Terms of Service

Last Updated: February 2026

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of Yaqat Qualitative Data Manager for Word (hereinafter, YaqatW), a Microsoft Word Add-in for qualitative data analysis. By installing and using YaqatW, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

1.License & Intellectual Property

1.1 License

YaqatW's source code is currently proprietary and closed. The compiled software is provided to you as-is for personal and research use at no cost. You have the right to:

Use YaqatW for any lawful purpose (commercial, educational, personal, research)
Install and run YaqatW on your computer
Store your research data in Word documents and local storage

You do not have the right to modify, reverse-engineer, decompile, or redistribute YaqatW without explicit permission from YaqaLab.

1.2 Future Open Source Commitment

YaqaLab is committed to open-sourcing YaqatW in the future. Once the project reaches broader adoption and establishment, the source code will be released under an open-source license (likely MIT or similar) to benefit the research community and enable community contributions. Until then, the code remains proprietary to protect early-stage development.

1.3 Third-Party Components

YaqatW uses open-source dependencies (React, TypeScript, Fluent UI, Office.js, etc.). These components retain their original open-source licenses and attributions. A complete dependency list is available in the packaged application.

2.Use Restrictions

You agree not to use YaqatW to:

Violate any applicable laws, regulations, or third-party rights
Conduct illegal activities or research that is unethical by institutional standards
Infringe on intellectual property rights or copyrights of others
Harass, defame, or harm individuals or communities through coded analysis
Violate research ethics, institutional review board (IRB) requirements, or data protection laws (GDPR, HIPAA, etc.) when conducting human subjects research
Engage in discrimination based on protected characteristics
Circumvent security or encryption mechanisms
Reverse-engineer the software for malicious purposes
Interfere with or disrupt cloud provider services

Research Ethics Responsibility: Users are solely responsible for ensuring their research complies with applicable research ethics standards, institutional review board (IRB) requirements, and relevant data protection laws (GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, etc.). YaqatW does not provide legal or ethical guidance.

3.Disclaimer of Warranties

YaqatW is provided "AS IS" without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. Specifically:

No Warranty of Accuracy: YaqatW does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or validity of your coded analysis. Your codes, categories, and interpretations are your responsibility.
No Warranty of Fitness: YaqatW is not guaranteed to be suitable for any particular research purpose or methodology.
No Warranty of Availability: We don't guarantee continuous availability of YaqatW or its cloud sync features.
No Warranty of Data Integrity: While we've implemented security measures, we do not guarantee protection against data loss, corruption, or unauthorized access.
No Support Guarantee: Community support is provided on a best-effort basis. We don't guarantee response times to issues or feature requests.

4.Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, YaqaLab and its developers shall not be liable for:

Data loss, corruption, or unauthorized access to your research data
Loss of profits, productivity, or business opportunity
Indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages
Any damages from your use or inability to use YaqatW
Any damages from encryption failures, password loss, or encryption-related issues
Any damages from cloud provider outages, policy changes, or service termination
Any damages from misuse of YaqatW or violation of these Terms

Important: You assume all risks associated with using YaqatW. We strongly recommend maintaining regular backups of your research documents in multiple locations.

5.Your Responsibilities

By using YaqatW, you agree to:

Backup Your Data: Regularly backup your Word documents containing your coded research in multiple locations.
Secure Your Passwords: If you enable encryption, keep your encryption password secure and do not share it. We cannot recover lost passwords.
Compliance: Ensure your use complies with all applicable laws, regulations, research ethics standards, and institutional policies.
Cloud Provider Terms: Comply with the terms of service of any cloud providers (Google Drive™, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Nextcloud) you use with YaqatW.
API Provider Terms: If you use AI services, comply with their terms of service and use your own API keys appropriately.
Confidentiality: Protect confidential information in your research data and comply with IRB protocols, consent agreements, and legal confidentiality obligations.

6.Data Responsibility

YaqatW does not store your data on central servers. You are responsible for:

Maintaining backups of your Word documents
Managing access to your cloud storage accounts (Google Drive™, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Nextcloud)
Protecting encryption passwords if you enable optional encryption
Complying with your institution's data retention and governance policies
Deleting your data when no longer needed, in accordance with your research protocols

Cloud Provider Responsibility: Data synced to cloud providers is governed by their terms of service and subject to their security practices.

7.Termination & Continuity

These Terms are continuous as long as you use YaqatW. However:

You May Discontinue: You may stop using YaqatW at any time by uninstalling it from Word.
Your Data Remains: Uninstalling YaqatW does not delete your research data. Your data remains in your Word documents and cloud storage (if synced).
No Refunds: YaqatW is free open-source software; there are no refunds or charges to terminate your use.

8.Support & Development

YaqatW is maintained by YaqaLab. Regarding support and development:

No Service Level Agreement: We don't guarantee any specific response times, update frequencies, or feature delivery timelines.
Community Support: Support is provided through GitHub issues on a best-effort basis. Users are encouraged to report bugs and request features.
Development: Future development depends on user feedback, demand from the research community, and developer availability.
Maintenance: Critical security bugs will be prioritized. Feature development will be informed by community feedback and user needs.
Proprietary Development: YaqatW is developed privately by YaqaLab to maintain code quality and protect early-stage development. We plan to open-source the code once the project is more established.

9.Updates & Changes

We may update YaqatW, these Terms, or our Privacy Policy at any time. Changes to Terms will be posted here. Continued use of YaqatW after posting updated Terms constitutes your acceptance of those changes.

10.Third-Party Services

YaqatW integrates with third-party services (Google Drive™, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Nextcloud, OpenAI, DeepL, DeepSeek). These integrations are subject to:

Their respective terms of service and privacy policies
Their OAuth 2.0 security protocols
Their data retention and deletion policies
Their service availability and uptime commitments

YaqaLab is not responsible for any third-party service changes, outages, or policy modifications.

11.Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws applicable to the jurisdiction where the primary developer resides. If you have concerns about legal compliance, consult with appropriate legal counsel in your jurisdiction.

12.Roadmap & Future Vision

YaqatW is evolving as a research tool. Our vision includes:

Continued Free Access: Core YaqatW functionality will always remain free and accessible.
Open Source Release: We are committed to releasing YaqatW as open-source software once the project reaches broader adoption and maturity.
Community Feedback: Future features and enhancements will be driven by the research community's needs and requests.
Optional Future Services: If user demand warrants, we may introduce optional server-based features or advanced services. These would be clearly communicated and entirely optional, with core functionality always remaining free and server-independent.

Users will be notified of any significant changes to YaqatW's pricing, availability, or service model with adequate advance notice.

13.Entire Agreement

These Terms of Service, along with our Privacy Policy (available at privacy), constitute the entire agreement between you and YaqaLab regarding YaqatW. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue in effect.

14.Contact & Support

For questions, concerns, or support requests regarding these Terms:

Visit our support repository: yaqalab/yaqatw-support
Open an issue: GitHub Issues
Contact the primary developer: Fanantenana Rianasoa Andriariniaina (@frianasoa)

Acknowledgment: By using YaqatW, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by all provisions of these Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy.