Last updated: February 27, 2026
This privacy notice for Scholarly ("Company," "we," "us," or "our"), describes how and why we might collect, store, use, and/or share ("process") your information when you use our services ("Services"), such as when you:
Questions or concerns? Reading this privacy notice will help you understand your privacy rights and choices. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our Services. If you still have any questions or concerns, please contact us at [email protected].
We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you register on the Services, express an interest in obtaining information about us or our products and Services, when you participate in activities on the Services, or otherwise when you contact us.
Personal Information Provided by You. The personal information that we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us and the Services, the choices you make, and the products and features you use. The personal information we collect may include:
Social Media Login Data. We may provide you with the option to register with us using your existing social media account details, like your Google account. If you choose to register in this way, we will collect the information described in the section called "How Do We Handle Your Social Logins?" below.
All personal information that you provide to us must be true, complete, and accurate, and you must notify us of any changes to such personal information.
We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use, or navigate the Services. This information does not reveal your specific identity but may include device and usage information, such as:
We process your information to provide, improve, and administer our Services, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, and to comply with law. We may also process your information for other purposes with your consent.
We process your personal information for a variety of reasons, depending on how you interact with our Services, including:
We only process your personal information when we believe it is necessary and we have a valid legal reason (i.e., legal basis) to do so under applicable law, like with your consent, to comply with laws, to provide you with services to enter into or fulfill our contractual obligations, to protect your rights, or to fulfill our legitimate business interests.
If you are located in the EU or UK, this section applies to you.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and UK GDPR require us to explain the valid legal bases we rely on in order to process your personal information. As such, we may rely on the following legal bases:
If you are located in Canada, this section applies to you.
We may process your information if you have given us specific permission (express consent) to use your personal information for a specific purpose, or in situations where your permission can be inferred (implied consent). You can withdraw your consent at any time.
We may share information in specific situations and with specific third parties, including:
We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like web beacons and pixels) to access or store information. Specific information about how we use such technologies and how you can refuse certain cookies is set out in our Cookie Notice. We use cookies for analytics, session management, and to remember your preferences.
Our Services offer you the ability to register and log in using your third-party social media account details (like your Google login). Where you choose to do this, we will receive certain profile information about you from your social media provider. The profile information we receive may vary depending on the social media provider concerned, but will often include your name, email address, and profile picture, as well as other information you choose to make public on such a social media platform.
We will use the information we receive only for the purposes that are described in this privacy notice or that are otherwise made clear to you on the relevant Services. Please note that we do not control, and are not responsible for, other uses of your personal information by your third-party social media provider. We recommend that you review their privacy notice to understand how they collect, use, and share your personal information.
We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting, or other legal requirements). No purpose in this notice will require us keeping your personal information for longer than the period of time in which users have an account with us, except as described below.
When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize such information, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives or incorporated into AI training datasets), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible. Content that has been incorporated into aggregated, anonymized, or de-identified datasets, or that has been used to train AI models, cannot be individually retrieved or deleted from those datasets or models.
We have implemented appropriate and reasonable technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information.
In some regions (like the EEA, UK, and Canada), you have certain rights under applicable data protection laws. These may include the right to: (i) request access and obtain a copy of your personal information, (ii) request rectification or erasure, (iii) restrict the processing of your personal information, and (iv) if applicable, data portability. In certain circumstances, you may also have the right to object to the processing of your personal information.
Withdrawing your consent. If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at [email protected].
Account Information. If you would at any time like to review or change the information in your account or terminate your account, you can log in to your account settings and update your user account. Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, we may retain some information in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our legal terms, and/or comply with applicable legal requirements. Content previously used for AI training or incorporated into aggregated datasets cannot be individually removed.
Cookies and similar technologies. Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies.
Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track ("DNT") feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. At this stage no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online.
California Civil Code Section 1798.83 ("Shine the Light" law) permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us at [email protected].
If you are under 18 years of age, reside in California, and have a registered account with Services, you have the right to request removal of unwanted data that you publicly post on the Services. To request removal of such data, please contact us, and include the email address associated with your account and a statement that you reside in California. We will make sure the data is not publicly displayed on the Services, but please be aware that the data may not be completely or comprehensively removed from all our systems (e.g., backups, AI training datasets).
Under the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA), Virginia residents have specific rights regarding their personal data, including the right to access, correct, delete, obtain a copy of, and opt out of the processing of their personal data for targeted advertising, sale, or profiling.
If you are a Virginia resident and would like to exercise your rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We will respond within 45 days.
This section describes how we collect, use, and process User Content — including documents, PDFs, images, text, notes, flashcards, and any other materials you upload, create, or submit through our Service — for the purpose of improving and developing our products and services.
When you use our Service, we collect and store all content you upload, create, generate, or otherwise make available, including but not limited to: uploaded documents and PDFs; images and photos; text inputs and notes; flashcards and study materials; conversation and chat history with AI features; research queries and outputs; and any other content submitted through the Service. This content is collectively referred to as "User Content."
We use User Content for the following purposes:
User Content may be retained and used for the purposes described in this section even after you delete your content, deactivate your account, or terminate your use of the Service. We may retain copies of User Content indefinitely for product improvement, AI model training, research, compliance with legal obligations, dispute resolution, and enforcement of our agreements. Content that has been incorporated into aggregated, anonymized, or de-identified datasets, or that has been used to train AI models, cannot be individually retrieved or deleted from those datasets or models.
We may share User Content, or data derived from User Content, with third-party service providers, partners, and contractors who assist us in operating the Service, conducting research, training AI models, or developing new products and features. Such third parties are bound by contractual obligations to use User Content only for the purposes we specify and to protect the confidentiality of your information.
By using the Service and uploading, creating, or submitting User Content, you expressly consent to the collection, use, processing, and retention of your User Content as described in this section and throughout this Privacy Policy. This consent is a condition of your use of the Service. If you do not agree to these data practices, you must discontinue use of the Service and refrain from uploading or submitting content.
We may update this privacy notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated "Last updated" date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy notice, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy notice frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.
If you have questions or comments about this notice, you may email us at [email protected].
Based on the applicable laws of your country, you may have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you, change that information, or delete it. To request to review, update, or delete your personal information, please contact us at [email protected].