Privacy Policy for ResearchMate

Last Updated: October 2025

1. INTRODUCTION

This privacy policy explains how ResearchMate ("we", "our", "the extension") collects, uses, and protects your information when you use our Chrome extension.

2. INFORMATION WE COLLECT

ResearchMate collects and stores:

• Email address (for account authentication)
• Text highlights you save from webpages
• Tags, notes, and metadata you add to your highlights
• Source URLs and page titles of saved content

3. HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

We use your information to:

• Authenticate your account securely
• Store and sync your highlights across your devices via cloud storage
• Provide search and organization features
• Enable export and citation generation

We do NOT:

• Sell or share your data with third parties
• Use your data for advertising purposes
• Track your browsing history beyond what you explicitly save
• Access webpages unless you actively save content
• Monitor your online activity

4. DATA STORAGE AND SECURITY

Your data is stored securely using Supabase (PostgreSQL database) with:

• Industry-standard encryption (both in transit and at rest)
• Secure authentication protocols
• Row Level Security (RLS) ensuring users can only access their own data
• Regular security updates and monitoring
• Data center redundancy for reliability
• Cloud synchronization across your devices

Local Storage: Some data (user preferences, temporary highlight data) is cached locally on your device for performance and offline access. This local cache is synchronized with your cloud account.

5. ACCOUNT REQUIREMENT

ResearchMate requires creating an account to use cloud features:

• You must provide an email address and password to create an account
• Your highlights are stored in the cloud and synced across devices
• You must be signed in to save and access your highlights

6. YOUR RIGHTS

You have complete control over your data. You can:

• Access all your stored data at any time through the extension
• Export your data in multiple formats (TXT, JSON, Markdown)
• Delete individual highlights or your entire account
• Request complete data deletion by contacting us

7. DATA DELETION

To delete your account and all associated data:

• Contact us at netnetku21@gmail.com
• We will permanently delete all your cloud-stored data within 30 days
• Deletion is irreversible and complete
• Local cached data is removed when you uninstall the extension

8. CHROME PERMISSIONS EXPLAINED

ResearchMate requests these Chrome permissions for specific purposes:

• storage - Cache your settings and temporary highlight data locally for offline access and performance
• activeTab - Read selected text from the current webpage only when you click "Save to ResearchMate"
• contextMenus - Add a convenient "Save to ResearchMate" option to your right-click menu
• scripting - Extract selected text and page metadata (title, URL) when you save a highlight
• tabs - Identify the current webpage to associate with saved highlights
• Access to all websites (<all_urls>) - Allow you to save highlights from any website you choose to visit. We only access page content when you explicitly save a highlight.

Important: We only access webpages when you actively use the save feature. We do not track or monitor your browsing activity.

9. CHILDREN'S PRIVACY

ResearchMate is not intended for children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

10. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. We will notify users of significant changes through the extension. Continued use of ResearchMate after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

11. THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

ResearchMate uses Supabase for authentication and cloud data storage. Supabase's privacy policy applies to data stored on their servers. View Supabase's privacy policy at: supabase.com/privacy

12. LEGAL COMPLIANCE

ResearchMate complies with:

• Chrome Web Store User Data Policy
• Chrome Web Store Developer Program Policies
• GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) for EU users
• CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) for California users