Terms of Service
Effective Date: 2026-10-08
1. Acceptance of Terms
By accessing or using PhD Progress Tracker ("the Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use the Service.
These terms constitute a legally binding agreement between you and PhD Progress Tracker.
2. Description of Service
PhD Progress Tracker supports individual and shared research through projects, milestones, tasks, literature, manuscripts, Viva, meetings, reports and versioned research records. Availability depends on the chosen plan, permissions and enabled service capacity. AI guidance, research checklists and generated reports require human review and do not constitute academic, legal, ethics or institutional approval. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by a university merely because its public sources are referenced.
3. User Accounts & Registration
Provide accurate account information, protect your credentials and report unauthorized access. Your academic role is separate from organization ownership or administration. A purchaser must be authorized to buy and administer the stated workspace. Entering an email domain does not establish ownership of that domain or grant access to everyone at an institution. Membership and collaboration require the applicable verification and permission checks.
4. Acceptable Use Policy
You agree not to:
• Use the Service for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable laws.
• Upload malicious content, viruses, or harmful code.
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to other users' accounts or data.
• Interfere with or disrupt the Service's infrastructure.
• Use automated scripts or bots to access the Service without permission.
• Impersonate another person or entity.
• Use the Service to harass, abuse, or harm other users.
5. Intellectual Property
You retain full ownership of all research data, manuscripts, literature notes, and other content you create within the Service. PhD Progress Tracker does not claim any intellectual property rights over your content.
The Service itself, including its design, code, logos, and documentation, is the intellectual property of PhD Progress Tracker and is protected by applicable copyright and trademark laws.
6. Service Availability & Disclaimers
The Service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. We strive for high availability but do not guarantee uninterrupted access. We reserve the right to:
• Modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service with reasonable notice.
• Perform scheduled maintenance that may temporarily affect availability.
• Update features and functionality to improve the Service.
We do not warrant that the Service will meet all of your specific requirements or that it will be error-free.
7. Limitation of Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, PhD Progress Tracker and its developers shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the Service, including but not limited to loss of data, loss of profits, or interruption of research activities.
Our total liability for any claim arising from or related to the Service shall not exceed the amount you paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim.
8. Termination
You may request account deletion in Settings or through support. Personal data is removed through the documented cleanup process; shared research history and necessary legal, billing or security records may be retained or de-identified as permitted by law. Subscription cancellation and account deletion are separate actions. We may suspend access for material abuse or security threats, with notice and a chance to resolve issues where appropriate and lawful.
9. Governing Law
These terms are subject to applicable mandatory law and consumer protections. Contact support to seek a good-faith resolution of a dispute. Nothing in these terms removes a right to bring a claim before a court or authority with jurisdiction, or imposes mandatory arbitration. Paddle’s own contract governs transactions made through its service.
10. Contact Us
If you have any questions about these Terms of Service, please contact us at:
• Support: support@phdpt.com
• General Inquiries: contact.us@phdpt.com
Subscriptions, allowances and changes
The checkout shows the billing cadence, total, applicable tax and renewal terms. Combined seats include students and supervisors. Storage, traffic, reports, emails and AI are bounded allowances; optional paid services require an enabled entitlement and funded capacity. We do not silently purchase extra capacity for you. Ordinary bundle or cadence changes are available after 15 days for monthly plans or six calendar months for annual plans, measured from activation or the latest effective base-plan change. Ordinary renewal does not reset that clock. An urgent exception requires support and a scoped admin authorization. Cancellation and mandatory rights remain available. Downgrades restrict new usage above the reduced allowance rather than automatically deleting research files.
Temporary demo and research responsibility
Demo work is fictional and temporary: access expires after six hours, then cleanup removes its data. Export anything you need before expiry. You remain responsible for research accuracy, ethics, permissions, source verification and human review of AI or translated material. Keep independent manuscript exports; a hosted storage allowance is not a promise of disaster recovery.