Terms & Conditions

1. Agreement to Terms

By creating an account, purchasing a membership, or otherwise accessing GRF, you confirm that you are at least 18 years old, have read and understood these Terms, and agree to be bound by them. If you are using GRF on behalf of an organisation, you represent that you have authority to bind that organisation.

If you do not agree to these Terms, please do not use the platform.

2. Account Registration & Security

To access most features of GRF, you must register for an account. When registering:

• You must provide accurate, current, and complete information.
• You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password.
• You must notify us immediately of any unauthorised use of your account.
• You may not create accounts on behalf of others without their consent.
• You may hold only one active account at any time.

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or contain false information.

3. Membership Plans & Payments

GRF offers paid membership plans that unlock additional features. By purchasing a plan:

• You agree to pay the applicable fee as displayed at checkout.
• All prices are shown in the stated currency (USD or INR).
• Payments are processed by third-party gateways (PayPal, Stripe, or Razorpay).
• Memberships become active upon successful payment confirmation.

Membership periods are as stated on the pricing page. We will attempt to notify you before expiry, but it remains your responsibility to renew.

4. Content Submission Rules

Members may submit blog posts and research articles. By submitting content, you:

• Warrant that the content is your original work or that you have rights to publish it.
• Grant GRF a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to display, index, and distribute the content on the platform.
• Agree that submitted content is subject to editorial review and moderation before publication.
• Retain copyright ownership of your content.

Content must not:

• Be plagiarised or infringe third-party intellectual property rights.
• Contain false, misleading, or defamatory statements.
• Include hate speech, harassment, explicit material, or content that promotes violence.
• Violate any applicable law or regulation.
• Be purely promotional (spam) without academic or research merit.

5. Intellectual Property

The GRF platform — including its design, logo, code, and non-user-generated content — is owned by Global Research Forum and protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. You may not copy, reproduce, or distribute platform content without express written permission.

User-submitted content remains the intellectual property of the respective authors. Authors are solely responsible for any IP claims arising from their submissions.

6. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to:

• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the platform or its databases.
• Use automated scraping, crawling, or data harvesting tools without permission.
• Circumvent, disable, or interfere with security features.
• Impersonate any person or entity.
• Use the platform to send unsolicited commercial messages.
• Introduce viruses, malware, or any harmful code.
• Engage in any activity that disrupts or degrades platform performance.
• Create multiple accounts to circumvent bans or restrictions.

Violation of these rules may result in immediate account suspension or termination and, where applicable, legal action.

7. Content Moderation

GRF reserves the right to review, approve, reject, or remove any content at our sole discretion. We aim to:

• Review submitted blogs within a reasonable timeframe.
• Notify you of approval or rejection with a reason where possible.
• Remove content that violates these Terms without prior notice.

We do not guarantee that all content on the platform is accurate, complete, or error-free. User-generated content represents the views of the respective authors, not GRF.

8. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, GRF and its operators shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the platform, including but not limited to loss of data, revenue, or reputation.

Our total liability for any claim shall not exceed the amount you paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim.

9. Account Termination

By you: You may delete your account at any time via Dashboard → Delete Account. Your personal data will be anonymised in accordance with our Privacy Policy, and your published content will remain on the platform in anonymised form.

By GRF: We may suspend or terminate your account without notice if you violate these Terms, engage in fraudulent activity, or for any other reason at our sole discretion. No refunds will be issued for terminations due to Terms violations.

10. Changes to Terms

We may modify these Terms at any time. We will notify registered users of material changes via a platform notification. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page will reflect the latest revision. Continued use of GRF after changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms.

11. Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with applicable law. Any disputes arising from these Terms or your use of GRF shall be resolved through good-faith negotiation in the first instance. If unresolved, disputes shall be referred to the competent courts of the jurisdiction in which GRF operates.