Terms & Conditions

By accessing or using ExplainThisPaper (explainthispaper.org) ("Service"), you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms & Conditions ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms in their entirety, you must immediately discontinue use of the Service.

These Terms constitute a legally binding agreement between you ("User," "you," or "your") and ExplainThisPaper ("Company," "we," "us," or "our"), a company incorporated and operating under the laws of India, with its registered office in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

ExplainThisPaper provides an AI-powered research paper analysis platform. Users may upload or link to academic papers to receive structured summaries, methodology breakdowns, practical use cases, visual flowcharts, and social media thread previews.

The Service utilizes Google's Gemini large language model for analysis. Users are required to obtain and provide their own Gemini API key. Google offers free-tier API keys at no cost through Google AI Studio. We strongly recommend using a free-tier key only. The Company does not provide, subsidize, or manage API access on behalf of Users and is not responsible for any charges incurred through the use of paid API keys.

All AI-generated outputs are provided for informational purposes only and may contain inaccuracies, omissions, hallucinations, or misinterpretations. Such outputs do not constitute professional, academic, legal, or scientific advice and shall not be relied upon as a substitute for reading the original research paper or consulting qualified professionals.

Account creation is optional. The core functionality of the Service is accessible without authentication.

Users who elect to sign in via Google OAuth consent to the collection and storage of minimal profile information (name, email address, and profile image) necessary for account identification and service personalization. Authenticated users gain access to analysis history features.

Users may request deletion of their account and all associated data at any time. Upon such request, all personal data, analysis records, and account information shall be permanently and irrevocably removed from our systems within a reasonable timeframe.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized access to or use of your account.

By using the analysis features, you represent and warrant that you have obtained a valid Google Gemini API key through authorized means and that your use of such key complies with Google's applicable terms of service.

• We strongly recommend using a free-tier Gemini API key. Free keys are available at no cost from Google AI Studio and are sufficient for the full functionality of the Service. Using a paid or billing-enabled API key is entirely at your own risk.
• Your API key is stored exclusively in your browser's local storage. It is never transmitted to, processed by, or stored on ExplainThisPaper's servers under any circumstances.
• During analysis, your API key is transmitted directly from your browser to Google's API endpoints. The Company does not act as an intermediary for API authentication.
• You bear sole and exclusive responsibility for all charges, fees, costs, and consequences incurred through the use of your API key, whether authorized or unauthorized, including but not limited to overage charges, rate limit penalties, or account suspension by Google.
• The Company expressly disclaims all liability for any financial loss, data breach, unauthorized access, account compromise, or any other direct, indirect, or consequential damages arising from the use, misuse, disclosure, or exposure of your API key.
• You acknowledge that providing your API key to the Service is done entirely at your own risk and discretion. The Company makes no representations or guarantees regarding the security of client-side storage mechanisms.

Users retain all rights, title, and interest in the papers they upload and the AI-generated outputs produced from their inputs. The Company claims no ownership or license over User content or analysis results, except as necessary to provide the Service.

The ExplainThisPaper name, logo, visual design, user interface, and underlying source code are the exclusive intellectual property of the Company and are protected under applicable intellectual property laws. No license or right is granted to reproduce, distribute, modify, or create derivative works from any Company intellectual property without prior written consent.

You represent and warrant that the papers and materials you upload or link to do not infringe upon any third-party copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, or other intellectual property or proprietary rights. You agree to indemnify the Company against any claims arising from such infringement.

You bear full and sole responsibility for all content you submit to the Service, including but not limited to PDF files, URLs, and any other materials. By uploading or submitting content, you represent and warrant that:

• You have the legal right, authority, and permission to submit such content for processing.
• The content does not infringe upon any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other proprietary right of any third party.
• The content does not contain any unlawful, defamatory, obscene, harmful, or otherwise objectionable material.
• You have obtained all necessary licenses, consents, and permissions required for the content to be processed by the Service and transmitted to third-party AI providers.

The Company acts solely as a processor of content submitted by Users. The Company does not review, verify, endorse, or assume any responsibility for the legality, accuracy, or appropriateness of User-submitted content. The Company expressly disclaims all liability arising from the content submitted by Users, including any claims of copyright infringement, defamation, or violation of third-party rights.

Papers and documents are processed transiently for the sole purpose of generating the requested analysis. Original uploaded files are not permanently stored on the Company's servers. For authenticated users, the resulting analysis data (structured JSON output) is stored in association with the user's account to enable the history feature. Users may delete any saved analysis at any time.

Content is transmitted to Google's Gemini API for processing using your API key. Such transmission is subject to Google's API Terms of Service and Google's Privacy Policy. The Company assumes no responsibility for how Google processes, stores, or handles data transmitted through their APIs via your API key.

You agree not to use the Service to:

• Upload, process, transmit, or distribute any content that is unlawful, defamatory, obscene, infringing, or otherwise objectionable under applicable law.
• Reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise attempt to derive the source code or underlying algorithms of the Service.
• Interfere with, disrupt, or compromise the integrity, security, or performance of the Service, its servers, or connected networks.
• Deploy automated scripts, bots, crawlers, or scrapers to access, extract, or index data from the Service without express written authorization.
• Misrepresent AI-generated outputs as original human-authored work in academic submissions, peer-reviewed publications, or any context where such attribution would constitute fraud or academic misconduct.
• Circumvent, disable, or interfere with any access controls, rate limits, authentication mechanisms, or other security features of the Service.
• Use the Service in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair any Company server, or interfere with any other party's use of the Service.

The Company reserves the right to investigate, suspend, or terminate access for any User who violates these Terms, without prior notice and without liability.

The Company does not warrant that: (a) the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free; (b) the results obtained from the Service will be accurate, reliable, or complete; (c) any errors in the Service will be corrected; or (d) the Service will meet your specific requirements or expectations.

You expressly acknowledge that artificial intelligence models are inherently probabilistic and may produce incorrect, biased, incomplete, or misleading outputs. You agree to independently verify all information obtained through the Service before relying upon it for any purpose.

This limitation applies regardless of the legal theory upon which such claim is based, whether contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability, or otherwise, and even if the Company has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Without limiting the foregoing, the Company's total aggregate liability for all claims arising out of or relating to the Service shall not exceed the greater of: (a) the total amount paid by you to ExplainThisPaper in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim; or (b) INR 5,000 (Indian Rupees Five Thousand).

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless ExplainThisPaper, its officers, directors, employees, agents, and affiliates from and against any and all claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees) arising from:

• Your access to or use of the Service.
• Your violation of these Terms.
• Any content, PDFs, URLs, or materials you upload, submit, or link to through the Service, including any claims of copyright infringement, defamation, or violation of third-party rights arising therefrom.
• Your use, misuse, or exposure of your Gemini API key, including any charges, claims, or damages resulting therefrom.
• Any reliance you place on AI-generated outputs produced by the Service.
• Your violation of any applicable law, regulation, or third-party right.

This indemnification obligation shall survive the termination of these Terms and your use of the Service.

These Terms shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of India, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

Any dispute, controversy, or claim arising out of or relating to these Terms, or the breach, termination, or invalidity thereof, shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent courts located in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. You hereby irrevocably consent to the personal jurisdiction and venue of such courts.

If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid, unlawful, or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, such provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid and enforceable, or if modification is not possible, shall be severed from these Terms. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision of these Terms.

The Company reserves the right to suspend, restrict, or terminate your access to the Service at any time, with or without cause, and with or without notice. Upon termination, your right to use the Service will immediately cease.

All provisions of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination shall survive, including but not limited to ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnification obligations, and limitations of liability.

The Company reserves the right to modify, amend, or replace these Terms at any time at its sole discretion. Material changes will be reflected by updating the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. The Company may, but is not obligated to, notify registered Users of material changes via email.

Your continued use of the Service following the posting of revised Terms constitutes your binding acceptance of such changes. If you do not agree to the modified Terms, you must discontinue use of the Service immediately.

For any questions, concerns, or notices regarding these Terms, please contact us at: