Ethics & Transparency
How we handle data, disclose our methods, and protect your trust.
Medical Disclaimer
StudyLens does not provide medical advice. All content on this platform consists of factual extractions from published research and educational material about scientific methodology.
We never recommend treatments, diagnoses, or lifestyle changes. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.
Data Sourcing
We only use legally available open-access sources.
Full text is sourced exclusively from legal open-access repositories: PubMed Central (PMC), Unpaywall, and OpenAlex. We never bypass paywalls, scrape copyrighted content, or redistribute full papers.
Media article excerpts are limited to brief quotes for commentary and criticism under fair use principles. We always link to the original source.
Preprints and non-peer-reviewed studies are accepted but prominently labeled so users can calibrate their confidence accordingly.
LLM Transparency
Our extraction pipeline is powered by AI — and we think you should know exactly how.
StudyLens uses Anthropic's Claude API for structured fact extraction, quality assessment, topic classification, and media discovery. No human editorial team curates content at this stage.
Every extracted fact includes a confidence score and links back to the original source text. The platform displays a persistent notice:
For full technical details on our extraction pipeline, see our methodology.
Language Standards
We use disciplined scientific language to avoid overstating findings.
| We avoid | We use |
|---|---|
| "confirms" | "suggests" |
| "link" | "association" |
| "proves" | "provides evidence for" |
| "breakthrough" | "finding" |
| "cure" | "intervention showed improvement in" |
| "experts say" | "this study found" |
Privacy
Minimal data collection by design.
We do not store user-uploaded files. We do not track users beyond what's required for authentication (Google OAuth session). We do not sell data to third parties.
Study submissions are not tied to user accounts unless saved to a collection. Anonymous usage is the default.
Security
All external input is validated with Zod schemas at the API boundary. Database queries use parameterized statements via Drizzle ORM — no raw SQL interpolation. Public endpoints are rate-limited.
Authentication is handled by Auth.js with CSRF protection and secure session cookies. Secrets are validated at startup and never logged.
Accessibility
We target WCAG 2.1 AA compliance.
Color contrast
4.5:1 minimum for text, 3:1 for large text
Keyboard navigation
All interactive elements reachable via keyboard
Screen readers
Semantic HTML, ARIA labels, live regions
Touch targets
Minimum 44×44px on mobile
Reduced motion
Animations respect prefers-reduced-motion
Dark mode
Full theme support with proper contrast in both modes
Revenue Model
Freemium SaaS, not advertising. We have no incentive to sensationalize.
StudyLens is funded by optional paid subscriptions that unlock deeper analysis features (interrogation flags, caution meter, additional collections). The free tier provides core study extraction and quality checklists.
Because our revenue comes from useful analysis, not engagement or advertising, we have no incentive to exaggerate findings or optimize for clicks.
Legal & Compliance
Content on StudyLens is provided for educational and informational purposes only. Extracted facts are algorithmically derived and may contain errors. Users should always verify claims against original publications.
All connections are encrypted via HTTPS. Infrastructure is hosted on Vercel and Neon with SOC 2 compliant providers.