Terms of Service — Peer Reviewers

Version 1 | Effective: April 2026 | Governed by German law

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of the PeerDesk platform as a peer reviewer. PeerDesk is operated by Lennart Sieden & Stefan Bechtel GbR ("we", "us", "PeerDesk"), Heuspachstr. 79, 72644 Oberboihingen, Germany. By registering as a reviewer, you enter into a binding contract with us on the basis of these Terms.

§ 1 — Scope and Subject Matter

1.1 PeerDesk is a digital platform that facilitates the matching, invitation, and compensation of peer reviewers for academic journals. We act as a neutral marketplace and technology intermediary between academic journals ("journals") and peer reviewers ("reviewers"). We do not conduct peer review ourselves and do not make editorial decisions.

1.2 The contractual service we provide to you consists of: (a) access to the PeerDesk reviewer profile and dashboard; (b) receipt of review invitations from participating journals; (c) tools for submitting structured peer reviews; and (d) compensation processing via Stripe for completed reviews.

1.3 The editorial relationship — including the decision to invite, accept, or reject a reviewer's report — is governed solely by the journal and its editors. PeerDesk has no authority over editorial decisions.

§ 2 — Registration and Account

2.1 You may register as a reviewer if you are at least 18 years of age and hold or are pursuing a postgraduate degree (Master's level or above) in an academic discipline, or have equivalent professional research experience.

2.2 You must provide accurate, complete, and up-to-date information during registration and at all times thereafter. You must promptly update your profile if your information changes, in particular your institutional affiliation, contact email, and area of expertise.

2.3 If you connect an ORCID iD, you warrant that the ORCID record is yours and accurately represents your identity and publication history.

2.4 You are solely responsible for keeping your login credentials confidential. You must notify us immediately at [E-Mail — JavaScript erforderlich] if you become aware of any unauthorized use of your account.

2.5 One account per person. Creating multiple accounts is prohibited and may result in permanent suspension of all associated accounts.

§ 3 — Reviewer Obligations

3.1 Scholarly quality. You undertake to complete any review you accept to the best of your professional ability, providing substantive, evidence-based, and constructive feedback in accordance with recognized standards of academic peer review.

3.2 Deadlines. You must complete reviews by the deadline agreed upon at the time of accepting an invitation. If you foresee that you will be unable to meet a deadline, you must notify the assigning journal via PeerDesk as early as possible and no later than 5 days before the deadline.

3.3 Confidentiality. All manuscripts submitted for review, the review process, and all communications relating thereto are strictly confidential. You must not: (a) disclose the existence or content of a manuscript under review to any third party; (b) use ideas, data, or findings from a manuscript for your own research prior to publication; (c) share the manuscript or review with colleagues without the explicit written consent of the handling editor.

3.4 Conflict of interest (COI) disclosure. Before accepting or commencing any review, you must carefully assess whether you have any relationship with the authors, institutions, or subject matter that could compromise your impartiality. Conflicts include but are not limited to: personal relationships (colleague, collaborator within 3 years, family); competitive interests (working on directly competing research); financial interests; and prior knowledge of the manuscript. You must decline the review invitation or declare the conflict immediately via the PeerDesk COI workflow. Failing to declare a known conflict is a material breach of these Terms.

3.5 Subsequent conflicts. If a conflict arises after you have accepted a review (e.g., you learn who the authors are under a single-blind model), you must declare it immediately and withdraw from the review if the conflict is material.

3.6 Code of conduct. Reviews must be professional and respectful. Personal attacks on authors, discriminatory language, and content unrelated to the manuscript's scientific merit are prohibited. We reserve the right to remove review content that violates this code of conduct.

§ 4 — Compensation

4.1 Compensation for peer review is set by each journal and disclosed to you in the review invitation. PeerDesk retains a platform fee; reviewers receive 70–75% of the journal-set gross compensation amount (the exact percentage is shown in each invitation).

4.2 Compensation becomes due after: (a) you submit a completed review via PeerDesk; and (b) the handling editor marks the review as accepted. Payment is processed by Stripe within the applicable Stripe payout schedule (typically 2–7 business days after acceptance, subject to your country's banking requirements).

4.3 PeerDesk reserves the right to withhold or reverse compensation in the following circumstances: (i) the review is incomplete or fails to meet the journal's minimum quality criteria; (ii) you have breached the confidentiality obligation (§ 3.3) or COI disclosure requirement (§ 3.4); (iii) Stripe or applicable law requires it; or (iv) a chargeback or dispute is raised by the journal.

4.4 Tax and social security. You are solely responsible for all tax and social security obligations arising from compensation received through PeerDesk. PeerDesk does not withhold income tax, wage tax, or social security contributions. You should seek tax advice in your jurisdiction. We will provide transaction records upon request.

4.5 To receive payment, you must complete Stripe's KYC (Know Your Customer) onboarding. Failure to complete KYC will result in payments being held until onboarding is complete.

§ 5 — Intellectual Property

5.1 You retain full copyright in the review content you create. Submission of a review does not transfer copyright to PeerDesk or the journal.

5.2 By submitting a review, you grant PeerDesk and the assigning journal a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license to: (a) store and display the review on the platform; (b) share the review with the authors (subject to the journal's blinding policy); (c) retain the review as part of the permanent scientific record of the manuscript; and (d) quote from the review in anonymized aggregated reports about review quality.

5.3 No further use of your review content (e.g., republication, training AI models) is permitted without your separate written consent.

§ 6 — Platform Liability

6.1 PeerDesk is liable for damages caused by gross negligence or willful misconduct. Liability for slight negligence is excluded except for breaches of cardinal obligations (Kardinalpflichten) — i.e., obligations whose fulfillment is essential to achieving the purpose of the contract — in which case liability is limited to the foreseeable, typical damages.

6.2 PeerDesk is not liable for: (a) editorial decisions made by journals; (b) non-payment by journals if caused by journal insolvency or fraud; (c) interruptions caused by force majeure, third-party infrastructure failures, or events outside our reasonable control; (d) loss of data caused by your failure to maintain adequate backups of your own content.

6.3 Our aggregate liability to you in any 12-month period shall not exceed the total compensation paid to you via PeerDesk in that period, except for claims based on gross negligence or willful misconduct.

§ 7 — Sanctions and Account Suspension

7.1 Where we believe you have violated these Terms, we may take the following measures in proportion to the severity of the breach: (a) a written warning; (b) temporary suspension of your account; (c) permanent ban from the platform; (d) withholding of pending compensation; (e) referral to relevant professional bodies or law enforcement where required by law.

7.2 Grounds for immediate suspension without prior warning include: (i) COI violation that compromised a completed or ongoing review; (ii) breach of manuscript confidentiality; (iii) fraudulent use of the platform; (iv) harassment of authors, editors, or PeerDesk staff.

7.3 Right to appeal. If your account is suspended or banned, you may submit a written appeal within 14 days of receiving notice to [E-Mail — JavaScript erforderlich]. We will respond to appeals within 14 days.

§ 8 — Termination

8.1 Ordinary termination. Either party may terminate the reviewer account relationship at any time with 30 days' written notice (email to [E-Mail — JavaScript erforderlich] or via profile settings).

8.2 Effect on open reviews. If you terminate while reviews are in progress, you must complete any review for which the deadline falls within the 30-day notice period, or notify the journal immediately so an alternative reviewer can be assigned.

8.3 Effect on pending payments. Compensation earned for reviews marked as accepted prior to the termination date will be paid out normally after termination.

8.4 Extraordinary termination. Either party may terminate immediately for cause (wichtiger Grund). For PeerDesk, cause includes material breach of § 3 (confidentiality, COI) or § 2 (false registration). For you, cause includes material breach of our service obligations (e.g., persistent non-payment without justification).

§ 9 — Data Protection

The processing of your personal data by PeerDesk is governed by our Privacy Policy, which forms an integral part of these Terms. By registering, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the Privacy Policy.

§ 10 — Changes to These Terms

10.1 We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by email at least 30 days before they take effect.

10.2 Your continued use of PeerDesk after the effective date of updated Terms constitutes acceptance of the new Terms. If you do not accept the new Terms, you must stop using PeerDesk and terminate your account before the effective date.

10.3 If you object to the updated Terms, you may terminate your account at any time before the effective date without penalty.

§ 11 — Final Provisions

11.1 Governing law. These Terms are governed by German law, excluding the conflict-of-law provisions of private international law and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).

11.2 Jurisdiction. Exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with these Terms is Stuttgart, Germany, to the extent permitted by law. Mandatory statutory provisions on place of jurisdiction remain unaffected.

11.3 Language. These Terms are drafted in English. In case of any discrepancy between the English version and any translation, the English version shall prevail.

11.4 Severability. If any provision of these Terms is or becomes invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect. The invalid provision shall be replaced by a valid provision that most closely reflects the original commercial intent.

11.5 Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any review invitation accepted by you, constitute the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersede all prior agreements and understandings.

Version: 1 | Effective: April 2026 | Lennart Sieden & Stefan Bechtel GbR — moreNetwork / PeerDesk