Meta-Mar Privacy Policy
Effective date: 11 November 2026
This policy covers www.meta-mar.com and Meta-Mar Classic, the current analysis application. Meta-Mar is free to use. It needs no account and no payment, and it does not use analytics or advertising trackers.
1. Controller
Ashkan Beheshti Hamedani
c/o Philipps-Universität Marburg, Fachbereich Psychologie, AG Klinische Kinder- und Jugendpsychologie
Gutenbergstr. 18, 35037 Marburg, Germany
Email: ashkan.beheshti@staff.uni-marburg.de
See also the Impressum.
2. What happens to your data
2.1 Meta-Mar Classic analysis
- Meta-Mar Classic runs on shinyapps.io, a hosting service operated by Posit (USA). The data you upload is processed there in your session with R (the meta and metafor packages).
- Your data is used only to compute and display your results. It is not linked to any person or account and is not analysed for any other purpose.
- Please do not upload personal or confidential data. Meta-analysis normally needs only aggregate study-level data.
2.2 Optional AI features (Classic)
- The AI assistant and AI reports are used only if you choose to use them. Statistical analysis never requires them.
- If you use them, your messages and, for a report, your analysis results are sent to OpenAI, our AI processor, to generate the answer. OpenAI may process this data in the United States.
- Do not enter or analyse sensitive information when using the AI features.
2.3 Website visits and hosting
- This website is hosted by Railway. Like any web server, the hosting infrastructure may process technical data such as IP address, date and time, and requested page in server logs, to deliver the site and keep it secure (legitimate interest, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). Railway may process this data in the United States. The analysis application is hosted separately on shinyapps.io (Posit), which may also log such technical data.
- The site sets no cookies and loads no third-party analytics, fonts or advertising scripts.
2.4 Analytics
There are none. Google Analytics and similar tools have been removed.
2.5 Development-priorities survey
The survey on the Contribute page stores only which priorities were ticked and a timestamp. It stores no name, email address or IP address, and it can be answered anonymously. Aggregated counts are public on the survey-results page. The counts are held in a managed database service (Supabase).
3. Your rights
Under the GDPR you have the right of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability and objection (Arts. 15–21), and the right to withdraw consent at any time. Because Classic holds no account data, we can usually identify you in our systems only if you give us specifics (for example the time of a request). You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the EU member state where you live or work or where an alleged infringement took place. The authority responsible for the controller is the Hessian Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (Der Hessische Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit), Wiesbaden.
4. Coming with Meta-Mar 5
The Meta-Mar 5 engine is designed to be stateless: requests are computed and not stored. It will also run locally on your own computer or institutional server, so your data never has to leave your machine.
5. Contact
For privacy questions or requests, contact: ashkan.beheshti@staff.uni-marburg.de