Privacy Policy for Peers Academic Community

Last Updated: November 18, 2025

Welcome to Peers, an academic community platform dedicated to facilitating collaboration, research sharing, and peer support among students and educators. This Privacy Policy describes how Peers (referred to as "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, and shares your personal information.

By using the Peers platform (the "Service"), you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

1. ⚙️ Information We Collect

We collect information to provide and improve our Service to you.

A. Information You Directly Provide

• Account Registration Data: When you create an account, we collect personal details such as your name, email address, academic institution, field of study, and a password.

• Profile Information: You may choose to provide additional profile details, including your research interests, academic level (e.g., Undergraduate, PhD), publications, or a professional photograph.

• User Content: We collect any content you post, upload, or share on the platform, including discussion posts, comments, shared research papers, messages to other users, and feedback.

B. Automatically Collected Data

• Usage Data: We automatically collect information about how you access and use the Service. This may include your IP address, browser type, operating system, pages viewed, time spent on those pages, and other statistics.

• Cookies and Tracking Technologies: We use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like web beacons) to track activity on our Service and hold certain information.

2. ? How We Use Your Information

We use the collected data for various purposes:

• To Provide and Maintain the Service: To operate the Peers platform, manage your account, and deliver the core academic collaboration features.

• To Improve, Personalize, and Expand the Service: To understand how users interact with the platform, analyze usage trends, and develop new features or services relevant to your academic interests.

• Communication: To send you service updates, security alerts, technical notices, and administrative messages.

• For Safety and Security: To detect, prevent, and address technical issues, fraudulent activities, or violations of our Terms of Service.

• Peer Matching: To facilitate connections between members with similar research interests or academic needs.

3. ? Sharing Your Information

We do not sell your personal data. We may share your information only in the following circumstances:

• With Other Users: Content you post in public areas of the Service (e.g., discussion forums, public profiles) is visible to other users of Peers.

• With Service Providers: We may employ third-party companies and individuals to facilitate our Service (e.g., hosting, analytics, maintenance). These third parties have access to your Personal Data only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

• For Legal Reasons: We may disclose your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a legal obligation, protect and defend the rights or property of Peers, or protect the personal safety of users of the Service or the public.

4. ? Data Security and Retention

A. Security

The security of your data is important to us. We strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Data, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure.

B. Retention

We will retain your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. If you close your account, we will remove your public posts and profile information from the platform within a reasonable period, though some data may be retained in backup systems or as required by law.

5. ? Your Data Protection Rights

You have the right to access, update, or delete the information we have on you. You can typically do this directly within your Account Settings section. If you are unable to perform these actions yourself, please contact us.

• Access: You have the right to request a copy of the Personal Data we hold about you.

• Correction: You have the right to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected.

• Deletion (Right to be Forgotten): You have the right to request that we delete or remove Personal Data when there is no compelling reason for its continued processing.

6. ? Links to Other Sites

Our Service may contain links to other sites that are not operated by us (e.g., links to external academic journals or resources). If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that third party's site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit.

7. ? Children's Privacy

The Peers Service is not intended for use by anyone under the age of 18 ("Children"). We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under 18. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your Children has provided us with Personal Data, please contact us.

8. ? Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy.

9. ? Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us:

• By Email: support@peers-email.site