Terms of Service

Welcome to RefDesk. By using our platform, you agree to these Terms of Service. If you do not agree to any of these terms, please discontinue use of the service. RefDesk is operated by Shai Tamam ("we", "our", "the Company").

RefDesk is a SaaS platform that assists researchers with:

• Formulating structured research questions through an AI-guided conversation
• Running scoping searches for research landscape analysis via OpenAlex
• Building professional search strategies with controlled vocabulary (MeSH, Emtree) for biomedical databases

The service does not constitute academic, medical, or professional advice. Outputs generated by the system are assistive tools and should be critically reviewed according to accepted academic standards.

To use RefDesk, you must create an account via email or Google sign-in.

• You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account
• You agree to provide accurate and up-to-date information
• You are responsible for all activity under your account
• You must notify us immediately of any unauthorized use

The service is intended for users aged 18 and older, or students at academic institutions under the supervision of a research advisor.

RefDesk offers a free plan and a paid plan:

• Free plan: Up to 3 active projects, AI research question formulation, protocol download, and scoping search. Subject to rate limiting
• Researcher plan (paid): Everything in Free + unlimited projects, professional search strategy building, MeSH analysis, and literature screening

Payments are processed by Paddle.com Market Ltd, acting as our Merchant of Record. Paddle handles payment collection, taxes, VAT, and refunds in accordance with Paddle's terms.

Subscriptions renew automatically. You may cancel at any time via the "Plans & Billing" page in your account. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period.

Refunds are managed in accordance with Paddle's refund policy. For billing inquiries, you may contact us or Paddle directly.

Your content: You retain all rights to the content you input into the system, including research ideas, descriptions, and conversation responses. We do not claim ownership of your content.

License to use: You grant us a limited, non-exclusive license to use your content solely for the purpose of operating the service (e.g., AI processing, storage in your project).

AI training prohibition: We explicitly guarantee that your content, including research ideas and AI conversations, is NOT used to train any artificial intelligence models — neither by RefDesk nor by our third-party AI providers.

System outputs: Research questions, protocols, and search strategies generated for you are yours to use. We do not claim ownership of these outputs.

The platform: All rights to the platform, design, code, and algorithms belong to RefDesk.

RefDesk uses artificial intelligence technology (Google Gemini) to assist with research question formulation and search strategy building.

• AI-generated content may contain inaccuracies. Users are responsible for reviewing and verifying all outputs
• MeSH terms are retrieved from NCBI (U.S. National Library of Medicine) and are not AI-generated
• Framework selection uses deterministic logic, not AI guessing
• System outputs should not be relied upon as a substitute for academic or professional judgment

You agree not to:

• Use the service for any unlawful purpose
• Attempt to access systems or data that are not yours
• Reverse engineer the algorithms or AI
• Copy, reproduce, or resell the service or parts of it
• Overload the service with excessive automated requests
• Upload offensive, misleading, or copyright-infringing content
• Impersonate another user or entity

Violation of these terms may result in account suspension or termination.

RefDesk uses third-party services to operate:

• Google Gemini: Natural language processing and AI content generation
• OpenAlex: Bibliometric analysis and scoping search (open database)
• NCBI/NLM: MeSH term lookup from the National Library of Medicine
• Supabase: Data storage and user authentication
• Paddle: Payment processing and subscription management
• Vercel: Website hosting and deployment

These services operate under their own terms of service and privacy policies. We do not control the availability or performance of third-party services.

We strive to ensure continuous availability of the service, but do not guarantee it. The service is provided "as-is" without warranty of availability, accuracy, or completeness.

We reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue the service (or parts of it) at any time, with or without notice. In the case of paid service discontinuation, we will provide reasonable advance notice.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, RefDesk, its operators, employees, or partners shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from:

• Use or inability to use the service
• Inaccuracies in AI-generated content
• Service interruptions or disruptions
• Unauthorized access to your data
• Academic or professional decisions made based on system outputs

In any case, our total liability shall not exceed the amount you paid us in the preceding 12 months, or $100 — whichever is greater.

The User assumes full, unconditional, and sole responsibility for validating, testing, and verifying the accuracy and completeness of any search strategy or research protocol generated by RefDesk before submitting it for academic peer review, institutional review boards (IRB/Helsinki), or clinical implementation.

RefDesk shall bear no liability whatsoever for rejected papers, flawed research methodologies, or any clinical outcomes resulting from the reliance on the Service.

You may delete your account at any time via your Settings page. Upon account deletion, all your project data will be permanently removed within 30 days.

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms of Service, with reasonable notice (unless the violation is severe and immediate).

For details on data retention and deletion, see our Privacy Policy.

We may update these terms from time to time. Material changes will be posted on the website and registered users will be notified via email or site notification. Continued use of the service after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

These Terms of Service are governed by the laws of the State of Israel. Any dispute arising from the use of the service shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the competent courts in Israel. The parties shall attempt to resolve disputes amicably before initiating legal proceedings.

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless RefDesk, its operators, employees, and partners from any claims, damages, losses, costs, or expenses (including reasonable attorney fees) arising from: (a) your breach of these Terms; (b) your unlawful or unauthorized use of the service; (c) your infringement of any third-party rights; or (d) content you upload or input into the system.

RefDesk is currently in closed beta. As a beta service:

• The service is provided "as-is" with no service level agreement (SLA)
• Features, interfaces, and APIs may change without prior notice
• There may be bugs, errors, or limitations that have not yet been resolved
• We reserve the right to modify plan structures and pricing before the official launch

By participating in the beta, you acknowledge that you understand and accept these limitations. Feedback on the service is welcome and appreciated.

Severability: If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

Entire Agreement: These Terms of Service, together with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and RefDesk and supersede all prior agreements or understandings.

Force Majeure: RefDesk shall not be liable for any delay or failure in performance resulting from circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including natural disasters, wars, pandemics, internet failures, or cloud provider outages.

Waiver: Failure to enforce any right under these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of that right or any other right.

For questions about these Terms of Service, please contact us:

Email: refdeskshaitamam@gmail.com