Subscriptions: Terms of service

See also our SERU option.

Only qualifying institutions are required to purchase a PhilPapers subscription. A qualifying institution is an institution that grants a BA in philosophy or similar degree (or higher degree) and is based in a country with a 2009-2013 GDP per capita of at least 30,000 Int$ according to the World Bank.

When you purchase a subscription to PhilPapers, you enter into the following agreement with the PhilPapers Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation based in London, Ontario, Canada.

A new subscription is valid for a year from the day the subscription is activated. A renewal is valid for a year after the expiry day of the previous subscription.

Subscription fees are payable within 30 days of the beginning of a subscription period. We will automatically invoice you for a new period at the end of your current subscription. If you wish to cancel your subscription, please advise before the end of the current period.

Member Institutions and Affiliated Users

Your subscription extends to all and only the institutions for which you have paid the subscription fee (Member Institutions) and their affiliate members (Affiliated Users). An individual shall be considered an Affiliated User of a Member Institution when a) they are employed by or participate in a training program at the Member Institution or b) they are accessing PhilPapers using the Member Institution's network and are a legitimate user of this network. A user shall be considered a legitimate user of a Member Institution's network if they are authorized to use the network in virtue of a role they play at the Member Institution or in virtue of the Institution's policy with regard to walk-in users using its network on premise.

Access privileges

Your subscription gives your Affiliated Users access to PhilPapers (including all the services hosted at philpapers.org and all subdomains) when accessing PhilPapers via the IP addresses associated with their accounts. Access will only be granted for IP addresses specified by Member Institutions. It is the responsibility of Member Institutions to submit their IP addresses as instructed upon the activation of a subscription. Subject to our terms and conditions of use and the capacity of our servers, we impose no limits on the numbers of Affiliated Users or IP addresses that can connect to PhilPapers from any given Member Institution.

Disabilities Act

The PhilPapers Foundation endeavours to provide all Affiliated Users with a user interface compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) through the use of best practices and accessibility standards.

Terms and conditions of use

The regular terms and conditions of use for PhilPapers and associated services apply to Affiliated Users and Member Institutions.

Additional services

From time to time, exclusive services will be offered to Member Institutions. The Foundation reserves the right to add to, modify, or cancel these services. The Foundation reserves the right to charge for additional services offered to institutional users in the future.

Changes

We reserve the right to make minor amendments to these terms without notice, so long as the changes are not detrimental to Member Institutions.

The following changes have been made to this document:

  1. Prior to July 1st, 2014: Added restriction of subscription requirement to qualifying institutions.
  2. August 1st, 2014: Added provision allowing walk-in users. Added "Changes" section. Added explicit statement about qualifying institutions (paragraph 2).
  3. August 12, 2014: Broadened the definition of affiliated users to allow out of country access in some circumstances. Removed now-irrelevant note regarding start of subscription system. Corrected statement to the effect that subscriptions start when paid (they start when invoiced).
  4. October 1st, 2014: Corrected typos.
  5. January 8, 2019: Typo corrected.