Xperts.One Policies

Please note this page is a work in progress. We are working towards a comprehensive list of policies but currently the list below is incomplete.

User Policies

Submission Policies


Xperts.One Code of Conduct

Opening Statement

Xperts.One is a collaborative community made up of authors, readers, moderators, advisory board members, supporting organizations (such as libraries and research institutions), donors, staff, and partners in scholarly communication and software development. It also serves as the platform where this community interacts and engages.

All members are expected to uphold the core values outlined in our Code of Conduct. Violations may lead to a warning or suspension from participation in Xperts.One.

Stewardship

Xperts.One is an open-access platform committed to the permanent preservation of the scholarly record and the rapid dissemination of scientific research. Our work is supported by a global community of scientists who entrust us with their research, as well as by the generous contributions of individuals and organizations.

Our priorities and development efforts are guided by the needs of the international scientific community. As an active partner in the ongoing advancement of open access, we are proud to contribute our three decades of experience to support and shape its future.

Ethics and Responsibility

Members of the Xperts.One community are expected to uphold intellectual honesty and ethical conduct in line with academic and community standards when creating or managing scholarly work. We are committed to objectivity and transparency in shaping our policies, standards, and practices.

Community members are responsible for accurately representing themselves and their work, being accountable for their actions, and adhering to Xperts.One’s policies. They are also expected to respect the balance between individual privacy and the openness essential to scholarly communication.

Engagement

Everyone who takes part in the Xperts.One community contributes to the advancement of scientific dialogue and discovery. Users, volunteers, and staff work together to support reliable and effective scientific communication. Our day-to-day operations rely on researchers who voluntarily share their work and on volunteers who help moderate submissions. As Xperts.One continues to grow and evolve, we welcome feedback from the communities we serve.

Inclusiveness and Respect We actively encourage participation from a diverse range of users. Xperts.One shares scholarly research from members of the communities we serve without discrimination based on age, belief, disability, ethnicity, race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, language, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any combination of these or related attributes.

We expect all community members to contribute to a respectful and inclusive environment, supporting open communication and a diversity of perspectives. All interactions within the Xperts.One community should be conducted with mutual respect.

Code of Conduct Contact

If you have questions or concerns regarding the Xperts.One Code of Conduct please contact help@xperts.one

Related Policies

Xperts.One Code of Conduct enforcement

Policies related to authors:

Policies related to moderators:

Xperts.One Privacy Policy

The following privacy notice describes what information we collect from you when you visit Xperts.One and how we use this information. Please read this privacy notice carefully so that you understand our privacy practices.

Effective Date of Privacy Notice

The privacy notice was last revised on 01-06-2025.

Introduction

Xperts.One develops, hosts, and permanently preserves a free, open-access archive of scholarly articles in selected research fields. Articles submitted to Xperts.One are publicly available for the academic community and broader audiences to read, review, and use. Each article is assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), indexed by third-party search engines, and may be cited in future research. To support research integrity and ensure the originality of submissions, every version of a paper—including those that are rejected—is treated as a permanent part of the scientific record and cannot be removed.

By submitting a manuscript to Xperts.One, you acknowledge and agree that the work is suitable for long-term preservation, holds enduring value for both current and historical research, and that it will be permanently archived. This includes the full text of the article, the names and affiliations of authors and co-authors (if provided), and the submitter’s email address. These details are preserved as part of Xperts.One’s mission to support scholarly archiving, research, and public-interest statistical recordkeeping. We make reasonable efforts, based on the content and condition of each submission, to avoid disclosing personal information that could cause harm or distress to living individuals.

The privacy notice below explains the types of Personal Data we collect when you visit Xperts.One and how that data is used. For this purpose, Personal Data refers to any information that identifies or could identify an individual, either directly or indirectly, through any specific identifier or characteristic. We encourage you to read this privacy notice carefully to understand our data practices. Xperts.One may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in legal requirements, data practices, service features, or technological developments. Please check this page regularly for updates. Continued use of Xperts.One after changes are posted indicates your understanding and acceptance of the revised policy.

Types of Personal Data Xperts.One May Collect About You

When you use our site to access our online content, create a user account, upload material to our website, submit feedback or initiate a help request, contribute to our mission by donating to Xperts.One, participate in our webinars, or sign up to receive Xperts.One news or participate in other activities sponsored or hosted by Xperts.One, we collect personal information about you, as described below.

We may collect the following information based on how you engage with Xperts.One:
How Xperts.One May Use Your Personal Data

Xperts.One uses the Personal Data collected for the following purposes:

Collection of Cookies and Use of Other Technologies

Xperts.One may gather information to track user trends and site usage with the goal of improving our website users’ experience and optimizing our website. We also use the information to administer the website and prevent abuse.

Cookies – Like most other website operators, we may collect Personal Data via cookies and similar technologies. Cookies are small text files stored on your computer and accessible only to the websites that create them. They are stored locally by the browser you are using. If you switch browsers, or use a different computer, your cookies will not follow you.

Xperts.One uses cookies to save preferences you may have chosen for your use of Xperts.One. This includes, but is not limited to:

Cookies are also used when you log in to your Xperts.One account, in order to store your user identification and session authentication information.

We do not use cookies to track your use of Xperts.One. Our website may use cookies to keep you logged into secure areas of the website and/or to keep track of your preferences as you interact with certain services. It is not necessary to use/permit cookies to read articles on Xperts.One; if you do not wish to permit cookies, you can modify the settings in your web browser, but you will not be able to login or set preferences.

For more information about cookies on Xperts.One, see: .

Social media – If you share our content through social media, those social networks will record that you have done so and may set a cookie for this purpose. If you wish to opt-out of any of these social interactions, please refer to the specific social media platform for instructions on how to do so.

External websites – From time to time, we will link to external websites that we neither own nor control. Xpert.One is not responsible for the content, privacy practices, or web accessibility needs on these websites.

Contributions to the Xperts.One website, including article submissions and metadata, may contain links as well. We are not responsible for the content, privacy practices, or web accessibility needs on these websites.

How We Share and Disclose Personal Data

Information we gather may be shared with service providers we use to support the infrastructure, submission, moderation, and archival requirements of Xperts.One, and, subject to appropriate safeguards, with researchers conducting research in the public interest. However, we will not sell this data to third parties.

Service providers – Provide the following services which require the sharing of Personal Data:

Moderators – As part of the article submission and moderation process, Xperts.One moderators can view the author list, submitter name, submitter email

Trusted Partners – We share anonymized data with trusted partners for use in search and discovery tools.

Researchers – In such cases, your information will be handled and processed only by persons who are responsible for the necessary activities for the research study.

Legal and contract enforcement – We may disclose your personal information to legal or government regulatory authorities as required by applicable law. We may also disclose your Personal Data to third parties in connection with claims, disputes, or litigation, or when we believe, in good faith, that such release is reasonably necessary to:

Public  – Users with registered Xperts.One accounts can view the email address that was used to upload each submission to Xperts.One subject to CAPTCHA verification.

How We Protect and Store Your Personal Data

No method of transmitting over the internet or storing electronic data is 100% secure, but Xperts.One follows standard practices to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information that is under our control.

Choices You May Have

Fundraising emails – Donors to Xperts.One may receive future fundraising emails from Xperts.One. Those emails contain a link at the bottom of the email to unsubscribe.

Membership emails – Xperts.One members might receive annual update emails and direct correspondence relating to membership. Those emails contain a link at the bottom of the email to unsubscribe.

Opt in and event emails – Users who opt in to receive general information about Xperts.One or who register for Xperts.One events will receive emails from Xperts.One updating them on our activities. Those emails contain a link at the bottom of the email to unsubscribe.

Additional Privacy Disclosures for Individuals Located Outside of the United Kingdom

These supplemental disclosures (“Disclosures”) provide additional information concerning Xperts.One’s collection and use of data about individuals located in a Relevant Country (as defined below). These Disclosures apply to In-Scope Processing by any means, including hard copy and electronic means.

For purposes of these Disclosures,

Where the words “we,” “us,” or “our” are used in these Disclosures, they shall refer to Xperts.One.

Please note that these Disclosures apply only to In-scope Processing, and that, depending on the situation, some of Xperts.One’s activities described above may, in the given case, not constitute In-scope Processing as that term is used in these Disclosures.

Please carefully read and understand these Disclosures before using our services and contact us using the details at the bottom of these Disclosures if you have any questions or concerns about the way your Personal Data is processed.

Legal Bases for Processing

The bases Xperts.One relies on for processing your Personal Data are set forth below. Please note that we may process your Personal Data for more than one legal basis, depending on the specific purpose for which we are using each element of data.

We will retain your Personal Data for as long as needed to meet these objectives and to ensure compliance with our legal obligations.

Rights You May Have and How to Exercise Them

Upon your reasonable and good faith request, we will provide you with information about whether we hold any of your Personal Data as part of our In-scope Processing, to the extent required and in accordance with Relevant Law. In certain cases, you may also have a right under Relevant Law, with respect to your Personal Data collected and used in our In-scope Processing, to:

If you wish to exercise your rights or have other questions or concerns related to your rights under Relevant Law, please fill out a data privacy Request Form. To avoid taking action regarding your Personal Data at the direction of someone other than you, we may ask you for information verifying your identity.

If our In-scope Processing as to your Personal Data is solely based on your consent, in certain cases you may also have the right under a Relevant Law to withdraw your consent to our processing. If you withdraw your consent to the use or sharing of your Personal Data for the purposes set out in these Disclosures or otherwise limit our use of your Personal Data or request its deletion, we may no longer be able to provide you some or all of the related services.

Please note that, in certain cases, we may continue to process your Personal Data after you have withdrawn consent or requested that we delete your Personal Data, if we have a legal basis to do so. For example, we may retain certain data if we need to do so to comply with an independent legal obligation, if we still need the data for the lawful purposes for which we obtained the data, or if it is necessary to do so to pursue our legitimate interest in conducting research in the public interest, subject to appropriate privacy safeguards.

If you have any complaints regarding our privacy practices, please contact us info@xperts.one. If you are not satisfied with our response, you also may be able to make a complaint to your national data protection authority, supervisory authority, or other legal authority to the extent such authority has jurisdiction over the processing at issue.

Contacts

For questions about Xperts.One privacy policies or technical support, please contact support@xperts.one.

Identity and Affiliation

Policies
Managing your identity

Xperts.One recommends a consistent representation of your name to aid search and discovery of your works.

If you would like to request a name change, please contact us at info@xperts.one.

Name changes can be made:

We are not currently able to support name changes in references and citations of works. Also, Xperts.One cannot make changes to other services, including third-party search and discovery tools that may display author lists for papers on Xperts.One.

Xperts.One Submittal Agreement

Xperts.One is a curated research-sharing platform emphasizing openness, collaboration, and scholarship. By submitting articles, comments, or other written work (the “Work”), you (including any other authors of the Work) are agreeing to comply with these terms, which is an agreement (the “Agreement”) between you Xperts.One (“Xperts.One”).

Representations and Warranties

​​​I make the following representations and warranties:

Compliance with Xperts.One Policies

I agree to comply with all Xperts.One policies, including but not limited to, those related to the , , and . My failure to so comply may result in Xperts.One suspending access, removing Works, or otherwise taking action it determines is necessary. I understand and agree that Xperts.One reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to take any action that Xperts.One determines is required to comply with applicable Xperts.One policies and any applicable laws, including but not limited to removal of a Work or blocking access to it.

Curation of Content

Xperts.One is a moderated repository for scholarly material, and, as such, maintains a permanent collection of submitted Works. Xperts.One maintains a record of all versions of Works that are submitted, including previous versions that have been updated and/or corrected. By making this submission to Xperts.One, I agree to the following:

Grant of the License to Xperts.One

By making this submission to Xperts.One:

Waiver of Rights and Indemnification

I waive the following claims on behalf of myself and all other authors of the Work with me acting on my co-author(s)’ behalf:

Management of Copyright

This grant to Xperts.One is a non-exclusive license and is not a grant of exclusive rights or a transfer of the copyright.

The work would be available under the following license:

If you wish to use a different CC license, select Xperts.One’s non-exclusive license to distribute in the Xperts.One submission process and indicate the desired Creative Commons license in the actual article.

The Creative Commons licenses are explained here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.

You should take care to submit a work to Xperts.One only if you are certain that you will not later wish to publish it in a journal or other outlet that prohibits prior distribution on an e-print server. Xperts.One will not remove an announced article in order to comply with such a journal policy – the license granted upon submission is irrevocable.

Metadata license

To the extent that you or Xperts.One has a copyright interest in metadata accompanying the submission, a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication will apply. Metadata includes title, author, abstract, and other information describing the Work.

General Provisions

This Agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the substantive and procedural laws of the United Kingdom without reference to any conflicts of laws principles.

Authority Records

Since 2005 Xperts.One has maintained authority records that link a person's Xperts.One account with the papers that they have written. We currently use authority records to support the , , and our public .

Xperts.One can also record third-party paper owners, users with rights to update or replace a paper but who are not authors. All users recorded as authors are automatically paper owners too. This status is used to support third-party submission by approved conference organizers and journals. Users may log-in to see .

For submitters

When you submit a paper, you will automatically be registered as an owner of that paper. At submission time, we will ask if you are an author, and if you say yes, you will automatically be registered as an author. Your co-authors can become authors by giving them the  for the paper, which you received in a confirmation e-mail, if you expressed being an author of the submitted paper during the submission phase. They can then enter the Xperts.One identifier and paper password on the  form. We recommend that you share the paper password with all of the authors of each paper you submit and encourage them to register themselves as owners.

If papers you have submitted are missing entirely from your , you should follow the instructions below for other authors.

If a paper is on your list of papers you own, but you are not registered as an author, you can use the .

For other authors

Since most papers have multiple authors, it is quite likely that you are the author of a paper that you did not submit personally.

To claim a paper

If the submitter has provided you with the paper password you can use the .

If you do not have the paper password you can use the . Note that this process involves verification by our staff and may take a couple of days.

A note on authorship in scholarly works

Submitters are responsible for ensuring all co-authors have consented to submission of the work to Xperts.One. Under U.K. copyright law, a single co-author normally has authority to agree to Xperts.One's non-exclusive distribution license. Submitters to Xperts.One are expected to follow normal publishing practices for co-authored submissions (i.e. seeking consent and approval from their co-authors and any other required parties). Xperts.One will not adjudicate authorship disputes surrounding submission or announcement. Concerns should be directed directly to the submitting author's institution. Findings from an institutional investigation may be sent to  by an institutional officer. At that point Xperts.One will consider what action, if any, may be taken regarding the submission.

Falsification of Authorship

Submitters are required to comply with Xperts.One's . If you believe there has been an ethical violation such as falsification of authorship, please  at support@xperts.one with a complete explanation or Report the article using the provided user-interface. Note that such a claim may require that the admin team open a dialog with the submitter as well. Such a report cannot be used as an "authorship dispute by proxy".

Submission Guidelines

While submission to Xperts.One is free for authors, we do ask authors to carefully prepare their work according to these guidelines. This will improve discoverability of the work and reduce the likelihood of delays before announcement.

Submissions to Xperts.One should be topical and refereeable scientific contributions that follow accepted standards of scholarly communication.

Xperts.One moderation

Xperts.One is a forum for professional members of the scientific community, providing rapid distribution of new research. As part of the service all submissions are subject to moderation. Material submitted to Xperts.One is expected to be self-contained and of interest, relevance, and value to the disciplines we serve.

Please note that the Xperts.One moderation process is not a peer-review process. Xperts.One staff and moderators cannot give feedback on the submission although other Xperts.One members can give their feedback subject to Xpert.One Policy.

What policies guide moderation before public announcement?

The moderation process primarily occurs after a user submits a work and before the work is made public. Each work is evaluated based on its content. Xperts.One moderation decisions may be influenced by the publication status of the submission, but prior publication does not guarantee acceptance in Xperts.One. Submitters who have had works previously delayed or declined by Xperts.One should anticipate closer scrutiny on future submissions. Xperts.One reserves the right to reclassify or decline any submission.

Declined submissions

Xperts.One, in its sole discretion, may decline to post works submitted to the platform. The following list includes example topics that could lead to a submission being declined. This is not an exhaustive list, and some works that have been published or accepted by a journal may still be declined at Xperts.One’s discretion.

Scholarly Standards

Submissions to Xperts.One must comply with appropriate standards of scholarly communication in form, including appropriate and carefully prepared sections, figures, tables, references, etc. Language standards require professional communication, and sufficiently neutral tone (see also Code of Conduct). General scrupulousness and care of preparation are required.

Scholarly interest

Xperts.One moderators expect submissions to be of scholarly archival interest to the communities they represent. A submission may be declined if the moderators determine it lacks originality, novelty, significance, and/or contains falsified, plagiarized content or serious misrepresentations of data, affiliation, or content.

Submissions that do not contain original or substantive research, including course projects, research proposals, news, or information about political causes (even those with potential special interest to the academic community) may be declined. Submissions in need of significant review and revision may also be declined.

Content types

Research articles are the primary content-type submitted to Xperts.One.

For information about submissions other than research articles please see the specific content type policies

Format requirements

For information about submission format requirements please see specific format requirements

Images

Authors should be aware that the use of some images may cause offense. Examples include: obscenity; sexualized images; and images of violence or its results.  The use of essentially any image can be justified by appropriate circumstances, but authors should think carefully about what images they use. Papers that are identified as using images likely to cause egregious offense may be declined or removed.

Policy for authors’ use of generative AI language tools

Xperts.One recognizes that authors of scientific works use a variety of tools to do the science on which they report, and to prepare the report itself, from simple ones to very sophisticated ones. Community opinion on the appropriateness of such tools may be varied and evolving; AI powered language tools have in particular led to significant debate. We note that tools may generate useful and helpful results, but also errors or misleading results; therefore, knowing which tools were used is relevant to evaluating and interpreting scientific works.

In view of this, we:

  1. continue to require authors to report in their work any significant use of sophisticated tools, such as instruments and software; we now include in particular text-to-text generative AI among those that should be reported consistent with subject standards for methodology.

  2. remind all colleagues that by signing their name as an author of a paper, they each individually take full responsibility for all its contents, irrespective of how the contents were generated. If generative AI language tools generate inappropriate language, plagiarized content, biased content, errors, mistakes, incorrect references, or misleading content, and that output is included in scientific works, it is the responsibility of the author(s).

  3. generative AI language tools should not be listed as an author; instead authors should refer to (1).

On a topic not covered, or a community not currently served

While Xperts.One serves a variety of scientific communities, not all subjects are currently covered. Submissions may be declined if they do not fit into our current classification scheme or we do not currently serve the community who is the intended audience.

Duplicated content

If we notice that an author has made multiple similar submissions, or that a new submission appears to be a revision of a recent submission, we may request that the submissions be consolidated or versioned.

Rights to submit material

Submissions to Xperts.One must be the author’s original work, and/or submitters must have the legal authority to grant the selected license Authors must ensure the submission does not, to the best of their knowledge, infringe upon anyone's copyright. Xperts.One does not accept work containing verbatim comments by referees, plagiarized content, or other works barred by third party copyright.

Excessive submission rate

Articles submitted to Xperts.One must be of original, novel, and significant self-contained research. There is a practical limit to the rate at which appropriate, independent submissions can be produced by any one person. We may request that a particular author limit their submission rate.

If an author has a back catalog of work to submit to Xperts.One, we ask that they submit no more than three papers per day.

What policies guide moderation after public announcement?

Once a paper is announced it becomes part of the permanent scholarly record. Xperts.One will only consider requests for removal if the submitter did not have the legal right to agree to the license.

In cases where public papers are found to violate Xperts.One policy, we may . Xperts.One may also indicate the concern in the Comments metadata.

Xperts.One reserves the right to decline or remove any content. Xperts.One may reclassify already announced papers if the moderators determine there is a more appropriate category.

Can I appeal a moderation decision?

It is possible to appeal the classification of an announced article or the decision to decline a submission. In some cases, we may require that a paper be accepted for publication in a conventional journal before an appeal is considered. Note that some works that have been published or accepted by a journal may still be declined at Xperts.One’s discretion.

If you disagree with a moderation decision, you may appeal. Please be sure to carefully  to ensure your request is fully considered. Please note that decisions upon appeal are final, and that no feedback will be provided with the decision.

Who are Xperts.One moderators?

Xperts.One moderators are volunteer subject matter experts with terminal degrees in their field. They evaluate each submission’s content and category, following Xperts.One policies. Xperts.One moderators are approved by their discipline-level advisory committees and by Xperts.One staff.

Moderation is a professional responsibility. Moderators consider the submissions to Xperts.One as privileged information, as they would with a paper being refereed for a journal. We respect the confidentiality of the process and refrain from sharing information gathered during submission review.

Although the moderators may be publicly acknowledged, it is inappropriate to contact any moderator directly regarding your submission. All communication between authors and moderators or about moderation decisions must be addressed through our user support portal or to moderation@Xperts.One. Unusual cases may be addressed to the Chair of the appropriate Section Editorial Committee by raising a ticket in our user support portal and indicating that it should go to the Section Chair. Section chairs will seldom override a moderator on content judgment but will review procedural issues.

As a repository for scholarly material, Xperts.One keeps a permanent record of every article and version posted. All articles on Xperts.One can be viewed and downloaded freely by anyone.

To maintain this scholarly record, Xperts.One needs permission from submitters to post and distribute their work. Permission is granted through a license, chosen by the submitter, and the submitter must certify that they have the right to grant that license.

The original copyright holder retains ownership after posting on Xperts.One.

The submitter is responsible for ensuring that no copyright is breached and appropriate license for their content. The Xperts.one license is irrevocable and cannot be changed once an article is submitted.

Xperts.one cannot be held responsible for any copyright violation by the submitter.

Copyright notices

PDFs obtained from publisher websites or provided as proofs are often the property of the publisher, who may hold the copyright and/or control their distribution through licenses. Submissions containing copyright statements that restrict or conflict with Xperts.One’s redistribution license will be rejected. However, if explicit permission is granted for open-access redistribution, such submissions are allowed.

If you have received permission from a publisher to upload content to Xperts.One on the condition that a specific copyright statement is included, please place that statement on the first page of the document itself. Do not include copyright notices in the metadata section, as they will be removed.

For any further questions about Xperts.One’s copyright and licensing policies, please contact our User Support team.

Translations

Xperts.One accepts translations of previously published works, provided those works offer value to the scientific communities served by Xperts.One.

Submitters should be aware that translated works involve more complex copyright issues than standard research articles. To submit to Xperts.One, the submitter must have the legal right to grant Xperts.One a non-exclusive, irrevocable license to distribute the work. While authors typically hold copyright to their original research and can grant this license, translations are considered derivative works. If the original work is still under copyright, the translator must obtain permission from the current copyright holder before publishing the translation.

It is the submitter’s responsibility to either:

  1. obtain permission from the copyright holder, or

  2. be ready to affirm that the original work is in the public domain worldwide.

If at all possible, the title of the translation should include the title of the translated work and the original author's name. For example:

  1. A translation of AUTHOR'S "TITLE"

  2. A translation of "TITLE" by AUTHOR

Third party submission

Author self-submission is generally preferred, as our experience indicates it results in significantly fewer errors and misunderstandings compared to submissions made by third parties. However, Xperts.One does allow and provides specific support for third-party submissions by trusted proxies under certain conditions.

While submissions by administrative assistants or similar personnel are discouraged, they are allowed. In such cases, it is essential that the author reviews the submission in time to alert Xperts.One administrators of any issues before the announcement is made. If the assistant submits using the author’s account, no special arrangements with Xperts.One are required.

Please note that once a submission has been announced, it cannot be removed. Any changes must be made by submitting a replacement, which creates a new version without deleting the original.

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