Collect less.
Publish only research.

Who is responsible

The owner and operator of Research Idea Registry is the responsible party for personal information processed through the Site. Privacy and data-rights enquiries may be sent to info@bdfpartners.co.za.

Information we process

When you sign in, the authentication provider sends an account email to the Site. The Site uses it momentarily to create a protected, site-specific contributor code and then stores that code—not the email or profile name—in registry, usage and ownership records. The code cannot be used by readers to discover your account.

The Site also processes the research material you choose to submit: ideas, limited source excerpts, citations, scholarly annotations, research-status signals and public research links. Paper citations and related-research metadata necessarily contain publicly available author names. The terms-acceptance cookie contains only the accepted version, not a user identifier.

Do not submit participant-level data, names of private individuals, identity numbers, contact details, health records, confidential institutional information, embargoed work or other sensitive information. Obvious contact and identity numbers are blocked before text is sent to the AI service.

What becomes public

Published research briefs, pseudonymous contributor codes, scholarly annotations, provenance, source citations, research-status signals and connected research links are public. Research Idea Registry does not intentionally publish or retain your sign-in email or profile name.

A public scholarly record may remain available for attribution and registry integrity even if you stop using the Site, subject to lawful correction, objection and deletion rights.

Why we use information

Information is used to authenticate contributors; create, classify and preserve public records; operate automated admission and source checks; prevent abuse; enforce limits and the Terms; connect research outputs; maintain attribution and version history; secure and improve the service; respond to rights or legal requests; and comply with law.

Depending on the context, processing is based on your consent, performance of the Site agreement, the Operator’s legitimate interests in running a trustworthy scholarly registry, and applicable legal obligations.

AI and scholarly services

Natural-language searches and research text submitted for automated review are sent to Google Gemini. Under the unpaid-service terms currently used by the Site, Google may use inputs and outputs to improve products, and human reviewers may process them. The Site first rejects obvious email addresses, phone numbers and identity or passport numbers, but automated detection cannot identify every form of personal or confidential information.

Academic search terms and bibliographic details may be sent to Crossref, Semantic Scholar or OpenAlex to verify sources and find related work. ChatGPT/OpenAI authenticates the account, while the hosting provider handles requests needed to deliver and secure the Site. Those providers process information under their own terms and privacy practices.

International processing

External service providers may process information outside South Africa. The Operator reviews provider arrangements and applicable contractual or legal safeguards when providers or processing practices change.

Retention

Accepted AI review packages expire after 24 hours and are deleted after use; the contributor’s rough original wording is not retained with the published idea. Daily AI-usage counters contain only the protected contributor code and date. Published scholarly records may be retained longer to preserve provenance and registry integrity. Source excerpts are used for review and are not intentionally published in the public record.

Security and deliberate limits

Research Idea Registry uses authenticated write actions, server-side enforcement and a secret-key transformation that replaces sign-in emails with site-specific contributor codes. It does not request profile names, retain raw account emails in application records, accept private study notes, provide public user profiles, or accept new research-file uploads. No online service can guarantee absolute security.

Your rights

Where POPIA or another applicable law applies, you may ask whether the Operator holds your personal information; request access, correction or eligible deletion; object to certain processing; withdraw consent where consent is the basis; or lodge a complaint with South Africa’s Information Regulator.

The Site uses automated decisions for admission, classification and note screening. You may revise and resubmit an idea. Requests for any legally required review or redress may be sent to the privacy contact below.

Cookies, analytics and advertising

The Site currently uses one essential cookie containing only the accepted Terms version. The application has no advertising cookies, behavioural analytics, tracking pixels or user-profile database. Introducing advertising or non-essential analytics would materially change this position and would require a new review, updated notice and any necessary choices or consent.

Age

Public scholarly content may be read without using the AI tools. AI-assisted contribution tools are restricted to people aged 18 or older. Research Idea Registry does not knowingly invite children to submit personal information.

Changes and contact

This Notice may be updated as the service, providers or law changes. Material changes will be clearly dated and may require renewed acceptance where appropriate.

Privacy, access, correction, deletion, objection and automated-decision enquiries may be sent to info@bdfpartners.co.za. Complaints may also be submitted to South Africa’s Information Regulator through its official channels.