Privacy and data flow
Your research ideas and documents belong to you. This page describes exactly what happens to your data when you use AI Academic Agent, including where third parties are involved.
Three commitments
- We do not sell or shareWe do not sell your data and we do not use your content for anything except running the analysis for you.
- No files or full text storedYour files and the full text of your documents are not stored on our systems.
- You decide what is keptAn abstract is saved only when you press Save; a citation is saved when you copy it. You can delete both.
Where your data goes
Four places take part when you press Analyse. Colour and labels show where the data is.
- On your device1 Your deviceYour browser reads the PDF, DOCX or scan (OCR) and turns it into text. The file never leaves your device.
- App server2 The app's server (Vercel)Checks your account and quota, builds the prompt and checks quotes against the source text. It does not record the content.
- Third party3 Claude (Anthropic)The AI model reads the text, your abstract and a short profile summary to score the source, then returns the result.
- Stored4 Database (Supabase)Receives only your profile, quota, usage log (no content), and an abstract or citations when you save them.
Exception: a legacy .doc file (Word 97-2003) cannot be read by a browser, so the whole file is sent to the app's server to extract the text and is discarded immediately, never stored. To keep the file on your device, save it as .docx or PDF.
When the fit score is below 60, the server looks for alternative sources on OpenAlex using a few AI-generated keywords. The text of your document is not sent to OpenAlex.
Each kind of data
| Data | Where it goes | Is it stored? |
|---|---|---|
| Uploaded file (PDF, DOCX, scan) | Read on your device. Legacy .doc only: sent to the app's server to be read, then discarded. | Not stored |
| Text extracted from the file, your abstract, a short profile summary | Through the app's server to Claude (Anthropic) for analysis. | Not stored by the app. Anthropic handles it under its own terms |
| Analysis result (score, comments, suggested passages) | Returned to your browser. | Not stored, except the fit score recorded in the usage log |
| Abstract (topic) | Saved to your account. | Only when you press Save. Deletable |
| Copied citations (reference, quote, page, score) | Saved to your History. | Each time you copy. Deletable |
| Researcher profile (email, name, affiliation, ORCID...) | Saved to your account. | Yes. Editable; the email is used for sign-in and contact |
| Usage log (time, model, tokens, cost, score) | Kept to compute quota and cost. | Yes. Contains no document content |
| Visits | Counted anonymously per day and country. | No IP address stored |
Third parties
- Anthropic (Claude): Analyses documents through its commercial API. Under Anthropic's current terms, content sent through the API is not used to train models by default. Retention and any changes are set by Anthropic; please read their terms.
- Vercel: Runs the app and its server.
- Supabase: Sign-in and the database that holds the records in the table above.
- OpenAlex: Only when the score is below 60: a few AI-generated search keywords.
- Google Sheets: The administrator's operations report (if enabled): email, name, topic title, usage figures. No document content, abstracts or quotes.
Who can see stored data
Other users cannot see your data. The system administrator can technically access the database (profiles, topics, saved citations); we access it only to operate the service and to help when you ask. The admin screens show profiles and figures, never document content.
Your rights
- Your ideas, abstracts and documents belong to you.
- View and edit your profile; delete saved topics and citations inside the app.
- To delete your account and all your data, contact the administrator using the details at the bottom of the app.
Good practice
Do not upload documents that contain sensitive personal information or confidential data you are not entitled to share. For an unpublished manuscript you can use only the abstract and the passages you need.
Updated: 2026-10-03