Researcher Privacy Policy
Last updated: 16 April 2026
Researcher Privacy Policy
Last updated: 16 April 2026
This Researcher Privacy Policy explains how ResearchConnectX
(“RCX”, “we”, “us”)
collects, uses and shares personal data that relates specifically to
researchers — whether or not those researchers are registered Members of
the Service.
This policy supplements our main Privacy Policy. Where terms are not
defined here they have the meaning given in the main Privacy Policy.
Where there is a conflict, this policy prevails in relation to the
specific matters it covers.
Introduction
- RCX exists to accelerate scientific discovery by connecting
researchers with complementary skills, projects, conferences and
surveys. A significant part of what makes the Service useful is that we
build a rich picture of researchers based on publicly available academic
data — publications, affiliations, citation networks — as well as data
that researchers provide directly. - We obtain data about researchers from multiple sources, including
directly from you when you create an account, from external academic
databases (PubMed, OpenAlex, ORCID, Google Scholar and ResearchGate
public profiles), and from institutional partners. - If you are a researcher referenced on RCX but have not created a
Member account, parts of this policy — particularly Sections 3 and 6 —
still apply to you.
1. Who this policy applies to
This policy applies to:
- Members — researchers who have registered an RCX
account. - Non-member Researchers — natural persons whose
publicly available academic output (publications, bibliographic records,
citation data, ORCID public records) is indexed or displayed on RCX
without those persons having registered an account. - Institutional researchers — researchers whose data
has been shared with us by their institution or an institutional partner
under a data-sharing agreement.
2. Categories of
researcher data we process
2.1 Identity and contact data
- Name and any known alternative name forms (for example, names used
in publications across career stages). - Professional email address (when provided).
- Institutional affiliation and department.
- ORCID iD and any other persistent researcher identifiers (for
example, Scopus Author ID, ResearchGate profile URL).
2.2 Academic profile data
- Research interests, disciplines and subject areas.
- Academic degrees, qualifications and career stage.
- Roles, positions, and institutional roles (for example, journal
editor, principal investigator, supervisor). - Conference participation history, where available from public
sources. - Grant and funding information, where publicly available.
2.3 Publication and
research output data
- Publication titles, abstracts, authors, co-authors, journal or
conference names, DOIs, ISBNs and related bibliographic metadata. - Citation counts, impact metrics, and Altmetric scores (sourced from
external providers). - Preprints, grey literature, data sets, and software repositories,
where publicly indexed. - Full-text content only where you have explicitly made a full-text
version available to us (for example, by uploading it to your profile)
or where the full text is published under an open-access licence
permitting re-use.
2.4 AI-generated profile data
To power the matching engine we generate:
- Embeddings — numerical vector representations of
your research profile and publication abstracts, used for semantic
similarity search. - Profile summary — a short natural-language summary
of your research focus, generated by an AI language model from your
profile and publication metadata. - Topic tags — subject classifications derived from
your outputs.
These derived data items are stored alongside and linked to your
profile. They are used only within the Service for matching and
recommendation purposes and are not sold or shared externally.
2.5 Interaction and activity
data
For Members:
- Connections, follows, and collaboration requests.
- Project participation, roles, and contributions.
- Survey creation, responses (where you are a respondent to a survey
administered through the Service), and participation analytics. - Messages and communications sent through the Service.
- Your interactions with matches (for example, accepting, dismissing,
or marking a suggestion as not relevant). - Notification preferences and account settings.
3. Sources of researcher data
| Source | What we obtain | Can you opt out? |
|---|---|---|
| You (direct) | Everything you provide on registration and in your profile | Yes — do not provide it, or delete your account |
| ORCID public profile | ORCID iD, public works, employment, education (read-only public data) |
Update your ORCID visibility settings to “only me”, or contact us to remove the data |
| OpenAlex | Publication records, abstracts, citations, institutional affiliations, co-author networks |
Contact us — see Section 6 |
| PubMed | Publication records, abstracts, author lists, MeSH terms | Contact us — see Section 6 |
| Google Scholar public profiles | Publication titles, co-authors, citation counts (publicly accessible profiles only) |
Set your Google Scholar profile to private, or contact us |
| ResearchGate public profiles | Publication titles, co-authors, institution (publicly accessible profiles only) |
Set your ResearchGate profile to private, or contact us |
| Institutional partners | Name, email, affiliation, roster membership | Contact your institution and contact us |
4. How we use researcher data
4.1 Building and enriching
your profile
We use the data described in Section 2 to build or enrich your RCX
profile. For Members, this allows you to start with a pre-populated
profile rather than entering all your information manually. For
non-member Researchers, we may display a minimal public profile based on
publicly available bibliographic data. Non-member Researchers can claim
and edit this profile on signup.
Legal basis: our legitimate interest under Art.
6(1)(f) GDPR in maintaining a comprehensive and accurate repository of
scientific work, contributions and connections, and in providing Members
with the best possible onboarding experience. We are careful to minimise
the data we process and to respect your privacy settings at the
source.
4.2 Powering the matching
engine
We use your research profile — including embeddings computed from it
— to match you with relevant researchers, projects, conferences and
surveys, and to surface you as a potential collaborator to other
Members.
Legal basis: performance of a contract under Art.
6(1)(b) GDPR for Members; otherwise our legitimate interest under Art.
6(1)(f) GDPR.
4.3 Facilitating
collaboration and connection
We may display your profile and research outputs — subject to your
visibility settings — to other Members and Visitors so that they can
discover, cite or contact you. Where your public profile is indexable,
it may also appear in external search-engine results.
Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR for Members;
otherwise Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.
4.4 Improving the Service
We use aggregated and de-identified versions of researcher data to
improve matching accuracy, develop new features and conduct internal
research on the academic landscape. No individual researcher is
identified in these analyses.
Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.
4.5 Research integrity and
compliance
Where required by law, court order or binding regulatory decision, we
may disclose researcher data to competent authorities or to
rights-holders making intellectual-property claims. We also process data
to detect and prevent plagiarism, duplicate publication, authorship
disputes, or other research-integrity concerns raised through our
reporting mechanism.
Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR (legal obligation);
Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in research integrity on the
platform).
5. Automated processing and
profiling
5.1 AI embeddings
We generate vector embeddings from your profile text and publication
abstracts using AI language models. These embeddings capture the
semantic meaning of your research and are used exclusively for
similarity matching within the Service. Embeddings are not interpretable
as human-readable text and are not shared with other users.
5.2 Profile summaries and
topic tags
We use AI language models to generate a short summary of your
research focus and to assign topic tags based on your outputs. You can
view, edit and delete these summaries and tags in your Account
Settings.
5.3 Match scores
We compute numerical similarity scores between your profile and other
entities (projects, conferences, surveys, other researchers) to rank
suggestions. These scores are recalculated dynamically and are not
permanently stored as decisions.
5.4 No solely
automated consequential decisions
The matching engine produces suggestions only. No decision that
produces legal or similarly significant effects for you is made solely
by automated means without human involvement.
6. Your rights as a researcher
In addition to the rights set out in Section 11 of the main Privacy
Policy, the following specific rights and mechanisms apply to
researchers.
6.1 Right to claim or
correct your profile
If you are a non-member Researcher referenced on RCX, you can:
- Claim your profile — create a Member account and
take control of the information displayed about you. - Request corrections — contact us at info@rcx.ac
to correct inaccurate data. - Request removal — ask us to remove a non-member
profile from the Service. We will assess removal requests against our
legitimate-interest basis and remove data where your privacy interests
override our legitimate interests, or where removal is required by
law.
6.2 Visibility controls
(Members)
Members can control, from their Privacy Settings, who sees:
- Their profile (public / Members only / connections only).
- Their publication list.
- Their AI-generated profile summary.
- Their activity (connections, project participation, conference
interests). - Their appearance in match suggestions to other Members.
6.3 Opting out of the
matching engine
Members can opt out of appearing in other Members’ match suggestions
via Privacy Settings. Your profile data will still be used to generate
suggestions for you (unless you also disable personalised
recommendations).
6.4 Deletion and portability
Members can request a data export (download of all personal data we
hold about you) and full account deletion from Account Settings or by
contacting us. We will process valid requests within 30 days.
6.5 Exercising
rights as a non-member Researcher
If you are not a Member but want to exercise your data-subject
rights, contact us at info@rcx.ac
with proof of your identity and a description of your request. We will
respond within 30 days.
7. Data retention
| Data type | Retention period |
|---|---|
| Member profile and activity data | Retained while account is active; deleted within 30 days of account deletion, subject to Section 10 of the main Privacy Policy |
| Non-member Researcher profiles | Retained while sourced from a publicly available source; removed within 30 days of a valid removal request |
| AI embeddings | Deleted when the source data is deleted |
| Publication metadata | Retained while the source publication remains publicly available; updated or removed on verified inaccuracy report |
| Security and access logs | Up to 12 months |
| Encrypted database backups | Up to 90 days |
8. Contact
For questions specific to researcher data, contact our privacy team
at info@rcx.ac.
For questions about data we hold about you as a non-member
Researcher, you may also write to us at: 128 City Road, London, United Kingdom, EC1V 2NX.
You have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information
Commissioner’s Office (or, if you are in the EU, your local supervisory
authority) if you believe we are processing your personal data
unlawfully.