Privacy Policy

Scitero.com ("we", "us", "Scitero") provides free research, writing, and lab calculation tools. This page explains what information we collect, why, and how you can control it. We have written it in plain language on purpose — if anything is unclear, contact us and we will clarify it.

1. Tools you can use without an account

Most tools on Scitero — including every lab calculator, the PDF tools, and the unit converters — work entirely in your browser and do not require you to sign up or send us any personal information. Files and numbers you enter into these tools are processed locally or sent only to the specific service needed to complete that one action (for example, an AI writing tool sending your text to our AI provider, described below). We do not store the content of what you type into these tools on our servers.

2. Information collected if you create an account

If you choose to sign up — which is optional and only needed for account-specific features — we collect: your name, email address, and password (handled securely by our authentication provider, Firebase); your phone number, if you choose phone verification instead of email; and your role, field of study, and stated reason for using Scitero, which you provide during signup. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name and email from Google instead of asking you to create a new password.

3. How we use this information

We use account information only to operate your account: to let you sign in, to personalize which tools we show you, and to understand in aggregate which tools researchers find useful so we can improve them. We do not sell your personal information to anyone, and we do not use it for advertising.

4. AI-powered tools

Tools such as the paraphraser, grammar checker, cover letter generator, and other writing and career tools send the text you enter to a third-party AI provider (Google Gemini) in order to generate a response. That text is processed by the provider to return a result to you and is not linked to your Scitero account. Avoid pasting confidential, unpublished, or sensitive material into these tools if you would not want it processed by an external AI service.

Data retention: Text you submit to AI tools is sent to Google Gemini's API for processing. According to Google's API data policy, data submitted via the API is not used to train Google's models by default and is subject to Google's standard data retention terms. We encourage you to review Google's Gemini API Terms of Service for the most current information.

Writing Originality Check: This tool analyses your text for writing consistency only. It does not compare your text against any external database and cannot detect plagiarism from journal articles or other sources. Text is processed via Google Gemini as described above.

4b. Browser storage (My Bench & draft autosave)

Two features use your browser's localStorage (data stored locally on your device, not on our servers):

My Bench — If you pin tools to My Bench, the list of pinned tools is stored in your browser's localStorage under the key scitero_bench. This data never leaves your device. Clearing your browser data or revoking cookie consent will remove it.

Draft autosave — Career AI tools (statement of purpose, personal statement, cover letter, etc.) automatically save draft text to localStorage every 4 seconds while you are typing. This data is stored only on your device under keys beginning with scitero_draft_ and is deleted automatically when the AI successfully generates a result. Both features activate only after you accept cookies via the cookie consent banner.

4c. Account-based storage (Reference Manager)

The Reference Manager is the only Scitero tool that requires creating an account. If you sign up, we collect the email address and name you provide, using Google's Firebase Authentication service. Once signed in, any reference details you save (titles, authors, DOIs, and similar bibliographic information) and any draft text you write inside the tool are stored under your account in our database (Google Firebase Firestore) so that they are available to you across sessions and devices. This data is only accessible to you through your account and is not shared with other users. You can delete individual references, delete a project, or contact us via our feedback form to request deletion of your account data. Looking up a reference by DOI or PubMed ID sends that identifier to CrossRef or the U.S. National Library of Medicine (PubMed) respectively, both public reference-lookup services; pasting a URL to import a reference sends that URL to our server to retrieve the page's title and author information.

5. Where your data is stored

Account data is stored using Google Firebase, which applies industry-standard security practices including encryption in transit. Access to your account data in our database is restricted so that only you can read or modify your own records.

6. Analytics

We use Google Analytics to understand overall site usage — for example, which pages and tools are visited most. This data is aggregated and is not used to identify you personally.

7. Your rights

You can request a copy of your account data, request that we correct it, or request that we delete your account and associated data at any time by contacting us. We will action deletion requests within a reasonable timeframe.

8. Children's privacy

Scitero is intended for researchers, students, and professionals and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13.

9. Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we will update the date at the top of this page.

10. Contact

Questions about this policy or your data can be sent via our feedback form.