Terms of Service
TERMS OF SERVICE
1. PURPOSE AND SCOPE
These Consolidated Service and Use Policies govern the terms of use, user obligations, ethical rules, cancellation and refund principles, service-specific conditions, sanction mechanisms, and limitations of liability relating to memberships, digital access, article processing procedures, APC processes, editorial and operational support, event and conference participation, online or physical training, consultancy processes, sponsorship, visibility services, and all related services offered through the Platform.
This text shall be applied together with the Distance Sales Agreement, the Preliminary Information Form, the KVKK Information Notice, the Explicit Consent Text, and the Privacy and Cookie Policy. With respect to specific provisions relating to personal data processing, the KVKK Information Notice and, where required, the Explicit Consent Text shall prevail.
2. NATURE OF THE SERVICES AND GENERAL PRINCIPLES
The services offered on the Platform may be digital, physical, online, hybrid, editorial, technical, organizational, consultancy-based, or of a mixed nature. The exact scope, duration, method of access, usage limits, technical conditions, and specific conditions of the relevant service shall be as stated on the relevant service page, application screen, user panel, order summary, or announcement text.
The Seller declares that the services do not constitute a work commitment guaranteeing a specific academic, technical, commercial, or visibility outcome, but are provided within the limits of the available infrastructure, operational flow, security conditions, and third-party systems.
3. MEMBERSHIP AND ACCOUNT USE
The user is obliged to provide accurate, current, complete, and lawful information when creating an account and using services on the Platform. User accounts are personal. The user is responsible for protecting the account, session credentials, password, and access tools.
Even if the user claims that transactions carried out through the account were not performed with the user’s knowledge or consent, the user assumes the risks arising from failure to take the necessary security precautions. Where there is suspicion of unauthorized access, the user must notify the Seller immediately.
The Seller may keep comprehensive logs, session, device, traffic, transaction, and risk records for purposes of security, identity verification, fraud prevention, system integrity, misuse review, internal audit, and legal defense.
4. ACCESS TO SERVICES, ACTIVATION, AND PERFORMANCE
Performance of a service shall be deemed to have commenced through actions such as activation of membership, creation of an account, assignment of access authorization, opening digital content, creation of a registration, initiation of an article processing workflow, initiation of event or sponsorship preparations, consultancy planning, or assignment of a license or right of use.
The Seller’s performance obligation shall be deemed fulfilled once the service has been made accessible or applicable to the user. The fact that the user cannot fully or properly benefit from the service due to the user’s own device, internet connection, local network, e-mail system, firewall, institutional policies, third-party accounts, or technical deficiencies shall not by itself constitute non-performance.
5. PRICING, COLLECTION, AND RENEWAL
Service fees are the amounts announced on the Platform. Unless otherwise expressly stated, taxes are included. The Seller may update prices, plan contents, campaigns, discounts, limits, and commercial conditions without prior notice, provided that active and paid periods are preserved.
Payments are collected through payment institutions and other third-party payment systems. To the extent that risks arise from banks, payment institutions, card systems, virtual POS, authorization, security authentication, chargebacks, blocking, errors, or delays, the user is also subject to the conditions of such third-party systems.
Automatic renewal may apply to subscription-based or recurring membership services. If the user does not wish to renew, the user must personally complete the cancellation process before the relevant period ends.
6. CANCELLATION, REFUND, AND WITHDRAWAL PRINCIPLES
Cancellation and refund conditions may vary depending on the nature of the service. Without prejudice to mandatory legal rights, once digital access is opened, membership is activated, registration is created, a process is initiated, content access is granted, an article workflow is activated, sponsorship preparations begin, or performance otherwise commences, refunds may be denied. Legislation provides for exceptions to the right of withdrawal for services performed instantly in electronic form or intangible goods delivered instantly to the consumer.
Payment of APC fees, article processing charges, editorial operations, technical preliminary review, similarity checks, typesetting, metadata preparation, DOI/integration preparation, visibility operations, or similar fees does not mean that the article will be accepted, published, positively reviewed, indexed, assigned a DOI, cited, or yield any specific academic or commercial result.
For events, training, webinars, conferences, and sponsorship services, the user’s personal excuse, failure to attend, scheduling conflict, change of mind, or failure to obtain the expected benefit shall not in itself constitute grounds for a refund.
The Seller reserves the right, for organizational, technical, security-related, legal, academic, commercial, or force majeure reasons, to postpone a service, convert it into an online / physical / hybrid format, update its scope, designate an equivalent method of performance, or offer an alternative solution where deemed necessary.
7. ARTICLE, EDITORIAL, AND ACADEMIC PROCESSES
Article submissions, editorial review, preliminary checks, similarity analysis, ethics review, peer review coordination, revision management, typesetting, and metadata preparation shall be carried out in accordance with independent editorial assessment and operational workflow principles.
The user agrees that the user possesses the necessary rights with respect to all academic content, titles, abstracts, full texts, tables, figures, visuals, data, attachments, revision texts, institutional information, author information, and similar content uploaded to the Platform, and that all required permissions and authorizations have been obtained from co-authors, institutions, funders, and third parties.
The Seller provides no guarantee as to the accuracy, originality, scientific merit, acceptance, publication, or visibility of any article or academic content in external systems.
8. AI / LLM, AUTOMATED ANALYSIS, AND PROCESSING OF ACADEMIC CONTENT
The Platform may use artificial intelligence, generative artificial intelligence, large language model systems, automatic classification, recommendation, search, summarization, risk flagging, association, quality control, and content processing components.
The user agrees that academic content uploaded to the Platform, whether published or unpublished, including drafts, preprints, metadata, application files, and revision files, may be processed by AI / LLM systems and related technical infrastructures for purposes of service provision, quality control, ethics review, similarity analysis, recommendation systems, classification, search, visibility, reporting, operation, and technical functioning.
The user understands and accepts that no guarantee is given in relation to absolute confidentiality, exclusively human review, closed-circuit processing, or the absence of automated analysis with respect to such processing activities.
9. THIRD-PARTY DATA, PERMISSIONS, AND USER RESPONSIBILITY
Where the content uploaded by the user contains data relating to co-authors, research participants, students, clients, institutional representatives, referees, or other third parties, the user declares that the user has the necessary legal grounds, has provided the required notices, and has obtained the necessary explicit consents where required.
If content containing special categories of personal data, health data, children’s data, biometric data, or other high-risk data is uploaded, the legal and administrative responsibility arising from such upload shall, as a rule, belong to the user who uploaded the data.
10. PLATFORM USE RULES AND PROHIBITED CONDUCT
The Platform may only be used in accordance with law, principles of good faith, the contract, academic ethics, and the purpose of the service.
The following conduct is prohibited:
spam, bot usage, scraping, or mass data extraction,
reverse engineering, unauthorized testing or exploitation under the guise of security research,
opening false accounts, using false identities or institutional details,
submitting false data, false documents, misleading content, or misleading applications,
unauthorized access, account takeover, or system manipulation,
use that damages the performance, security, or reputation of the Platform,
uploading unlawful, misleading, infringing, or unethical content.
11. ACADEMIC ETHICS AND MATERIAL VIOLATIONS
The following shall constitute material violations:
plagiarism, fabrication, falsification,
duplicate publication, misleading authorship, unauthorized use,
ethics committee or process violations,
data distortion, concealment of conflicts of interest,
attempts to influence peer review or editorial processes,
unauthorized use of third-party data or works.
In the event of such violations, strong suspicion thereof, or third-party notification, the Seller may use all review tools including similarity reports, system logs, e-mails, application records, technical findings, and third-party verifications.
12. SELLER’S UNILATERAL RIGHTS AND SANCTIONS
In the event of security concerns, ethical compliance issues, legal risk, technical maintenance, operational necessity, commercial restructuring, third-party service interruption, or suspicion of misuse, the Seller reserves the right, without prior notice, to:
suspend or close the account,
remove content or restrict access,
suspend, reject, or terminate an application or article process,
reduce visibility or retract a publication,
terminate event / sponsorship participation,
refuse refunds,
notify relevant institutions or editorial units,
claim damages and costs incurred.
13. THIRD-PARTY SERVICES, INTEGRATIONS, AND LIMITED CONTROL
The Platform may use third-party services for payments, e-mail, domain names, hosting, cloud services, security, analytics, indexing, AI / LLM, APIs, storage, communication, and similar services.
The Seller does not have absolute control over the policy changes, data processing methods, technical limits, security levels, service continuity, indexing outcomes, delays, or visibility effects of such services. Accordingly, delays, errors, outages, data inconsistencies, API changes, quota overruns, lack of visibility, indexing issues, or synchronization problems arising from third-party services shall not be deemed a breach of commitment by the Seller.
14. EXTENSIVE LOGGING, EVIDENCE MANAGEMENT, AND INTERNAL AUDIT
The Seller may keep extensive logs, audit trails, transaction histories, access records, security signals, session information, device records, and risk scores for purposes of system security, misuse prevention, account protection, technical maintenance, error analysis, internal audit, ethics review, legal defense, and evidence management.
The user acknowledges that such records, generated as part of the functioning of a digital platform, may be used in breach reviews, internal audits, dispute resolution, and legal defense.
15. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND LIMITATIONS OF USE
All rights relating to the Platform’s software, design, database structure, page layout, brand elements, original content, documentation, visuals, and system architecture belong to the Seller or its licensors.
Without the Seller’s prior written consent, the Platform, in whole or in part, may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, resold, commercially exploited, scraped, or used to create derivative works.
16. FORCE MAJEURE
Earthquakes, fires, floods, epidemics, pandemics, war, terrorism, civil unrest, strikes, lockouts, acts of public authorities, court decisions, telecommunications failures, internet backbone problems, power outages, data center issues, cyberattacks, supply chain disruptions, and similar extraordinary circumstances beyond the Seller’s reasonable control shall be deemed force majeure events.
In such cases, the Seller shall not be liable for delays, changes in service format, reduction in service scope, postponement, suspension, or alternative methods of performance.
17. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
The Seller does not guarantee that the services will be uninterrupted, error-free, continuously accessible, fully compatible with all devices, or capable of meeting every user expectation.
The Seller shall not be liable for software errors, risks of data loss, maintenance work, version transitions, cyberattacks, internet or power outages, DNS and hosting issues, e-mail delivery problems, cloud failures, AI / LLM service outages, third-party indexing or integration problems, or for indirect damages, loss of profit, loss of opportunity, loss of data, loss of reputation, or failure to achieve expected benefits arising from such external or technical causes.
Without prejudice to mandatory legal provisions, the Seller’s liability shall be limited to the amount actually collected for the relevant service giving rise to the dispute.
18. UPDATES AND EFFECTIVE DATE
The Seller may unilaterally update these Consolidated Service and Use Policies in line with legislative changes, technical requirements, security needs, commercial structure, or service changes.
The updated text shall apply to subsequent uses as of the date it is published on the Platform.