Elsewhere — Privacy Policy
Last updated: 20 October 2026
Elsewhere is a browser extension that helps you find free and open-access versions of research papers and the same news story from other outlets. This policy explains what the extension does with your information. The short version: we don't collect, store, sell or share your personal data. We have no servers and no analytics.
What Elsewhere does on your device
- Detects articles locally. When you click the toolbar icon, or (if you have allowed it) when a page finishes loading to show the toolbar badge, the extension reads the page's headline, authors, date and identifiers (such as a DOI) on your device. Nothing is sent anywhere just because a page was detected.
- Stores your settings. Your preferences, such as an optional Unpaywall email address, an optional library link, and which fallback links to show, are saved with Chrome's storage. If you use Chrome sync, Chrome may sync these settings between your own devices. We never receive them.
What is sent to third-party services, and when
Elsewhere only contacts other services when you click the icon or open the "Dive deeper" results page. There is no Elsewhere server in between: your browser contacts these services directly.
| When | What is sent | To |
| You open a research paper and click the icon | The paper's DOI, PubMed ID or PMCID | OpenAlex (api.openalex.org) |
| You added an Unpaywall email in Settings | The DOI and the email you entered | Unpaywall (api.unpaywall.org) |
| You click "Dive deeper" | The article's headline, and key words from it | Google News and Bing News search feeds |
| The results page tidies up Google News links | The Google News link for each story; Google may receive your existing Google cookies, as it would when you visit Google News | news.google.com |
| The results page shows outlet logos | The domain of each outlet | Google's favicon service |
| The results page shows pictures | Your browser loads the pictures from Bing or from the news sites themselves | Those services and sites |
| You allowed "article pictures" and the results page loads | A request for each story's web page, without cookies, to read its preview image | The news sites listed in the results |
These services have their own privacy policies and may log your IP address and the request, as any website you visit would. We have no control over, and no access to, those logs.
If you click a result, a normal link opens in a new tab, as when you click any link.
Permissions and why they are needed
- activeTab and scripting: read the current page's article details when you click the icon.
- storage: save your settings.
- contextMenus: the right-click "Find accessible versions" item.
- Access to OpenAlex, Unpaywall, Google News, Bing News and Google favicons: the lookups in the table above.
- Optional access to all websites: requested once, only if you agree. It lets Elsewhere show the toolbar badge automatically and read each article's preview picture on the results page. Elsewhere works without it. You can turn it off at any time in Settings.
What we don't do
- We don't collect or store personal information, browsing history or page content on any server.
- We don't use analytics, advertising, tracking or fingerprinting.
- We don't sell or share data with anyone, or use it for creditworthiness, lending or any purpose unrelated to the extension's function.
- We don't load or run remote code.
This website
This website does not use cookies, analytics or tracking. If you email us, we use your message only to reply.
Optional tips
Elsewhere is free. If you choose to leave a tip, the tip button opens a page run by a third-party payment service in a new tab. Elsewhere does not see or handle any payment details, and does not know whether you tipped. That service's own privacy policy applies to the tip.
Children
Elsewhere is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect any information from anyone.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, we will update the date above, and the new version will apply from then on.
Contact
Questions or a problem to report? Email dev439adem@gmail.com with the subject "Elsewhere support".