Terms of Service

Last updated: September 16, 2026 · Beta

By creating a Locus account or using the service you agree to these terms. Locus is currently in beta: things will change, occasionally break, and improve quickly.

Your content

You keep all rights to the papers you upload and everything you create in Locus. You are responsible for having the right to upload the documents you upload — for most published research that means a copy you legitimately obtained through your institution, an open access source, or the publisher. We only process your content to run the features you use, as described in the Privacy Policy.

AI output

Locus is built to show you exactly where every answer comes from — and to say so when the paper doesn’t support one. Even so, AI output can be wrong. Locus is a reading aid, not a substitute for reading; verify anything you cite, submit, or act on.

Acceptable use

Don’t use Locus to violate copyright at scale, probe or abuse the service, resell access, or attempt to access another user’s data. This applies to the browser extension too: it is built to save one paper per action, and automating it to retrieve in bulk is a breach of these terms. We may suspend accounts that break these rules.

The browser extension

Locus publishes a browser extension, Locus – External Papers, which saves a paper into your library from the publisher’s own page using the access you already hold. Because it acts on other people’s websites with your institutional access, it has its own terms of use and its own privacy notice. Those apply in addition to these, and take precedence where they differ about the extension.

One thing there is worth repeating here: the extension uses your access, not ours. You are responsible for being entitled to each paper you save, and systematic or bulk downloading breaches almost every academic licence — publishers respond by cutting off the whole institution, not the individual.

Beta, plans, and trials

Locus has a Free plan and two paid plans, billed monthly or yearly through Stripe. You can cancel at any time from Plan & Billing; access continues to the end of the period you have paid for. If a subscription lapses your account moves to the Free plan — your data is never deleted for not paying. Prices shown on the site may change, and we will give notice before any change affects what you are charged.

Warranty and liability

The service is provided “as is” during the beta, without warranties of any kind. To the maximum extent permitted by law, our liability for any claim related to the service is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim — which, during the beta, is zero.

Contact

Questions about these terms: support@joinlocus.ai.