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1. Scope and controller
This policy applies to the Global Research Nexus mobile applications for iOS and Android, the Global Research Nexus app for Windows, the Global Research Nexus website, and the connected Global Research Nexus service. Global Research Nexus is responsible for the processing described here. Questions and rights requests can be sent to privacy@researchnexus.in.
2. Data we process
| Category | Examples | How it is provided |
|---|---|---|
| Account and identity | Email address, user ID, display name, full name | Submitted during magic-link sign-in or profile setup |
| Professional profile | Role, affiliation, research interests and verification status | Provided by you or recorded through an applicable verification workflow |
| Network and activity | Follows, saved funding calls, event RSVPs, reminder choices and policy acceptance | Created when you use app features |
| Search history | The searches you run while signed in, the databases each was sent to, how many results came back and when it ran | Written on our server after a literature search actually runs; the app never writes it. It is private to you and you can delete it at any time |
| Google Scholar profile | If you link it: the public details on your Google Scholar page — your name, institution, the email domain Scholar shows as verified, research topics, co-authors, papers and citation counts | Read by our server through a search provider (SerpAPI) when you link the profile or ask us to read it; checked against your GRN profile before the numbers are shown to other members. Remove the link at any time |
| Community content | Post titles, post text, links, uploaded images, image type/dimensions and timestamps | Submitted by you when posting |
| Safety records | Reports, report reasons, blocks and moderation status | Created when safety tools are used |
| Session and technical data | Authentication tokens stored on your device, request timestamps and security logs | Generated to keep the service secure and signed in |
| Product analytics | Anonymous app-usage events (which screens are opened and which features are used), an app-generated account identifier, app version and device platform | Generated as you use the app. No advertising identifier is collected, and no message, post or search text is included |
| Notification delivery | Expo push token, device platform, notification preferences and delivery status; for the Windows app, an encrypted Windows push channel address and an installation identifier | Generated only after notification permission is granted, or after you turn on desktop notifications in the Windows app |
The app does not request precise location, contacts, call logs, SMS, microphone data, health records or payment-card data. Selecting a photo gives the app access only to the image you choose through the operating system picker. If you choose to add a research event to your device calendar, the app writes only that event: it never reads your calendar, and no calendar data is sent to us or stored on our servers.
Your Google Scholar profile
If you add a link to your Google Scholar profile, GRN reads that public profile so it can show your publications, citations and h-index on your GRN profile. To read it, GRN uses a search provider (SerpAPI), because Google Scholar does not offer its own way to do this. GRN reads only what is already public on your Scholar page: your name, institution, the email domain Scholar shows as verified, research topics, co-authors, papers and citation counts.
Before showing these numbers to other members, GRN checks that the Scholar profile is yours, comparing it with your GRN profile: your name, institution, role, research interests, and the domain of your email address (for example "soa.ac.in", never the full address). When the match isn't clear, an automated AI check compares the same details and decides whether the two profiles are the same person. Its answer is stored for up to 90 days so the same comparison isn't repeated. If GRN can't confirm the profile is yours, the numbers stay visible only to you, and we tell you what would confirm it.
If you confirm a work email, GRN stores it privately to check your institution; only its domain is used for matching, and you can remove it at any time.
Your public profile (optional)
Once GRN has checked who you are — your professional registration or your institution, not only an ORCID link — you can choose to make a short public profile, for example to link from your email signature. It is off unless you turn it on, in Profile on the web or Professional details in the app. It stops working if that check lapses or if you change your name: you can turn it on again 30 days after a name change, and a page that says “Verified by GRN” needs GRN to check your new name first. When it is on, anyone with its link (theresearchnexus.in/r/your-name) can see your name, your institution if GRN has verified your affiliation, what GRN checked (“Verified by GRN” only where we checked your registration or verified you ourselves; otherwise “Affiliation confirmed”), your job title as your own description, your paper, citation and h-index figures if they come from a Google Scholar profile GRN has confirmed is yours or from an ORCID record you signed in with (always with their source and date), and the links you added. It never shows your email address, your posts, who you follow, your messages or your activity. People you have blocked can still see it if they are signed out. We ask search engines not to index it. You can turn it off at any time in the same place; the page then stops working straight away. If you change your link, the old one forwards to the new one while your profile is on (you can stop that), and no one else can ever take a link that has been your public address. If you combine two GRN accounts, links from the account you combine away forward to the profile of the account you keep. Anyone can report a public profile to GRN from the page; a report does not take it down by itself, and for a report we keep only a one-way fingerprint of the sender’s network address, for 30 days. If GRN takes a page offline after a report, it stays off until GRN reviews it again.
Numbers shown to others are labelled as coming from your Google Scholar profile. You can remove the link at any time; GRN then stops showing those numbers and deletes what it read. If you use "Find my Google Scholar profile", GRN searches Google Scholar for your name only when you ask it to.
The Windows app
The Windows app signs in only when you approve the device from GRN on the web or the mobile app; it never asks for a password. Your sign-in credential is kept in Windows Credential Manager on that computer, and the device appears under linked devices in your account, where you can remove it. PDFs and text files you open from your computer are read on the device and are not uploaded unless you choose to save them to your library or a project. The Windows app does not include advertising or analytics SDKs.
Desktop notifications in the Windows app are off until you turn them on in Account. When you do, Windows gives the app a push channel address, and GRN stores it encrypted. GRN uses it only to tell the app that there is new review activity for you. The notification carries only record identifiers, never the content: the app fetches the details from GRN while you are signed in, and shows nothing unless they match your account. A channel registration lasts at most 30 days and is renewed while you use the app. Turning desktop notifications off revokes it.
The Windows app downloads two kinds of file itself, without going through GRN's servers. When you pick a citation style that is not built in, it downloads that style from the Citation Style Language project's public repository on GitHub (raw.githubusercontent.com). When you open an article's PDF, or keep an open-access PDF that Unpaywall lists under a Creative Commons licence, it downloads the PDF from the site that hosts it, such as the publisher or a repository. To find an open-access copy, GRN's reading service sends Unpaywall the article's DOI and nothing else. These downloads carry no GRN sign-in, account or device details and no cookies. As with any web request, the site receives your computer's IP address and a user agent that names the GRN app, and handles that request under its own privacy policy.
3. Why we use data
- Authenticate accounts and maintain sessions.
- Display professional profiles and provide research discovery, events and funding information.
- Show publication and citation figures from a Google Scholar profile you link, after checking that it is yours.
- Build a feed from followed researchers and sources.
- Publish user-requested posts and images and notify relevant followers in-app or through optional push notifications.
- Save follows, funding deadlines, RSVPs and policy choices.
- Prevent spam, abuse, impersonation and unlawful content through reports, blocks and moderation.
- Meet legal obligations, resolve disputes and protect the service.
Depending on where you live, processing is based on providing the service you request, your consent, our legitimate interests in operating a safe professional network, and legal obligations.
6. Visibility and your choices
Profile information and content you publish may be visible to signed-in users or followers according to the feature used. Reports and block relationships are private safety data. You can unfollow sources, remove saved activity, disable event or network notifications, deny notification permission in system settings, block users, report content, sign out and request account deletion. Do not publish confidential research, patient information or content you do not have permission to share.
7. Retention and deletion
Account and feature data is kept while your account is active and as needed to provide the service. When deletion is completed, account-linked profile, network, saved activity, posts, notifications and uploaded images are deleted or de-identified. Anonymised moderation and security records may be retained for up to 90 days to prevent abuse and document enforcement, then deleted. Search history keeps your newest 200 searches; older ones fall off, and nothing is kept on a timer, so a search stays until you delete it or newer ones push it out. You can delete any search, or all of them, at any time. Figures read from a linked Google Scholar profile are kept while the link stays on your profile; removing or changing the link deletes them, and our cached copy of that Scholar page is deleted once no GRN member links it. The answer of the automated identity check is kept for up to 90 days. Backups may expire on their normal protected rotation and are not used to restore a deleted account.
See the Account and Data Deletion page for in-app and external request routes.
8. Security and international processing
We use encrypted network connections, row-level database access controls, authenticated server functions, private media storage and least-privilege administrative access. No internet service can guarantee absolute security. Supabase infrastructure may process data outside your country under its contractual and legal safeguards.
9. Your rights
Depending on your location, you may have rights to access, correct, export, restrict, object to or delete personal data, and to withdraw consent where consent is the basis. Email privacy@researchnexus.in from the address associated with your account. We may verify your identity before acting.
Age
Global Research Nexus is intended for adults aged 18 and over and is not designed for children.
Changes
Material changes will be identified by an updated effective date and, where appropriate, an in-app notice or renewed acceptance request.
10. Contact
Email: privacy@researchnexus.in
Suggested subject: Privacy Rights Request