The VALOR license and copyright notice

The SDK is made available under the VALOR Restrictive Academic Research License. The license provides limited rights.

The use of this license arises from the unique context in which this software operates — namely, within large scientific collaborations where a particular dataset may only admit a single meaningful analysis path. In contrast to general-purpose open-source tools, the VALOR SDK implements highly specialized statistical infrastructure tailored to a specific combination of detector configuration, physics modeling assumptions, and systematic error treatment. In such settings, if a collaborator were to independently run the VALOR analysis on shared data without coordination, it would not only duplicate effort but could also undermine the integrity of collective results, dilute attribution, or preempt intended publications. While open source is rightly the norm in broader software communities, the prevailing practice in experimental physics often involves the use of private, unpublished analysis frameworks — a reality that coexists with a strong culture of collaborative development. The VALOR license strikes a deliberate balance: it provides transparent access to code for collaborators seeking to understand or reproduce results, while enforcing clear boundaries around unauthorized execution, duplication, or repurposing. This protects the originality, integrity, and academic recognition of the research group maintaining the software, without impeding legitimate scientific collaboration. It is a license designed to uphold the norms of priority and attribution in academia, in a context where the analysis is itself the primary intellectual product and premature reuse by others may directly compromise scientific output.

Please make sure you read the full text below. For enquiries regarding the VALOR license, contact Prof. Costas Andreopoulos.

VALOR Restrictive Academic Research License (v1.1)

Permission is granted to view the source code in this repository for the sole purpose of academic understanding and reproducibility by individuals directly collaborating with the copyright holder in scientific research.

This permission is subject to the following strict conditions:

1. No Use Without Written Permission

You may not use, execute, reproduce, modify, copy, redistribute, or otherwise employ this software or any substantial portion thereof, without prior written permission from the copyright holder.

2. Collaboration-Restricted Academic Use Only

Access to this code is provided solely to enable academic collaboration and scientific reproducibility within research projects where the copyright holder is an active contributor.
Any use of this software in data analysis, internal documentation, presentations, publications, or derivative works is strictly prohibited without explicit written authorization.

3. No Redistribution or Forking

You may not fork, clone, copy, mirror, redistribute, or publish this repository or any of its contents — in whole or in part — unless explicitly authorized in writing.

4. Ongoing Research

This software is an actively developed component of original scientific research. Unauthorized use or duplication may interfere with the author’s academic work, contributions, or recognition. Users are expected to uphold academic norms of attribution, collaboration, and priority.

5. No License Granted

Except for the limited right to view the source code under the conditions stated above, no rights or licenses are granted, explicitly or implicitly, under any copyright, patent, or intellectual property law.

6. Termination

Any breach of these terms results in the immediate and automatic termination of all rights to access or view this code.

7. All Rights Reserved

All rights not expressly granted herein are reserved by the copyright holder.