Terms of Use

Version 1.0 | Last Updated: April 2026

TL;DR:Use Xpriments responsibly. Your experiments are yours — publish them openly, keep your account secure, respect others' work, and follow community standards.

1. Welcome

Welcome to Xpriments ("Xpriments," "we," "us," or "our"). Xpriments is an open registry for scientific experiments — a platform where researchers can publish, share, fork, replicate, and discuss scientific experiments in the open .xpr format.

Xpriments (xpriments.com) is a product of smarts.bio. References to "we," "us," or "our" in these Terms refer to smarts.bio, the owner and operator of xpriments.com.

These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access and use of xpriments.com and all related services (the "Service"). By using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, please don't use the Service.

Xpriments is operated by smarts.bio. These Terms are a binding legal agreement — please read carefully.

2. Who Can Use Xpriments

  • Must be 18+ to use directly
  • Supervised minors (13–17) may use the Service under institutional accounts
  • You confirm you have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms
  • You are responsible for complying with all applicable laws when using the Service
  • The Service cannot be used in countries under U.S. trade sanctions or export restrictions

TL;DR: If you're under 18, use through a supervised institutional account. Follow the law.

3. Your Account

Account Security:

  • Keep login credentials confidential
  • Use a strong, unique password
  • Notify us at security@smarts.bio if unauthorized access is suspected
  • You are responsible for all activity under your account

Account Information:

  • Provide accurate information; update promptly if it changes
  • No impersonation or multiple accounts to bypass limits

TL;DR: Protect your account; keep info accurate; one person = one account.

4. Your Experiments & Content

Ownership:

  • You retain full ownership of experiments, data files, and other content you publish
  • Publishing an experiment does not transfer ownership to Xpriments

License to Xpriments:

By publishing content on Xpriments, you grant us a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to:

  • Store, host, and serve your published experiments and attachments
  • Display content to users browsing the platform
  • Index and make content searchable
  • Create backups for disaster recovery
  • Use aggregated, anonymized data to improve the Service

This license is limited to providing the Service and does not allow us to sell or sublicense your content.

Open Licensing of Published Experiments:

When you publish an experiment on Xpriments, you may choose a license for others to use your work:

  • CC BY 4.0 — Attribution required; free to use, share, and adapt
  • CC BY-SA 4.0 — Attribution + ShareAlike; derivatives must use same license
  • CC BY-NC 4.0 — Attribution + NonCommercial
  • All Rights Reserved — Public viewing only; no reuse without permission
  • Public Domain (CC0) — No rights reserved; maximum openness

If no license is specified, your experiment defaults to All Rights Reserved. You are responsible for choosing a license appropriate to your institution's policies and any data use agreements.

Forking:

Users may fork (copy and build upon) your published experiment if your chosen license permits it. Forks must attribute the original experiment and author. You may not fork experiments licensed as All Rights Reserved without explicit permission from the original author.

Our Commitments:

  • We do not sell your experiment data or research files to third parties
  • We do not use your private or unpublished content for AI model training
  • Published experiments may be indexed by search engines and external services

Your Responsibilities:

  • You must have the rights to publish any data, files, or content you upload
  • Comply with institutional policies, IRB/ethics requirements, and data use agreements
  • Do not publish data that violates privacy laws (HIPAA, GDPR) without authorization
  • Do not publish content that infringes third-party IP or export controls
  • Do not publish patient-identifiable data or protected health information

TL;DR: Your experiments are yours. Choose how openly others can use them. We host and display them — we don't sell them.

5. Community Content

Xpriments enables community interactions including reviews, replications, discussions, and comments. When you contribute community content:

  • You grant Xpriments a perpetual, non-exclusive license to display and moderate that content
  • Community content must be accurate, respectful, and scientifically grounded
  • Replications must honestly report methods and results, including failed replications
  • Reviews and discussions must not contain personal attacks, harassment, or defamatory statements
  • You may not use community features to spam, advertise, or manipulate experiment rankings

We reserve the right to remove community content that violates these Terms or our community standards at our sole discretion.

TL;DR: Reviews and discussions must be honest and respectful. Failed replications are welcome and valued.

5A. Content Deletion & Experiment Withdrawal

You may delete your published experiment at any time from the Settings tab on your experiment page. Please note:

  • Deletion removes your experiment from public access immediately
  • Data is permanently removed from active systems within 14 days
  • Backups are retained up to 90 days for disaster recovery, then deleted
  • Forks created by other users before deletion remain accessible under their chosen license
  • We recommend DOI registration (external services) before deletion if your experiment has been cited in publications

TL;DR: You can delete your experiment anytime. Forks made before deletion survive. Consider citation impact before deleting published work.

6. How You Can & Cannot Use Xpriments

Permitted Uses:

  • Publish, browse, search, and fork experiments
  • Replicate experiments and contribute replication reports
  • Write reviews and participate in scientific discussions
  • Collaborate with others (with their consent)
  • Export experiments in supported formats for your own research
  • Cite Xpriments experiments in publications

Prohibited Uses:

  • Upload illegal, harmful, patient-identifiable, or infringing content
  • Publish fabricated or fraudulent experimental data
  • Manipulate reviews, replication scores, or experiment rankings
  • Reverse engineer or attempt unauthorized access to the platform
  • Interfere with Service operation or introduce malware
  • Spam, phishing, scrape, or harvest data from the platform
  • Resell or sublicense access to the Service
  • Circumvent usage limits or security measures
  • Generate or spread scientific misinformation
  • Use the Service in violation of applicable export laws

TL;DR: Use Xpriments for honest open science. No fraud, no data manipulation, no harmful content.

6A. Academic & Research Use

  • Citations: When citing an Xpriments experiment, include the author, experiment title, xpriments.com URL, and access date
  • Grant Compliance: Ensure your use of Xpriments complies with grant, institutional, and ethics requirements — including data sharing obligations
  • IRB/Ethics: You are responsible for ensuring experiments involving human or animal subjects comply with applicable ethics requirements before publication
  • Open Data Mandates: Xpriments can help satisfy open data mandates from funders (NIH, NSF, Wellcome Trust, etc.) — consult your institution for compliance

TL;DR: Cite properly; follow grant and ethics rules; check institutional requirements for open data mandates.

7. Intellectual Property

  • Platform: We own all software, algorithms, interface design, documentation, and trademarks of Xpriments
  • Your Content: You retain all rights to experiments and files you publish
  • The .xpr Format: The open .xpr format specification is available at xpr-format.com; using it does not grant rights to Xpriments platform software
  • Feedback: We can use any suggestions or feedback you provide without compensation
  • Restrictions: Do not remove notices, claim ownership of platform software, or use our trademarks without permission

TL;DR: You own your experiments; we own the platform. The .xpr format is open.

8. Third-Party Services & Integrations

  • Xpriments uses third-party services including AWS (hosting), Google Analytics (analytics), and authentication providers
  • Data sharing with third parties follows our Privacy Policy and their respective agreements
  • We are not responsible for third-party policies, accuracy, or availability

TL;DR: Third-party tools may access limited data as needed to operate the Service; review their privacy policies.

9. Service Availability & Disclaimer

The Service is provided "as-is" for scientific research and open science purposes.

What we don't guarantee:

  • Uninterrupted or error-free access
  • Accuracy or reproducibility of published experiments (user-submitted)
  • Compatibility with all file formats
  • Fitness for any particular research purpose
  • Permanent availability of any specific experiment

Your Responsibilities:

  • Independently validate experiments before building upon them
  • Maintain backup copies of your research data
  • Apply appropriate scientific judgment to all community content

TL;DR: We host experiments in good faith but don't validate their scientific accuracy. Verify before relying on others' work.

10. Data Security

Our Measures: TLS 1.3 encryption in transit, AES-256 at rest, role-based access control, firewalls, and secure AWS hosting.

Your Role:Keep credentials confidential, use a strong password, don't upload malware, and promptly update contact information.

Breach Notification: In the event of a data breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you via email within 72 hours of discovery.

TL;DR: Security is shared. We protect the platform; you protect your credentials.

11. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

Governed by Delaware law (USA). EU/UK users retain statutory consumer rights.

Dispute Resolution Process:

  • Informal resolution: Contact legal@smarts.bio; 30-day good-faith attempt
  • Small claims court: Either party may use for eligible disputes
  • Binding arbitration: American Arbitration Association (AAA) rules; individual claims only; decision is final and binding

TL;DR: Disputes → talk first → small claims or arbitration; EU consumers keep local court rights.

12. Limitation of Liability

Not liable for:

  • Data loss or reliance on user-published experiments without independent validation
  • Unauthorized access due to user negligence
  • Loss of research opportunities, publication priority, or reputation
  • Third-party service failures
  • Removal of experiments that violate these Terms

Direct liability capped at: Greater of (a) fees paid in the last 12 months, or (b) $100 USD.

Exceptions (no cap):

  • Gross negligence, willful misconduct, or fraud
  • Death or personal injury from our negligence
  • Violations that cannot be limited under applicable law

TL;DR: Back up your data. General liability is limited; serious misconduct is not excluded.

13. Changes to These Terms

  • Material changes: 30-day website notice + email if rights are affected
  • Non-material changes: Immediate (typos, clarifications)
  • Continued use = acceptance
  • Previous versions available on request

TL;DR: We may update terms; check regularly; 30 days notice for major changes.

14. Account Termination

By You:

  • Delete your account at any time from account settings
  • Published experiments will be removed; forks by others remain
  • You have 30 days after requesting deletion to export your data

By Us:

  • For cause: Violations, fraudulent content, illegal activity (immediate)
  • Without cause: 90-day notice for service discontinuation
  • Data deletion follows our Privacy Policy retention timelines

TL;DR: Cancel anytime; download your data; serious violations = immediate termination.

15. Export Compliance

You agree to comply with all applicable export and import laws, including U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and OFAC sanctions. The Service may not be used in countries subject to U.S. trade embargoes or by individuals on U.S. government denied-party lists.

TL;DR: Follow export laws; restricted countries blocked.

16. Indemnification

You defend and hold us harmless for claims arising from:

  • Your use, published content, violations, or negligence
  • Infringement of third-party rights
  • Violation of laws or regulations

Exceptions: Claims from our gross negligence, willful misconduct, or Service defects.

TL;DR: You're responsible for your experiments and actions.

17. Force Majeure

We're not liable for delays or failures due to events beyond our control (natural disasters, cyberattacks, pandemics, government actions, internet failures, war, or terrorism). Either party may terminate without penalty if such an event lasts more than 30 days.

TL;DR: Acts of God are not our fault.

18. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Xpriments. They supersede all prior discussions. Our failure to enforce any provision does not waive it. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger or acquisition.

TL;DR: This is the full agreement; no unwritten promises.

19. Contact Us