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Roles & Permissions

Alfred Scholar uses a role-based permission system to control what each workspace member can do. This ensures that sensitive actions (like deleting the workspace or managing members) are restricted to the right people.

Available roles

Every workspace member has one of the following roles:

Role Description
Owner Full control over the workspace, including managing members and deleting the workspace. The person who creates a workspace is automatically its owner.
Colleague Can use all research features - uploading documents, writing manuscripts, managing citations, using AI chat, and running plagiarism checks. Cannot delete items or manage workspace members.
Reviewer Limited access for peer review purposes. Can view specific manuscripts assigned for review and leave comments. Cannot access the broader research library or other workspace features.

Permission breakdown

Here is a detailed breakdown of what each role can do:

My Documents

Action Owner Colleague Reviewer
Upload documents Yes Yes No
View documents Yes Yes No
Edit document metadata Yes Yes No
Delete documents Yes No No
Organize folders Yes Yes No
Delete folders Yes No No
Annotate documents Yes Yes No

Manuscripts

Action Owner Colleague Reviewer
Create manuscripts Yes Yes No
Edit manuscripts Yes Yes No
Delete manuscripts Yes No No
Add images Yes Yes No
Apply guidelines Yes Yes No
Assign reviewers Yes No No
View assigned reviews Yes Yes Yes
Leave review comments Yes Yes Yes

Citations

Action Owner Colleague Reviewer
Add citations Yes Yes No
Edit citations Yes Yes No
Delete citations Yes No No

AI Chat

Action Owner Colleague Reviewer
Start new chats Yes Yes No
View chat history Yes Yes No
Delete chats Yes No No

Plagiarism Check

Action Owner Colleague Reviewer
Run plagiarism checks Yes Yes No
View reports Yes Yes No
Delete reports Yes No No

Settings

Action Owner Colleague Reviewer
Update workspace name Yes No No
Invite members Yes No No
Remove members Yes No No
Change member roles Yes No No
View credit balance Yes Yes Yes
View credit transactions Yes Yes Yes
Delete workspace Yes No No

Trash

Action Owner Colleague Reviewer
View trash Yes Yes No
Restore items Yes Yes No
Permanently delete Yes No No

Changing a member's role

Only workspace owners can change roles:

  1. Go to Settings > Members.
  2. Find the member.
  3. Click the role dropdown and select the new role.

Note: You cannot change the owner's role. To transfer ownership, contact support.

Best practices

  • Use the Reviewer role for external peer reviewers who only need to review specific manuscripts. This prevents them from accessing your full research library.
  • Use the Colleague role for active research collaborators who need to upload papers, manage citations, and write manuscripts.
  • Keep the Owner role for the primary researcher or lab lead who manages the workspace and team.

Next steps