Terms of Use

ArkID (arkid.org) is a ResearchArk service operated by Mycel UG (haftungsbeschränkt), Kollwitzstraße 76, 10435 Berlin, Germany (“we”). Full provider details are in the Imprint.

These terms govern your use of ArkID: the website arkid.org, your ArkID account, the application programming interfaces (APIs) and the public resolver for ArkID identifiers. Other ResearchArk services you sign in to with ArkID, such as ArkNexus, ArkConnect, ArkLab or ArkNexus Expert, have their own terms.

Users' own terms do not apply, even if we do not expressly object to them.

ArkID is an open identity and identifier infrastructure for research and innovation. In particular, ArkID offers:

• a personal account with your persistent person identifier (ARKU) and a single sign-in for ResearchArk services;
• persistent identifiers under ISO 27729 for ideas (ARKI), projects (ARKP), organisations (ARKO), outputs (ARKD) and funding opportunities (ARKF), and the links between them;
• a public resolver that shows published records under their identifier;
• linking your account to your ORCID iD and to organisations from the Research Organization Registry (ROR);
• idea protection: an independently logged time proof that a piece of content existed at a given moment (section 6);
• publishing outputs, with a DOI if you ask for one, and preprints in ArkPaper;
• digital credentials (Verifiable Credentials), for example certificates of completed work in other ResearchArk services;
• interfaces for developers.

ArkID is free for users. There is no entitlement to particular features; we develop the service and may change, add or discontinue features (section 10).

You must be at least 16 years old to hold an account. An account belongs to exactly one natural person; accounts for groups, roles or programs (bots) are not allowed.

Give accurate details when you register and keep them up to date. Confirm your e-mail address through the link we send you. Accounts whose e-mail address is not confirmed within 14 days and that hold no records are deleted automatically; the identifier assigned to them is then never published.

Keep your password secret and do not use it anywhere else. Tell us immediately at info@arkid.org if you suspect misuse of your account. You can end all sign-in sessions yourself in your account.

Registering concludes a free-of-charge contract between you and us for the use of ArkID under these terms.

ArkID identifiers are persistent. An identifier is never assigned to another person or record, not even after deletion. When a published record is deleted, the resolver reports the identifier as no longer available.

Identifiers are not copyright, ownership or other intellectual property rights. They prove neither that a statement is true nor that a particular person created a piece of content.

You may freely cite, link to and use ArkID identifiers in your own systems.

Content you create in ArkID, such as profile details, ideas, projects, outputs, files and descriptions, remains yours. You grant us the simple, free-of-charge right to store, process and technically adapt it, and to display it and provide it through the interfaces to the extent you choose with your visibility settings and by publishing. This right ends when you delete the content or your account; section 6 (time proofs) and statutory retention duties remain unaffected.

Published outputs are also covered by the licence you choose when publishing. We make the descriptive data (metadata) of published records openly available for reuse.

You decide which details are public. Published records are visible to everyone in the resolver and on their profile page and can be found by search engines. Accounts with an unconfirmed e-mail address are never public.

You confirm that you hold the rights to your content and that it does not infringe third-party rights. Do not publish other people's personal data without their consent or another legal basis.

When you protect an idea or an output, we compute a cryptographic fingerprint (SHA-256) of the normalised content. Fingerprints are combined in batches into a Merkle tree, whose root receives a timestamp from our timestamp service (RFC 3161) and is anchored in Sigstore's public Rekor log. You receive a proof bundle that you and others can verify without us.

The proof shows only that exactly this content existed no later than the logged time. It is not proof of authorship, not a patent, utility model or other intellectual property right, and not legal advice.

Before registration, new ideas are automatically compared with ideas already protected. From 70 % similarity, a person reviews the registration before it takes effect. From 85 %, the system refuses the registration and names the similar identifiers; you can revise and resubmit the idea, or ask at info@arkid.org for a review by a person.

Time proofs are designed to last: they must remain verifiable even after a change. If you delete a protected idea or your account, only the fingerprint with its verification path remains, without any link to the idea or to you. Entries in the public Rekor log contain only checksums and cannot be deleted.

Ideas from which other ideas were developed cannot simply be deleted while those lineage links exist; lineage cannot be changed, to protect attribution.

You can sign in to other ResearchArk services with your ArkID account. At sign-in, ArkID passes your ARKU, your name, your e-mail address and whether it is confirmed to that service. Your use of those services is governed by their own terms and privacy notices.

Other services can issue digital credentials through ArkID, for example after completed evaluation work. Such credentials are signed with ArkID's key; their validity can be checked publicly.

You may use the public interfaces within the documented usage limits. Keep access keys secret and do not pass them on. We may block keys and change limits to protect the service.

Bulk harvesting outside the interfaces, circumventing usage limits and using ArkID data for advertising, for profiling people or for reselling personal data are not permitted.

When using ArkID, you must not in particular:

• pretend to be another person or organisation, or register other people's ideas, outputs or profiles as your own;
• post unlawful content, such as content that infringes copyright, trademarks or personality rights, insults others or incites crime;
• upload malware, circumvent security measures or overload the service;
• create accounts automatically or use other people's accounts;
• deliberately circumvent the similarity check of idea protection.

You can report unlawful content to us under Art. 16 of the Digital Services Act through the contact point named in the Imprint.

We aim for uninterrupted operation but do not owe any particular availability. Maintenance, security updates and disruptions beyond our control may limit the service temporarily.

We may develop the service and change or discontinue features if your legitimate interests are respected. We announce material restrictions by e-mail at least four weeks in advance and give you the opportunity to download your data.

You can end the contract at any time by deleting your account in the account settings. You can download your data beforehand.

We may terminate the contract by e-mail with four weeks' notice. The right to terminate for good cause remains unaffected.

If you breach these terms or the law, we may block or remove content and suspend your account temporarily or permanently. We take your legitimate interests into account, tell you the reasons (Art. 17 DSA) and give you an opportunity to respond, unless there is imminent danger.

We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, under the German Product Liability Act and where we have given a guarantee.

For slight negligence, we are liable only for breach of essential contractual obligations, meaning obligations whose fulfilment makes the proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose observance you may regularly rely. In that case, liability is limited to the foreseeable damage typical for the contract.

Liability is otherwise excluded. These limitations also apply to our employees and agents.

We may change these terms for a valid reason, such as a new legal situation or a new feature. We tell you about changes by e-mail at least four weeks before they take effect and ask for your agreement at your next sign-in.

If you do not agree, you can delete your account before the changes take effect. Changes that materially restrict your rights take effect only with your express consent.

The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If you are a consumer, the mandatory consumer protection rules of the country where you habitually reside remain unaffected.

If you are a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, the place of jurisdiction is Berlin.

We are neither willing nor obliged to take part in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board. Please contact us directly at info@arkid.org with any questions or complaints.

If any provision of these terms is invalid, the remaining provisions stay valid; the statutory rules apply in its place.

These terms exist in German, English, French, Spanish and Italian. The German version is binding.