Frequently Asked Questions
Clear answers about RQL's research-support workflows, manuscript services, human reviewer participation, credits, subscriptions, certificates, payments, privacy, and institutional use.
RQL helps researchers prepare, improve, review, translate, document, and discover academic work. RQL services support the research process; they do not replace a journal's editorial decision, formal peer review, institutional assessment, or the author's responsibility for the work.
About RQL
What is RQL?
RQL (Research Quality Lab) is an AI-assisted research-quality and academic-support platform. It brings together manuscript preparation, structured review, language support, human reviewer workflows, research discovery, collaboration, and related research services.
Does RQL replace journal peer review?
No. RQL is designed to support researchers before, alongside, or around parts of the research and publishing process. A journal, publisher, institution, or other responsible authority makes its own editorial or academic decisions.
Who can use RQL?
RQL can support researchers, students, thesis writers, supervisors, independent scholars, reviewers, research teams, organizations, institutions, and journal-related users.
Preliminary Assessment
What is the free Preliminary Assessment?
It is an initial AI-assisted assessment that provides a limited reviewer-style view of a submitted academic document.
It can help an author understand areas that may deserve further attention before deciding whether to use a fuller RQL service.
Does the Preliminary Assessment mean my paper is ready for publication?
No. It is a diagnostic and preparation tool. It does not certify publication readiness, guarantee acceptance, or replace editorial or peer-review decisions.
AI Review
What does a full AI Review do?
A full AI Review provides a more detailed structured assessment of areas such as manuscript organization, clarity, methodological presentation, evidence alignment, academic writing, and revision priorities.
The exact depth depends on the selected RQL review service or tier.
Does an AI Review guarantee acceptance by a journal?
No. RQL cannot guarantee acceptance, publication, favorable peer review, or any decision by a journal, conference, institution, or publisher.
Can I still revise my manuscript after an AI Review?
Yes. Review results are intended to help identify areas for improvement. Authors remain responsible for deciding which recommendations to accept and for the final content of their work.
Academic Polish & Language Support
What does Academic Polish improve?
Academic Polish is intended to improve language quality, readability, grammar, sentence construction, academic tone, and overall flow.
Will polishing change the scientific meaning?
The service is designed to improve expression while preserving the author's intended meaning. Authors should nevertheless review the final output carefully before submission or publication.
Can RQL translate my manuscript?
RQL provides translation support for eligible academic documents and workflows.
Authors should review translated material for terminology, technical accuracy, discipline-specific usage, and intended meaning before official use.
Human Reviewers
What is the Real Reviewer Board?
The Real Reviewer Board allows researchers to discover research-review opportunities and allows eligible reviewers to offer their expertise.
RQL provides the workflow and communication environment, while the participants remain responsible for their academic decisions and interactions.
Do I have to complete a full AI Review before listing my abstract?
No. RQL's Abstract Listing workflow is no longer generally gated by completion of a full AI Review.
Abstract Listing and human reviewer participation are related workflows, but they are not the same requirement. An author can use the listing workflow according to the applicable RQL rules and then receive expressions of interest from potential reviewers.
Is my full manuscript publicly displayed?
Public research listings are designed to expose selected information such as the title, abstract, and relevant metadata rather than automatically publishing the author's full manuscript.
Full-document sharing should occur only through the applicable private workflow and with the author's participation.
Can reviewers communicate privately with authors?
Where the relevant RQL workflow provides private communication and file exchange, participants can continue their discussion away from the public listing.
Abstract Listing & Research Discovery
What is Abstract Listing?
Abstract Listing allows an author to make selected information about a research paper discoverable through the RQL research ecosystem.
It can help researchers expose work to potential reviewers, collaborators, readers, or other relevant participants.
Does listing an abstract mean RQL has published my paper?
No. Abstract Listing is not the same as journal publication or formal scholarly publishing.
A listing can identify and describe research without representing that the paper has passed through a journal's editorial workflow.
Can I discover research papers on RQL?
Yes. RQL provides research discovery features that allow users to browse and search available research listings using the information exposed by each listing.
Credits
What are RQL credits?
Credits are a reusable payment balance that can be used for eligible RQL services and actions that are priced in credits.
Are credits included in RQL Plus, Pro, or Max subscriptions?
No. RQL's current individual subscription plans do not include free monthly service credits.
Subscriptions are designed to improve platform access and usage limits. Credit refill packs are the separate mechanism for purchasing service credits.
Can I buy more credits when I run out?
Yes. Eligible credit refill packs can be purchased separately. The available packs and payment options are shown through the current RQL payment flow.
Subscriptions
What do RQL subscriptions provide?
Individual subscriptions are designed to increase platform access and usage limits and may provide expanded productivity capabilities.
The exact limits and features depend on the active subscription plan and the configuration of RQL at the time of use.
Do subscriptions guarantee review, publication, or acceptance?
No. A subscription provides platform access and applicable limits. It does not guarantee a reviewer, journal acceptance, publication, or any academic outcome.
Can I cancel or change my subscription?
Subscription management is handled through the applicable RQL subscription and payment workflow. Availability of specific changes depends on the current subscription configuration.
Certificates
What do RQL certificates document?
Certificates can document eligible RQL records or completed workflows, such as qualifying review, reviewer contribution, translation, or profile-related activities.
Is an RQL certificate an acceptance letter?
No. An RQL certificate does not represent journal acceptance, publication, admission, institutional approval, or any other external academic decision unless an external organization independently states otherwise.
Can a certificate be verified?
Eligible certificates include verification information through the RQL verification system so that a recipient can check the associated record.
Collaboration & Opportunities
What is the Collaboration & Opportunities Board?
It is a broader research collaboration environment where users can discover or post opportunities involving research collaboration, editing, methods support, assistants, co-authorship discussions, and related academic needs.
How is it different from the Reviewer Board?
The Reviewer Board is focused on research-review participation. The Collaboration & Opportunities Board supports a wider range of academic relationships and opportunities.
Does RQL guarantee that a collaboration will succeed?
No. RQL provides discovery, communication, and workflow tools. Users remain responsible for evaluating people, proposals, roles, authorship arrangements, timelines, compensation, and other collaboration decisions.
Organizations & Institutions
Can an institution use RQL for its researchers?
Yes. RQL is designed to support institutional and organizational use in addition to individual researchers.
Institutional workflows can provide centralized management of eligible services, users, access, and related research-support activities.
Can institutions purchase credits for their members?
Institutional and organizational arrangements can support centralized purchasing or allocation of eligible RQL services and credits, according to the applicable institutional setup.
Payments
What payment providers does RQL use?
RQL uses Paddle for international payments and Flutterwave for supported African and regional payment options.
The payment methods shown to you depend on the service, provider availability, currency, country, and the payment configuration currently enabled by RQL.
What payment methods may be available?
Depending on the provider and your location, available methods may include cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, bank transfer, USSD, mobile money, M-Pesa, and other supported regional methods.
Not every method is available in every country or for every currency.
What happens if a payment fails?
A failed payment does not unlock the paid service. RQL provides an alternative-payment or recovery path where available so that the user can try another supported payment option.
Why can a payment option disappear?
Payment methods can be enabled or disabled according to provider availability, technical status, currency, country, or RQL configuration. When a provider or option is disabled, the corresponding checkout choice may no longer be displayed.
Privacy, Documents & Ownership
Are my manuscripts automatically made public?
No. Uploading a manuscript for an RQL service does not automatically make the full document publicly available.
Public listings, where applicable, expose only the information intended for that particular listing workflow.
Do I retain ownership of my manuscript?
Yes. Using an RQL service does not by itself transfer ownership of your manuscript to RQL.
Should I keep my own copy of my work?
Yes. Authors should always retain their own original files and important research records.
Ready to explore RQL?
Start with the free Preliminary Assessment, explore available services, or contact the RQL team if you need help choosing the right workflow.