1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using Attack on Scholar (attackonscholar.com), you agree to comply with and be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree with any provision, you may discontinue use of the platform.

2. Open Access & Free Public Reading

All research articles published in the Lab Journal, microblog entries in the Scholar Lounge, and practitioner Masterclasses are distributed under open-access principles:

• No Login Wall for Readers: Any student, researcher, journalist, or member of the public may read, download, and share article links freely without having to create an account.
• Creative Commons Spirit: Readers may cite, share, and reference content with proper academic attribution to the contributing author and institution.
• Automated Scraping Prohibited: Malicious bulk scraping, denial-of-service attempts, or commercial harvesting of author contact information is strictly forbidden.

3. Verified Scholar Contributions & Publishing

To maintain authentic scientific quality, publishing articles in the Lab Journal or posting in the Scholar Lounge requires a verified scholar account:

• Scientific Integrity: Authors affirm that all methods, parameters, and observations represent genuine research realities and are not fraudulent or generated by unauthorized commercial bots.
• Intellectual Property & Copyright: Authors retain full copyright over their contributed text, figures, micrographs, and code scripts. By publishing on Attack on Scholar, you grant the platform a non-exclusive license to host and index the contribution publicly.
• Confidentiality Compliance: Authors are solely responsible for ensuring contributions do not violate institutional non-disclosure agreements, patient confidentiality (HIPAA), or export control restrictions.

4. Paper Requests, Peer Connections & Strict Copyright Compliance

Attack on Scholar provides a bibliographic connection mesh to help researchers discover legitimate access routes. To ensure complete compliance with the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, the Information Technology Rules, 2021, and international intellectual property standards:

• Zero PDF Hosting or Storage: The platform does not host, store, mirror, or distribute PDF copies of third-party copyrighted papers. No file upload or file download mechanism is provided for scientific articles.
• No Redirection to Infringing Mirrors: In strict alignment with judicial directives (including the Delhi High Court orders concerning Sci-Hub and LibGen), Attack on Scholar prohibits any links redirecting users to unauthorized shadow libraries, piracy mirrors, or credential-sharing proxies.
• Legitimate Peer Academic Discovery: The Paper Request system facilitates lawful researcher-to-researcher connection. Researchers communicate exclusively through contact routes they have chosen to make public on their profiles (such as institutional web pages, ORCID records, or public emails).
• No Redistribution License: Offering or receiving assistance does not confer legal permission to redistribute copyrighted articles. Any copy shared externally between scholars must be strictly permitted by applicable publisher open-access licenses or statutory fair dealing exceptions (e.g. personal research and private study under Section 52(1)(a) of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957).
• Strictly Prohibited Conduct: Users are expressly barred from using responses to share cracked credentials, university VPN logins, or unauthorized download links. Violation results in immediate request removal and permanent account suspension.

5. Notice and Takedown Procedure (Copyright Complaints)

Attack on Scholar complies with statutory notice-and-takedown principles. If any copyright holder or authorized representative identifies a request, link, or note that infringes their rights, they may submit an expedited takedown notice to our designated compliance desk:

6. Community Moderation & Removal of Suspicious Content

To protect the scientific community from fraudulent claims, commercial promotions, or abusive behavior:

• Our editorial and administrative team reserves the right to review, unpublish, or permanently delete any post, paper request, or article identified as spam, plagiarism, commercial sales pitches, or violating academic safety standards.
• Scholars may report questionable methods or suspicious links directly via suggestions@attackonscholar.com or the in-app "Report" action for immediate audit.

7. Laboratory Safety & Experimental Disclaimer

Scientific techniques, protocols, and software scripts published on Attack on Scholar are shared for educational and peer reproducibility purposes. Readers must always adhere to their institution's Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) regulations, wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), and independently verify chemical parameters before executing wet-lab procedures.

8. Disclaimer of Warranty & Limitation of Liability

The platform is provided on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis without warranties of any kind. Attack on Scholar and its maintainers shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, or experimental damages resulting from the use or inability to use the platform.