These terms apply in addition to the Terms of Service when you hire through Researchor.
Your brief
Describe what you actually need: the research question, the methodology if you have one, the data you hold, the deadline and the budget. A vague brief produces poor matches and disputes.
State any requirement imposed by your institution, funder, publisher or ethics committee. An expert cannot comply with a rule you did not mention.
What you may not ask for
You may not post a project that requires anything prohibited by the Academic Integrity Policy, including work you intend to submit as your own. Doing so is a breach of these terms regardless of how the brief is worded, and experts are expected to decline and report it.
Ethical approval
Where your project involves human subjects, animal subjects or identifiable personal data, you are responsible for holding the required ethical approval before work begins, and for saying so in the brief.
Do not share participant data you are not authorised to share. Anonymise it where you can.
Funding and approval
Fund each milestone before the expert begins it. Review deliverables promptly.
Approval releases payment and is final, so review before you approve. If a delivery does not match the agreed scope, request a revision or raise a dispute rather than approving and complaining afterwards.
If you neither approve nor raise anything within the review window, the milestone may auto-release. See the Payment & Escrow Policy.
Scope changes
Extra work is extra work. Where you need something the accepted proposal did not cover, agree a new milestone. Expecting it inside the original fee is not a revision request.
Confidentiality and IP
You keep ownership of what you supply. Rights in the deliverable transfer to you on payment, subject to the Intellectual Property Policy.
Treat the expert's methods and pre-existing material as theirs, and do not redistribute them.
Reviews
Review honestly, on the work delivered against the brief agreed. Do not use a review as leverage to obtain work beyond scope.
Off-platform
Do not ask an expert to work or be paid outside Researchor. It removes escrow, screening and dispute protection, and it is a breach of the Terms of Service.
Questions about this document go to support@researchor.org.ng, or through the contact form.