WOS Aide Privacy Policy

Overview

WOS Aide is a Chrome extension for browser-based scholarly research workflows. It provides a side panel and optional page helpers for Web of Science, DOI and PDF processing, Crossref citations, journal ratings and catalogs, institutional full-text access, CNKI downloads, and ChatGPT quick prompts.

WOS Aide does not operate a developer-controlled account or data-storage backend. The extension stores workflow data on the user's device and sends data to an external service only when the user invokes a feature that needs that service. This policy describes data handled by the extension; it does not replace the privacy policy of a website or provider selected by the user.

Data We Store

Depending on the features used, WOS Aide stores the following in Chrome extension storage, IndexedDB, or page-local storage:

API keys and endpoint configuration entered by the user for LLM providers and EasyScholar
Selected providers and models, saved model lists, structured-output choices, and connection settings
Interface language, visible tabs, selected views, feature options, and panel state
Research query and conversation history, titles, favorites, and generated WOS queries
Crossref query history, result cache, selected or favorite records, CSL metadata, and installed citation styles
Institution configuration, DOI resolution history and results, EasyScholar history, and favorites
Download settings, DOI lists, per-tab folder references, and PDF index metadata
Imported or downloaded journal catalogs, personal journal lists, and ChatGPT quick prompts

Selected directories may be represented by browser-managed file-system handles. Installed CSL styles are stored locally in IndexedDB. This data is not uploaded to a developer-operated server.

Data Sent to Third Parties

User-selected LLM providers

When the user generates a WOS query, continues or compacts a conversation, tests a provider, or requests a provider's model list, WOS Aide communicates with the selected endpoint. Query generation can send the user's current research text, a structured summary of older conversation turns, recent prompts and generated WOS queries, the extension's query-building instructions and prior pipeline output, the selected model identifier, and request-format settings. Conversation compaction sends the older conversation context to the currently selected provider to create a shorter structured summary. Provider tests may send a short test request; model discovery sends the credentials and request data needed by that provider's model-list API.

Built-in provider presets include OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, DeepSeek, SiliconFlow, Groq, Mistral, Azure OpenAI, Ollama, and LM Studio. Users may also configure another OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Credentials are sent only to the selected endpoint for authentication. Remote endpoints must use HTTPS; HTTP is accepted only for local endpoints such as localhost, 127.0.0.1, or .local hosts.

Web of Science, CNKI, publishers, and proxy sites

User-started search, export, access, and download workflows send the identifiers, query expressions, result-set IDs, or requests needed by the active website. WOS Aide may use the website's existing signed-in browser session. It does not receive the user's website password.

For a CNKI batch saved to a selected folder, the extension temporarily uses Chrome's debugger interface to click the visible download control and capture the authenticated PDF response. Without a selected folder, Chrome's normal download flow is used.

Crossref

When the user runs Crossref search, WOS Aide sends each entered DOI, title, author, or reference query to https://api.crossref.org. Returned bibliographic metadata may be cached locally for faster reuse.

EasyScholar

When the user requests a journal rating or tests an EasyScholar key, WOS Aide sends the entered or captured journal/publication name and the user-provided key to https://www.easyscholar.cc.

Third Iron / LibKey and BrowZine

When the user loads the institution directory or resolves institutional full text, WOS Aide communicates with https://api.thirdiron.com. Requests can include the selected Library ID and DOI and may use the user's existing browser session to obtain a temporary LibKey token and full-text route. BrowZine institution-directory links open only when the user chooses them.

GitHub-hosted catalogs and citation styles

When the user checks or installs official journal catalogs, WOS Aide requests version metadata and SSCI, SCIE, AHCI, and ESCI CSV files from GitHub for the wosaide/wosaide-journal-lists repository. When the user searches or installs citation styles, the extension retrieves the official Citation Style Language style index and selected CSL files from GitHub. These requests do not include the user's research queries or local files.

ChatGPT quick prompts

Quick prompts are stored locally and inserted into the ChatGPT composer when the user clicks a prompt button. WOS Aide does not submit the message automatically. Any message the user subsequently submits is handled by ChatGPT under its own terms and privacy policy.

Local File Access

WOS Aide reads only files the user explicitly selects or drops onto an extension tool. Supported text and bibliography files are parsed locally to extract DOI, WOS ID, journal, or citation data. CSV journal catalogs are also parsed locally.

Export and download workflows access only directories selected through the browser picker. They may create TXT, BIB, JSON, PDF, DOCX, and pdf-download-index.json files. Folder synchronization may read file names and metadata and calculate SHA-256 hashes locally for validation and deduplication. Local files are not uploaded to a developer-operated server.

Limited Use and Security

WOS Aide uses handled data only to provide the user-requested research functions. It does not use data for advertising, profiling, creditworthiness, lending, or unrelated purposes. It does not sell personal data or transfer data to data brokers or advertisers.

API keys remain in Chrome's local extension storage and are sent only to the provider selected by the user. HTTPS is required for remote AI endpoints and used by built-in remote services. Users are responsible for the privacy and security terms of services and endpoints they configure.

Permissions

WOS Aide requests only the permissions needed for its functionality:

storage: save user settings and workflow state locally
clipboardWrite: copy workflow content on user request
activeTab: interact with the tab the user is actively using
scripting: inject extension UI and workflow helpers when needed
sidePanel: present the extension's primary interface in Chrome's side panel
downloads: inspect and manage user-requested downloads and fallback downloads
debugger: perform the limited CNKI authenticated-download operation described above; the connection is detached after completion, cancellation, or failure

Host permissions for standard HTTP and HTTPS pages allow requested workflows to operate across WOS, CNKI, ChatGPT, publishers, institution proxies, external APIs, and user-configured provider hosts. Site-specific helpers activate only on compatible pages.

Data Sharing and Selling

WOS Aide does not sell personal data and does not share data with third parties for advertising or profiling. Data is transferred to an external service only when the user invokes the corresponding workflow, as described above.

Data Retention and Control

Local data remains until the user clears it through the relevant feature, clears the extension's browser storage, or removes the extension. Controls include clearing or replacing provider credentials and model lists, deleting conversations and histories, clearing Crossref cache and history, removing citation styles, clearing institution or journal data, deleting personal lists, and clearing quick prompts.

Removing the extension normally removes its Chrome-managed local storage and IndexedDB data. Files already exported or downloaded remain in the user-selected directory until the user deletes them.

Contact

For support or privacy questions, use the repository issue tracker.