LAST UPDATED 20 OCTOBER 2026
Privacy policy
VetPapers is a personally managed veterinary literature tool operated by Reece Gardner. For privacy enquiries, contact reece6464@googlemail.com.
Information accessed and why
- Google account email: used to identify the authorised account, address its digest and identify the application’s PubMed requests to NCBI.
- Google Sheets data: the weekly worker reads the configured reading-list tab to recognise existing references, then appends new paper metadata and applies formatting. Google’s spreadsheet permission is broader than this one sheet; the worker is configured to use the designated spreadsheet.
- Gmail send permission: used to send paper digests from the authorised account to that same account. The worker does not request Gmail inbox-reading permission.
- Authorisation tokens: used to access the approved Google APIs and renew access without asking for a password each week.
- Public literature metadata: titles, authors, journal names, publication dates, DOIs and PubMed identifiers are obtained from PubMed.
Storage and retention
The worker stores its OAuth refresh token, configuration and processing state on the computer or server where it is installed. Its state includes the destination account and sheet, the last completed search date, and any pending batch of references. Pending batches are cleared from active state after completion; backups or database storage may retain earlier data. Operational logs may record processing events and errors. Local files remain until the operator removes them or applies a retention policy.
References added to Google Sheets and messages sent through Gmail remain in those Google services until deleted by the account holder. Revoking access does not delete previously created references, messages or local files.
Sharing and service providers
Google processes account authorisation, spreadsheet requests and outgoing messages. NCBI receives journal queries, date windows and the authorised email used to identify PubMed requests. This public information website is hosted by Cloudflare, which may process connection information such as IP addresses and request metadata to deliver and protect the site. OAuth tokens and private reading-list contents are not included in the public website files.
Google user data is not sold, used for advertising, or used to train general-purpose AI models. VetPapers’ use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements.
Cookies and analytics
These website files do not install analytics, advertising scripts or application cookies. Hosting-provider security and infrastructure processing is separate from the application’s Google access.
Your choices and deletion
You can revoke VetPapers access in your Google account’s third-party connections settings. To stop all processing, disable the scheduled worker as well. You can delete references and digest emails directly in Google Sheets and Gmail. Contact the operator to request removal of operator-held tokens, configuration, state, logs or backups. Requests will be handled according to the data and installation concerned.
Changes
This policy will be updated if the application’s data practices change. The date above identifies the current version.