Updated September 29, 2026
Co-author Constellation Privacy Notice
This notice applies to Co-author Constellation at coauthorconstellation.genomicepi.com. GenomicEpi.com and its other services have separate policies.
You can explore public research data without an account. Please search only for public researcher names, ORCIDs or OpenAlex IDs. Don’t enter private or sensitive information.
Krisandra Allen operates this tool from Seattle, Washington, US. Questions or privacy requests: contact@genomicepi.com.
What we use and keep
| Information | Why we use it | How long it stays |
|---|---|---|
| Your searches | We send names or researcher IDs to OpenAlex when needed to find results. | We don’t keep a separate search history. Searches can still appear in browser history, shared links and server logs. |
| Researcher profiles and publications | We keep temporary copies in server memory to make repeat searches faster. | OpenAlex data: 1 hour. Profiles: 1 hour. Copies are automatically cleared after expiry. Older copies may remain in backups until those backups expire. |
| Abuse prevention | We briefly count requests from your connection to prevent overload. This counter uses a temporary code instead of storing your IP address. | About 1 minute. Server logs may keep your IP address longer, as described below. |
| Server logs | Access logs record the time, page category, response status and duration, without IP addresses or search queries. Error and other operational logs may contain IP addresses or request details. | Dedicated web and application logs normally cover up to about two days. Older global web error logs may remain for about two weeks or longer. Other system and security logs have separate retention periods. |
| This notice | Your browser remembers that you acknowledged it. This record is not sent to us or used to track you. | Used for 180 days, then removed when you next visit. You can clear it sooner in your browser settings. |
| Backups | Weekly backups help us recover the service. They can contain logs, research data and other server files. | 28 days after each backup is made. Deleting a live file does not immediately remove its backup copy. |
| Emails to us | We keep your message and contact details to handle your request. | We have not yet set a fixed deletion period for correspondence. |
Other services
The app is hosted by DigitalOcean in the US. Searches go through our server to OpenAlex; we don’t pass your IP address to OpenAlex with them.
Opening the institution map connects your browser to OpenStreetMap and GitHub. They receive your IP address and map requests. These providers have their own privacy and retention policies.
If you use the tool outside the US, your information is sent to US hosting. Other providers may also process information outside your country.
Provider policies: DigitalOcean, OpenAlex, OpenStreetMap, and GitHub.
Cookie-free analytics
We use Plausible to understand how often the tool is used. We send page categories, such as “researcher”, but not search queries, researcher details or the page you came from. Analytics runs without a consent prompt and uses no cookies or lasting browser identifiers.
Plausible uses your IP address and browser information to estimate visits and approximate location. It says it does not store your IP address. Visit records are stored in the EU and retained for 5 years.
Our analytics does not change in response to browser Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signals.
See Plausible’s data policy. This tool does not use advertising trackers.
Your choices and rights
Contact us to ask about information we hold about you, or to request access, correction or deletion. Depending on the law that applies, you may also have rights to a copy you can reuse, to limit or object to use of your information, to withdraw consent where it applies, or to complain to a privacy regulator. Agreeing to our terms does not waive these rights.
Include the relevant profile or link in your email. We may need to verify your request, but please don’t send identity documents unless we arrange a secure way to do so.
Research data comes from OpenAlex. We’ll address requests about our own copies; source corrections may also be needed at OpenAlex so errors don’t return.
Updates
We update this page when our practices change and show the notice again for material changes. See our Terms of Use for acceptable use and the limits of the data.