Terms of Service
Effective date: [EFFECTIVE DATE]
These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are an agreement between you and Digital Era Hub, an Ohio [LLC/corporation — confirm entity type] (“Digital Era Hub,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), which operates Researcher’s Toolbox. They govern your use of researcherstoolbox.com, our preview pages, and the website design, hosting, maintenance, and related services we provide (the “Services”). By using the Services or subscribing, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy.
1. The Services
Researcher’s Toolbox builds, hosts, and maintains professional websites for researchers and clinicians (a “Client Website”) and may offer additional research-related services in the future. The features included in your plan are described on our Pricing page at the time you subscribe.
2. Eligibility
You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding contract. If you subscribe on behalf of an institution, department, or other organization, you confirm that you have authority to bind it, and “you” includes that organization.
3. Previews
We may prepare a private preview of a Client Website from publicly available professional information before you subscribe. A preview is an unsolicited demonstration. It creates no obligation for you, and we may modify or delete it at any time. Unclaimed previews are deleted within 90 days. You may ask us to delete a preview at any time, as described in our Privacy Policy.
4. Subscription, pricing, and automatic renewal
4.1 Plan and price. The Researcher Website plan is billed annually, in advance. Unless a different price is shown at checkout:
- First year: $720, charged once at checkout (presented as $60 per month for the first year, billed annually);
- Each following year: $1,490 per year, charged on each renewal date.
4.2 AUTOMATIC RENEWAL. YOUR SUBSCRIPTION WILL AUTOMATICALLY RENEW EACH YEAR AT THE THEN-CURRENT ANNUAL PRICE (CURRENTLY $1,490), CHARGED TO YOUR PAYMENT METHOD ON FILE, UNTIL YOU CANCEL. We will email you a reminder at least 30 days before each renewal, with the renewal date, price, and how to cancel.
4.3 Price changes. We may change the renewal price by notifying you at least 30 days before your next renewal. The new price applies starting at that renewal, unless you cancel before it.
4.4 Payment. Payments are processed by Stripe. You authorize us, through Stripe, to charge your payment method for all fees when due. If a payment fails, we may retry it, contact you, and suspend the Services if it is not resolved within 30 days.
4.5 Taxes. Prices do not include applicable sales or similar taxes, which we will add where required.
5. Cancellation and refunds
5.1 Cancel anytime. You can cancel online at any time through the billing portal link in your receipt, or by emailing hello@researcherstoolbox.com. Cancellation stops future renewals. Your Client Website remains live until the end of the year you have paid for.
5.2 14-day refund. If you request it within 14 days of any annual payment, we will refund that payment in full, and your subscription for that year ends when the refund is processed. After 14 days, payments are non-refundable, except as required by law. See our Refund & Cancellation Policy.
6. Domains
6.1 Registration. As part of your subscription, we register a domain name for your Client Website (for example, a domain based on your name) and renew it while your subscription is active. Digital Era Hub is the registrant of record and manages the domain on your behalf. We will not use a domain registered for you for any other purpose, and we will not sell it or transfer it to anyone else.
6.2 Transfer to you. If you cancel, or at any time while your account is in good standing, you may ask us to transfer the domain to a registrar account in your name at no charge. Transfers are subject to registrar rules. For example, registrars generally block transfers for 60 days after a domain is registered or transferred. Ask us to transfer the domain no later than 60 days after your subscription ends. After that, we may let the domain expire.
6.3 Domains you already own. If you use a domain you already own, you remain its registrant and are responsible for renewing it. We will tell you which DNS settings point it to your Client Website.
7. Your content and approvals
7.1 Your content. You keep all rights to the materials you provide to us, such as photos, your CV, and documents you send (“Your Content”). Facts about your career and your publication records are not owned by either party. You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, copy, adapt, and publish Your Content as needed to provide the Services, including showing your Client Website as an example of our work if you consent separately.
7.2 Accuracy and approval. We prepare content from public sources and from what you give us, and we work to make it accurate, but public data can contain errors. Before launch, you will review and approve your Client Website, and you are responsible for confirming that its content is accurate. We will correct errors you report, as described in Section 8.
7.3 Your responsibilities. You confirm that you have the rights to the content you give us. You also confirm that Your Content does not infringe anyone’s rights, violate the law, or breach any obligation you owe to your employer or institution, including rules about the use of institutional names, logos, or trademarks.
7.4 Prohibited content. We may refuse to publish, or may remove, content that is unlawful, defamatory, infringing, deceptive, or harmful, or that includes protected health information or other patients’ personal information.
8. Updates and maintenance
While your subscription is active:
- new publications indexed in PubMed or ORCID under your identity are added, generally within 7 days of indexing;
- requests for ordinary content updates submitted through our change-request form are generally completed within 5 business days;
- once a year, we refresh your biography and research summary and review the site against current search standards;
- we provide hosting, SSL, backups, monitoring, and security updates.
Ordinary updates are unlimited, within reasonable use. Redesigns, new sections, new features, or unusually large volumes of changes are outside the plan, and we will quote them separately before starting work. Timeframes are good-faith targets, not guarantees.
9. Ownership of the website
9.1 Our Materials. We own each Client Website and everything we create for it, including its design, layout, templates, code, graphics, and structured data; the text we write, such as biographies, research summaries, and page copy; and the tools, processes, and know-how we use to build and maintain it (together, “Our Materials”). Our Materials are not “works made for hire,” and nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of them to you.
9.2 Your license. While your subscription is active, you have a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use Our Materials as your Client Website. This license ends when your subscription ends.
9.3 After your subscription ends. We take the Client Website offline. We do not provide copies of the site’s files, code, design, or the text we wrote, and you may not copy, reproduce, or republish Our Materials elsewhere. On request within 60 days after your subscription ends, we will return any files you provided to us (Your Content), and we will transfer your domain as described in Section 6.2.
10. No guarantees about search engines or AI
We build Client Websites to follow current best practices for search engines and AI systems, including structured data and machine-readable summaries. We do not control Google, Bing, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or any other third-party system, and we do not guarantee any ranking, traffic, citation, or how any third-party system describes you.
11. Not medical, legal, or institutional advice
Client Websites present professional and research information. They are not intended to provide medical advice to patients, and we do not provide clinical, legal, regulatory, or institutional compliance advice. You are responsible for following your institution’s policies and any professional rules that apply to you.
12. Third-party services
The Services rely on third parties, such as Stripe, Zoho, hosting providers, domain registrars, and content sources like PubMed and ORCID. We are not responsible for their availability, accuracy, or acts, and your use of them may be subject to their terms.
13. Acceptable use
You agree not to misuse the Services. For example, you agree not to attempt unauthorized access, interfere with their operation, use them to send spam, or impersonate another person.
14. Suspension and termination
We may suspend or end the Services if you materially breach these Terms and don’t fix the breach within 15 days of notice, if payment remains overdue for more than 30 days, or immediately if needed to prevent legal harm or a security risk. If we end the Services without cause, we will refund the unused portion of your prepaid fees. Sections 6.2, 7.1, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, and 18 survive termination.
15. Disclaimer of warranties
EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY STATED IN THESE TERMS, THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE.
16. Limitation of liability
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, NEITHER PARTY WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, REVENUE, OR REPUTATION. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICES WILL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM. These limits do not apply where the law does not allow them.
17. Indemnification
You agree to defend and indemnify Digital Era Hub against third-party claims arising from Your Content or your breach of these Terms. We agree to defend and indemnify you against third-party claims that Our Materials, as provided by us, infringe a U.S. intellectual property right.
18. Governing law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Ohio, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Before filing any claim, each party agrees to try to resolve the dispute informally by written notice and good-faith discussion for 30 days. Any unresolved dispute will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Franklin County, Ohio, and each party consents to their jurisdiction. Either party may bring an eligible claim in small claims court. [Attorney to consider adding an arbitration clause and class-action waiver.]
19. Text messages
If you opt in to text messages, our SMS Terms also apply.
20. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms. We will post the updated version with a new effective date, and we will email active clients about material changes at least 30 days before they take effect. Changes apply from your next renewal unless you agree to them sooner. If you do not agree, you may cancel before the change takes effect.
21. General
These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, SMS Terms, and Refund & Cancellation Policy, are the entire agreement between you and us about the Services. If any provision is unenforceable, the rest remain in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms without our consent. We may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. Notices to us must be sent to hello@researcherstoolbox.com, and notices to you will be sent to the email on your account.
22. Contact
Digital Era Hub (Researcher’s Toolbox) 565 Metro Place S., Suite 300, Dublin, OH 43017 hello@researcherstoolbox.com