Other Policies

1. Payment Process

At present, payments are not processed directly through the RPL website. Course announcements and registration may be managed through Google Forms or other external tools.

Payment instructions, deadlines, and accepted payment methods will be provided in the relevant course or workshop announcement.

2. Refund Before Course Start

Unless a specific course announcement states otherwise, participants may request a full refund before the course or workshop starts.

Refund requests must be sent to: [email protected]. The request should include the participant's full name, registered email, course or workshop name, proof of payment where applicable, and reason for the refund request.

3. Refund After Access Has Started

Unless required by applicable law or specifically stated otherwise, no refund is guaranteed after the participant has been given access to live sessions, course materials, recordings, private groups, restricted resources, certificates, or assessment systems.

4. Missed Sessions

Failure to attend a live session does not automatically entitle the participant to a refund, especially where the course has started, materials have been shared, or access has been provided.

5. Cancellation by RPL

If RPL cancels a paid course or workshop, participants will be offered one of the following options where possible: a refund, transfer to a future equivalent course or workshop, or credit toward another RPL educational activity.

6. Postponement or Rescheduling

If RPL postpones or reschedules a course, participants will be informed using the contact details provided during registration. Where the new date is not suitable, RPL will review refund or transfer requests on a case-by-case basis.

7. Certificate Eligibility and Refunds

Failure to meet certificate requirements, such as attendance, assessment score, feedback submission, or deadline compliance, does not automatically entitle the participant to a refund.

8. Incorrect Registration Information

RPL is not responsible for problems caused by incorrect registration information provided by the participant, including incorrect name, email address, phone number, or payment details.

9. Abuse or Misconduct

RPL may refuse a refund where a participant is removed from a course or workshop due to harassment, misconduct, sharing private materials externally, violation of RPL policies, uploading patient-identifiable data, or academic or professional misconduct.

10. How to Request a Refund

Refund requests should be sent to: [email protected]

RPL will review refund requests within a reasonable period. Approved refunds will be processed according to the original or available payment method where possible.

1. Core Principles

RPL expects all members, moderators, founders, project managers, and collaborators to follow principles of honesty, transparency, accountability, respect for contributors, confidentiality, accurate reporting, responsible authorship, and compliance with journal and institutional requirements.

2. Authorship Is Not Guaranteed

Joining RPL, attending a course, joining a WhatsApp group, being assigned to a project, paying for a course, or participating in early project discussions does not guarantee authorship.

Authorship depends on meaningful contribution, accountability, quality of work, adherence to deadlines, approval of the final manuscript, and compliance with journal requirements and accepted authorship standards.

3. Authorship Criteria

RPL follows ICMJE-style authorship principles where applicable. To qualify for authorship, a contributor should generally make a substantial contribution to the work, participate in drafting or critical revision, approve the final version, and agree to be accountable for the work.

Examples of contributions that may support authorship include conceptualization, protocol development, methodology, literature search, screening, data extraction, risk-of-bias assessment, statistical analysis, evidence grading, writing the original draft, critical revision, supervision, and project administration with substantial intellectual contribution.

Activities that alone may not be sufficient for authorship include merely joining a group, general attendance, administrative assistance only, payment for a course, language editing only, technical formatting only, passive supervision without intellectual contribution, or failure to complete assigned tasks. Such contributions may be acknowledged where appropriate.

4. Contribution Tracking

Project managers may maintain contribution logs, task sheets, deadlines, and records of completed work. Contributors are expected to complete assigned tasks on time, communicate delays early, submit accurate work, respond to revision requests, keep project materials confidential, and avoid duplicate or unauthorized use of project data.

Failure to complete assigned tasks may result in removal from the author list, reassignment of tasks, acknowledgment only, or removal from the project.

5. Authorship Decision-Making

Final authorship decisions are made by RPL leadership, project leads, and supervising senior authors, taking into account actual contribution, quality and reliability of work, accountability, journal requirements, contribution logs, compliance with ethical standards, timeliness, and communication.

Authorship order may depend on contribution, project-specific agreement, senior supervision, journal norms, and final approval by the project leadership.

6. Acknowledgment

Contributors who support a project but do not meet authorship criteria may be acknowledged, subject to journal requirements and contributor consent.

7. Research Misconduct

RPL prohibits plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, image manipulation or inappropriate figure alteration, gift authorship, ghost authorship, unauthorized removal or addition of authors, duplicate publication, duplicate submission without disclosure, undisclosed conflicts of interest, unauthorized use of project data, unauthorized sharing of unpublished manuscripts, misrepresentation of qualifications, affiliations, or contributions, breach of confidentiality, uploading patient-identifiable data, and using another person's work without permission or credit.

8. Confidentiality

Project documents, unpublished manuscripts, datasets, search strategies, extraction sheets, reviewer comments, internal discussions, and authorship deliberations are confidential unless explicitly approved for sharing. Members must not share unpublished RPL project materials outside the approved project team.

9. Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

AI tools may be used cautiously for supportive tasks such as language editing, grammar correction, formatting assistance, brainstorming, summarizing non-confidential general information, and improving clarity under human supervision.

AI tools must not be used to fabricate data, invent references, replace human accountability, or generate unverified scientific claims. Users must not upload confidential project files, unpublished manuscripts, patient data, identifiable clinical information, private member data, or copyrighted materials into external AI tools unless explicitly permitted by the project leadership and allowed by applicable policies.

Any AI-assisted content must be checked and approved by human authors. AI tools cannot be listed as authors.

10. Patient Data and Clinical Information

RPL projects must not use patient-identifiable data through the website, member portal, WhatsApp groups, Google Forms, or Google Drive folders unless a separate ethically approved, institutionally governed, and legally compliant process exists outside the general RPL platform. Users must not upload patient-identifiable data to RPL systems.

11. Conflicts of Interest

Contributors should disclose any financial, academic, personal, institutional, or professional conflicts of interest that may affect the project, manuscript, interpretation, or publication. Conflicts should be disclosed to the project lead as early as possible.

12. Journal and Institutional Policies

All projects should comply with the policies of the target journal, relevant institutions, ethics committees, registration platforms, and reporting guidelines where applicable. Examples include, where relevant, PRISMA, CONSORT, STROBE, STROCSS, MOOSE, AMSTAR, ROBINS-I, RoB 2, GRADE, and journal-specific author instructions.

13. Complaints and Authorship Disputes

Concerns about authorship, contribution, misconduct, plagiarism, confidentiality, or unfair treatment should be sent to: [email protected]

RPL will review complaints based on available contribution records, project communications, deadlines, submitted work, and relevant policies. RPL may revise authorship, remove contributors, issue corrections, notify supervisors, or take other action where necessary.

14. Sanctions

Depending on severity, violation of this policy may result in warning, reassignment of tasks, removal from a project, loss of authorship eligibility, removal from WhatsApp or Drive access, suspension or termination of RPL membership, or notification of relevant supervisors, institutions, or journals where appropriate.

1. Respectful Communication

Members must communicate respectfully and professionally. RPL does not tolerate harassment, bullying, discrimination, personal attacks, threats, public humiliation, abusive language, or repeated disruptive behaviour.

2. Academic Professionalism

Members are expected to meet deadlines, communicate clearly, ask for help when needed, respect project leadership, submit accurate work, accept constructive feedback, avoid false claims of contribution, and maintain confidentiality.

3. Confidentiality

Members must not share private WhatsApp links, Google Drive links, internal documents, unpublished manuscripts, project spreadsheets, member contact details, screenshots of private discussions, course materials, recordings, or internal announcements. Sharing private RPL material externally without permission may result in removal.

4. No Patient-Identifiable Data

Members must not upload, discuss, or share identifiable patient information in RPL spaces. This includes patient names, images, reports, scans, consent forms, medical record numbers, or any confidential clinical material.

5. Use of Member Information

Members must not use other members' names, emails, phone numbers, WhatsApp numbers, profiles, or academic details for spam, advertising, recruitment, harassment, or unrelated communication.

6. Course and Workshop Behaviour

Participants must follow course rules, attend required sessions, complete assessments on time, and avoid sharing materials externally. Certificates may be refused or revoked if a participant violates rules, provides false information, or fails to meet requirements.

7. Project Behaviour

Project members must complete assigned tasks, respect deadlines, maintain project confidentiality, avoid duplicate work without coordination, report problems early, avoid plagiarism, follow project-management instructions, and respect authorship decisions based on actual contribution.

8. Misconduct

RPL may take action against plagiarism, data fabrication, false authorship claims, sharing private files, harassment, uploading patient data, misuse of the RPL name or logo, misrepresentation of qualifications, or unauthorized use of course or project materials.

9. Removal from RPL Spaces

RPL may remove a member from a course, WhatsApp group, Drive folder, project, or the entire platform if the member violates these guidelines or creates academic, ethical, privacy, or security risk.

10. Reporting Concerns

Concerns should be reported to: [email protected]. Reports should include relevant details, screenshots where appropriate, and the name of the course, project, or group involved.

1. Current Cookie Use

At present, RPL does not intentionally use advertising cookies, analytics cookies, behavioural tracking cookies, Meta Pixel, Google Ads tracking, or similar marketing technologies.

However, the website, hosting provider, login system, or security tools may use strictly necessary technical cookies or similar technologies required for website functionality, login sessions, security, form submission, account access, and error prevention. These strictly necessary technologies are used only to make the website function properly and securely.

2. Future Analytics or Marketing Cookies

If RPL later uses analytics, advertising, retargeting, tracking pixels, or non-essential cookies, this Cookie Policy will be updated and, where required, the website will provide a cookie banner allowing users to accept, reject, or customize cookie preferences.

3. Third-Party Platforms

External platforms linked from RPL, such as Google Forms, Google Drive, WhatsApp, ORCID, ResearchGate, Google Scholar, YouTube, or social-media platforms, may use their own cookies and tracking technologies. RPL does not control those third-party cookies. Users should review the cookie and privacy policies of those third-party services.

4. Contact

For cookie-related questions, contact: [email protected]

Important Notice

The Research Papyrus Lab is an international research-training group and academic collaboration initiative. The platform does not collect or store patient data. Member information is used for membership administration, courses, workshops, project coordination, certificates, and approved academic communications.