available:

• The relevant account or submission information.
• A description of the suspected violation.
• Supporting evidence.
• Contact information for follow-up.

17. Investigation of violations

EAIPAM may investigate suspected violations using relevant account, submission, payment, access and security records.

EAIPAM may temporarily restrict access while investigating a credible security, legal or confidentiality concern.

Users may be asked to provide evidence of identity, authority, manuscript ownership or lawful use.

18. Consequences of violations

Depending on the nature and seriousness of a violation, EAIPAM may:

• Issue a warning.
• Require corrective action.
• Remove or quarantine an uploaded file.
• Stop or cancel an assessment.
• Restrict report access.
• Suspend or terminate an account.
• Refuse future service.
• Preserve records needed for an investigation or dispute.
• Notify an affected rights holder or authorised organisation where appropriate.
• Cooperate with a valid legal or regulatory request.

Immediate action may be taken where necessary to protect manuscripts, users, systems or legal rights.

19. Refunds following a violation

A user may not be entitled to a refund where an assessment or account is cancelled because of unauthorised submission, fraud, system abuse or another material violation of this policy.

Refund decisions remain subject to the Refund Policy and applicable law.

20. Changes to this policy

EAIPAM may update this policy to address new platform features, security risks, service models or legal requirements.

The effective date will be updated when a revised policy is published. Material changes may be communicated to registered users.

21. Contact information