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Terms of Use — Locus – External Papers

Last updated 16 September 2026

These terms cover the Locus browser extension, published as Locus – External Papers. Your Locus account and the web app are covered by the Locus Terms of Service, and what the extension reads and sends is described in its privacy notice. Where these terms and the general Terms of Service disagree about the extension, these apply.

1. Accepting these terms

Installing and using the extension means you accept these terms. The extension also asks you to accept its data practices on first run; declining leaves it installed and inactive, and you can withdraw that at any time from its popup or by uninstalling it.

You need a Locus account to use it. Creating one is free.

2. What the extension does

When you open an article page and click the extension, it reads that page’s title, DOI and PDF link, downloads the PDF inside that tab using your own browser session, and saves it into a project in your Locus library.

It acts once, on the page you are looking at, when you click it. It does not run in the background, does not queue work, and does not retrieve anything you have not asked for.

3. Your access is your responsibility

This is the most important term here, so it is stated plainly: the extension uses the access you already have. It signs in to nothing on your behalf, holds no credentials at any publisher, and circumvents no access control. If a publisher refuses a download, the extension reports that and stops.

You are responsible for ensuring that, for each paper you save, you are entitled to it. That means:

  • You have a personal subscription, or access through an institution that has licensed the content to you.
  • Your use is within the licence terms your institution or the publisher has set — which for most academic licences means personal, non-commercial research and teaching.
  • You are not using someone else’s credentials, a shared login, or a proxy you are not authorised to use.

Locus is not a party to your agreement with any publisher or library, cannot see what you are entitled to, and does not verify it. That judgement is yours on every paper.

4. What you must not do

  • Do not download systematically or in bulk. Nearly every academic licence prohibits it, and publishers respond by cutting off the whole institution — your colleagues lose access, not just you. The extension is deliberately built to save one paper per action, and automating it to do otherwise breaks these terms.
  • Do not redistribute, resell, or publish papers you retrieve. Saving a copy for your own research is not a licence to share it.
  • Do not use it to obtain content you are not entitled to, including by means of access you have not been granted.
  • Do not modify, repackage or redistribute the extension itself, or present it as your own.
  • Do not use it to breach any law, any publisher’s terms, or your institution’s acceptable-use policy.

We may disable your access to the extension if we believe it is being used this way. We would rather ask first, and normally will.

5. Papers you save

A paper you save stays the copyright of whoever holds it — the publisher, the authors, or both. Locus claims no rights in it. Storing a copy in your library is for your own reading and reference, and does not change what you may do with it.

You are responsible for what is in your library. You can delete any paper at any time, and deleting it removes the stored file.

6. Availability

The extension depends on other people’s websites. Publishers change their pages, add bot protection, and alter how PDFs are served, and any of those can stop it working on a given site without notice. We fix what we can and say plainly when we cannot.

We may change, suspend or discontinue the extension. If we discontinue it, papers already in your Locus library are unaffected.

7. No warranty

The extension is provided as it is, without warranty of any kind. We do not promise it will work on any particular publisher, that it will always be available, or that it will be free of faults.

8. Liability

To the extent the law allows, Locus is not liable for indirect or consequential loss arising from your use of the extension — including loss of access to any service, action taken by a publisher or institution against you, or loss of data. Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

9. Ending your use

Uninstall the extension whenever you like. That erases the sign-in it stored on your machine. Papers already in your Locus library stay there and are governed by the main Terms of Service.

10. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. The date at the top says when they last changed, and material changes will be announced in the extension or by email before they take effect.

11. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules.

12. Contact

Questions about these terms, or about whether a particular use is permitted: support@joinlocus.ai.