Privacy

Last updated 2 November 2026

Scolyer is a desktop application. It has no account and no server that holds your work. Your manuscript, references, data files and figures are stored in a folder on your computer and are never sent to Scolyer. This page lists every case in which the app sends something off your computer, so you can decide what to use.

What Scolyer collects

Nothing about you, and nothing from your work. Scolyer never receives your manuscript, references, data, figures, file names, name, email address or anything else that identifies you, and it does not report crashes. The only information it can collect is the anonymous usage statistics described next, and only if you turn them on.

Anonymous usage statistics (optional)

To learn which features are used, Scolyer can send anonymous usage statistics. They are off unless you turn them on: the app asks once, and you can change your answer at any time in Settings, under Anonymous usage statistics.

When they are on, each statistic is a short event such as “a version was saved” or “a PDF was exported”, with whether it succeeded and whether the computer was offline. Each event also carries:

• the Scolyer version, the operating system and its major version (for example macOS 14.4), and the processor type
• the interface language (for example “en”)
• which AI provider is selected, and whether the assistant keeps text on this computer
• whether the app is set to a light or dark theme
• a random identifier that is replaced every month, so active installs can be counted but no install can be followed from one month to the next

That is the complete list. Before anything is sent, the app checks each event against a fixed list of allowed values and drops anything that does not match, so no manuscript text, title, file name, reference, search, error message or account detail can leave this way. Settings shows every event sent since the app started, exactly as it was sent.

The statistics go to TelemetryDeck, a service built for anonymous app analytics. TelemetryDeck does not store IP addresses and runs its servers in Germany and the Netherlands. Turning statistics off stops them at once and deletes the identifier from your computer.

Update checks

Scolyer checks GitHub, where its releases are published, for a newer version. The check downloads a small file describing the latest release and sends nothing about you or your work; GitHub receives the usual request details, such as your IP address, as with any download. Automatic checks can be turned off in Settings.

Services you choose to use

Each of the following is off until you turn it on or use it, and each can be switched off in Settings. When the computer is offline, the feature says so and the rest of the app keeps working.

Language-model providers

If you enter an API key for Anthropic, OpenAI or Google, the assistant sends that provider the text it needs for the task you asked for: the passage being checked for uncited claims, the schema of a data file for a figure script (column names, types and category labels, plus synthetic rows, never your data values), or a section being compared with a journal's requirements. Your key is stored encrypted on your computer and sent only to that provider. The AI activity log in the app lists every request. The providers' own terms govern what they do with it; Scolyer recommends keys on accounts with training opt-outs.

Scholarly databases

To find and verify references, Scolyer queries Crossref, OpenAlex, Europe PMC, Semantic Scholar (only with your own key), PubChem, ROR, SciCrunch and the repositories behind accession numbers (GEO, SRA, PDB, UniProt, ClinicalTrials.gov and others). These receive the search terms, titles, DOIs, identifiers or affiliation strings needed for the lookup, and nothing else from the manuscript.

GitHub and GitLab

Collaboration uses Git repositories on GitHub or GitLab, including a university's own GitHub Enterprise or GitLab server. When you sign in and publish a manuscript, the repository is created private under your account and the full manuscript folder is pushed to it. Co-authors you invite get access through the same service. Scolyer never has a copy.

ORCID and Zotero

Signing in with ORCID fetches your verified iD and, if you ask, your list of works. Connecting Zotero reads your library from the Zotero app on your computer or, with your key, from zotero.org. Nothing is written back to either service.

Scolyer Premium licence

If you buy and activate a Premium licence, the key is checked with Lemon Squeezy, the store that sells it, together with a generic label for this computer that never includes its name. Nothing from your manuscripts is sent.

Feedback

Sending feedback from the app opens your own email app with the message filled in, for you to read and send. System details are included only if you tick the box, and Scolyer itself sends nothing.

Zenodo and journal web pages

Linking a Zenodo deposit reads its public record. Journal author guides are fetched when the rules database is refreshed, which happens at build time, not on your computer.

This website

scolyer.com is a static site. It counts visits and sees which pages are read with TelemetryDeck, the same service the app uses for its statistics. It sets no cookies and does not store your IP address. For each page view it records the page, the site that linked to it, your country, and your browser, operating system and type of device, without anything that identifies you. The download is served from GitHub, which keeps its own standard server logs. Fonts load from Google Fonts, which receives the usual request headers.

Questions

Write to hello@scolyer.com.