Privacy Policy
Last updated: 19 September 2026
DeskReview is built for unpublished research. This policy explains what leaves your device, what stays in your browser, and which services are involved.
The short version
- Web analysis is not entirely local. An uploaded manuscript is sent through DeskReview's hosted analysis service and to the configured AI provider so the requested checks can run.
- Your saved library is local. The manuscript, analysis, notes, and saved review are kept in this browser's storage, not in a DeskReview user account.
- Comparable-research search is optional. When you enable it, a limited topic query—not the manuscript PDF—is sent to scholarly search services.
- DeskReview Local is on-device. After its software and model are downloaded, manuscript analysis in the desktop app runs on your Mac.
1. Who we are
DeskReview is operated by DeskReviewAI, a Dutch sole proprietorship registered with the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce.
- Trade name: DeskReviewAI
- KVK number: 99821966
- Vestigingsnummer: 000064868079
- Contact: contact@deskreview.ai
Company and complaint contact information is available on the Company details page.
DeskReviewAI is the controller for website enquiries, payments, service-security data, and other business records described below. When an organization uses DeskReview to process personal data in a manuscript under its own instructions, that organization may be the controller and DeskReviewAI may act as its processor. Organizations that require contractual data-processing terms should contact us before use.
2. Scope
This policy covers the DeskReview website, hosted manuscript-analysis service, contact forms, payment flow, and DeskReview Local desktop app. DeskReview does not currently require a user account or maintain a cloud library of your saved reviews.
Manuscripts may contain names, affiliations, contact details, research-participant information, health information, or other confidential or sensitive content. Only upload or process a manuscript when you are authorized to do so and the processing arrangements are suitable for that material.
3. Information we process
3.1 Manuscripts and requested analyses
When you use the web app, DeskReview processes the PDF, filename, a cryptographic document hash, extracted text and structure, source-linked findings, guideline results, review inputs, and generated outputs needed to deliver the features you request. The document hash is a one-way identifier used to connect a purchase or temporary job to the same document; it does not contain the manuscript title or text.
3.2 Data saved in your browser
Saved desk reviews are stored in persistent browser storage (IndexedDB). A saved item can include the uploaded document, extracted manuscript data, checks, notes, and an AI review. It remains on that device and browser profile until you delete it or clear the site's data. Anyone who can use that browser profile may be able to open it.
DeskReview also uses local browser storage for short-lived job references so an interrupted analysis can reconnect. These references are identifiers and status information, not a second cloud copy of your PDF.
3.3 Contact and organization enquiries
If you send a question or organization enquiry, we receive the information you enter, which may include your name, email address, organization, organization type, and message. The forms are handled through our hosting provider, Netlify. If you contact us by email, your email provider and ours also process the message.
3.4 Payments and access
Paid access is handled by Stripe Checkout. Stripe collects the customer, billing, and payment information required for the transaction. DeskReview does not receive or store your full card number. We receive transaction status and related checkout details and send Stripe a purchase type and the manuscript's document hash.
After a successful purchase, DeskReview places a strictly necessary, signed, HTTP-only cookie named deskreview_review_access. It contains document hashes for entitled reviews and expires after no more than one year. A limited-access demonstration, where enabled, uses a separate necessary cookie for no more than eight hours.
3.5 Technical and security data
When you use the website, DeskReview and Netlify may process ordinary request data such as IP address, date and time, requested page or endpoint, browser information, referrer, and security events. We use this data to deliver and protect the service, prevent abuse, and diagnose failures. We do not use advertising cookies, behavioural analytics, or tracking pixels, and we do not sell personal data.
3.6 DeskReview Local
DeskReview Local is designed to process manuscripts and generate results on your Mac after the app and its on-device model have been downloaded. Downloading the installer or model necessarily sends ordinary network-request data to the relevant download host. If you follow an external link from the app, that destination receives the resulting request under its own privacy policy.
4. Why we process information and our legal bases
| Purpose | GDPR basis |
|---|---|
| Provide the analysis, review, local storage, purchase, and support you request | Performance of a contract or steps at your request before a contract |
| Protect the service, rate-limit requests, prevent abuse, and diagnose reliability problems | Our legitimate interests in operating a safe and reliable service |
| Answer questions and organization enquiries | Steps at your request and our legitimate interest in responding |
| Maintain payment, tax, and legal records | Contract performance and compliance with legal obligations |
| Establish, exercise, or defend legal claims | Our legitimate interests and applicable legal obligations |
If we rely on consent for a future optional use, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting earlier lawful processing.
A manuscript can contain health or other special-category personal data. The person or organization deciding to submit that manuscript is responsible for identifying an applicable GDPR Article 9 condition and any research, employment, confidentiality, or ethics requirements. Contact us before use if you need a data-processing agreement or a documented assessment for an organizational workflow.
5. Service providers and scholarly data services
We disclose data only as needed to provide, secure, and administer DeskReview, or where the law requires it.
Netlify
Hosts the public website, server functions, forms, and temporary analysis-job data. Netlify also processes ordinary website and request logs. See Netlify's privacy policy (opens in a new tab).
Mistral AI
Receives manuscript inputs and returns OCR and model outputs for hosted analysis. DeskReview's Mistral API organization is configured for Zero Data Retention on the supported stateless OCR and chat-completion endpoints used by the service, and for model-training opt-out. Under Mistral's current ZDR documentation, supported request inputs and outputs are not stored or logged longer than needed to generate the output. ZDR and training opt-out are separate controls. See Mistral's ZDR documentation (opens in a new tab) and privacy policy (opens in a new tab).
Stripe
Provides checkout and payment processing. Stripe acts under its own terms for the information it collects during checkout. See Stripe's privacy policy (opens in a new tab).
Crossref and OpenAlex
Reference text, identifiers, or author names may be sent to Crossref and OpenAlex to find bibliographic and author metadata, validate references, and check reported retraction relations. Their responses may be kept as part of your locally saved review. See Crossref's privacy information (opens in a new tab) and OpenAlex's API documentation (opens in a new tab).
OpenAlex, PubMed, and Semantic Scholar
If you deliberately enable comparable-research search, DeskReview sends a limited topic query—not the manuscript PDF—to these services and records the returned metadata and coverage limits in the review. PubMed is operated by the U.S. National Library of Medicine; Semantic Scholar is operated by Ai2. See the NLM privacy policy (opens in a new tab) and Ai2 privacy policy (opens in a new tab).
Links you choose to open
DeskReview can create links to publishers, DOI resolvers, registries, reporting-guideline sites, and Google Scholar. Those services receive data only when a request is made to them; for example, a Google Scholar search link includes the reference text in its query.
A custom or enterprise deployment may use a different hosting or document-parsing arrangement. Any materially different arrangement should be covered by the terms provided for that deployment.
6. Retention and deletion
- Browser library: retained on your device until you use DeskReview's delete control, clear the site's browser data, or remove the browser profile. DeskReview cannot remotely restore or delete this local copy.
- Initial hosted analysis: the queued PDF payload is removed from temporary job storage after the analysis worker loads it. Evidence and result artifacts are normally deleted after the browser receives them. Job access expires after one hour and expired artifacts are deleted when expiry is processed.
- AI review jobs: temporary inputs and stage outputs are normally deleted after the completed review is saved in your browser. Job access expires after one hour and expired artifacts are deleted when expiry is processed.
- Mistral inputs and outputs: handled under the ZDR setting described above for supported endpoints. Provider security, billing, and operational records that do not contain request inputs or outputs may be retained under the provider's terms.
- Enquiries and support: kept while needed to answer the request, maintain reasonable business records, or handle a dispute, then deleted or anonymized.
- Payments and legal records: retained for the period required by applicable accounting, tax, fraud-prevention, and legal obligations. Stripe applies its own retention rules to the information it controls.
Hosting and communications providers may keep limited security logs and backups under their own documented retention practices. Temporary job expiry is an application-access boundary, not a promise that every provider backup disappears at that exact moment.
7. International transfers
DeskReviewAI is established in the European Union. Some providers or scholarly services may process information outside the European Economic Area. Where GDPR transfer restrictions apply to a processor, we rely on an adequacy decision or appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses. Public scholarly lookup services may act independently under their own policies.
8. Security
DeskReview uses HTTPS, access-controlled server-side credentials, signed access cookies, request validation, rate limiting, data minimization, short-lived jobs, and local-first review storage. No online service can guarantee absolute security. The security of browser-stored reviews and DeskReview Local data also depends on your device, browser profile, backups, and account security. Download important reviews you need to preserve.
9. Automated processing
DeskReview uses automated extraction and AI-generated assessments, but it does not make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about authors, participants, or manuscripts. Results are advisory and must be checked by a person against the source manuscript.
10. Your privacy rights
Depending on the circumstances, the GDPR may give you rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, or receive your personal data; object to processing based on legitimate interests; withdraw consent; and complain to a supervisory authority. These rights can be limited by law and may not apply to information that DeskReviewAI does not control, such as data kept only in your browser or by an independent scholarly service.
To exercise a right, email contact@deskreview.ai. We may need enough information to verify the request. You may also lodge a complaint with the Dutch Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (opens in a new tab) or another competent supervisory authority.
11. Children
DeskReview is intended for researchers and other adults and is not directed to children. Do not provide a child's personal data unless it is lawful and necessary to process the manuscript and you have authority to do so.
12. Changes and contact
We may update this policy when the service, providers, or law changes. We will publish the current version here and change the date above. Material changes will be highlighted where reasonably practical.
Questions or privacy requests: contact@deskreview.ai.