Content Guidelines

Knovia is a marketplace for verified academic study materials — lecture notes, past questions, study guides, and similar academic content produced by real lecturers for real courses. These guidelines define what qualifies as acceptable content on the Platform.

Every material submitted to Knovia goes through a five-layer integrity review before publication: SHA-256 duplicate detection, near-duplicate (SimHash) detection, Copyscape plagiarism scanning, mandatory IP attestation by the lecturer, and final admin approval. Passing this process is a precondition for publication, not a guarantee of compliance with these guidelines over the lifetime of the listing.

The following types of academic materials are permitted on Knovia:

• Lecture notes: Notes, slides, or written summaries of course content authored or co-authored by the lecturer.
• Past questions: Examination questions from prior academic sessions, including marking schemes where available, for courses the lecturer has taught or coordinated.
• Study guides: Structured revision materials, course outlines, or study aids prepared by the lecturer for students enrolled in their course.
• Lab manuals and practicals: Practical guides, lab protocols, or workshop materials prepared for courses the lecturer delivers.
• Course packs: Compiled reading packs or organised collections of original course materials where the lecturer holds the right to distribute all included content.

All permitted content must be the original work of the submitting lecturer or content for which they hold the rights to distribute on these terms.

The following are not permitted on Knovia under any circumstances:

• Third-party copyrighted content: Textbooks, journal articles, publisher materials, or any content for which the lecturer does not hold redistribution rights. This includes scanned textbook chapters and copied journal content.
• Plagiarised or substantially copied materials: Materials that reproduce substantial portions of another person's work without authorisation, even if paraphrased.
• Misleading metadata: Materials whose title, description, course code, institution, academic level, or material type does not accurately represent the content. This includes listing materials for a course or institution the lecturer is not affiliated with.
• Empty or low-effort materials: Materials that consist primarily of blank pages, covers without substantive content, heavily duplicated pages, or content that does not meaningfully correspond to the listed description.
• Harmful or illegal content: Content that is defamatory, discriminatory, obscene, or that advocates illegal activity.
• Personal data: Materials containing identifiable student information, examination results, grade sheets, or other personal data relating to third parties.
• Commercial advertisements: Materials used primarily to advertise external products, services, or competing platforms.

Lecturers are responsible for ensuring all listing metadata is accurate at the time of submission and remains accurate for the duration of the listing. The following fields must accurately reflect the material:

• Title: Must accurately describe the material. Keyword stuffing or misleading titles are prohibited.
• Description: Must provide an honest summary of the content. Descriptions must not promise content not present in the material.
• Course code and title: Must correspond to a real course at the listed institution for which the lecturer has taught or has a legitimate association.
• Institution: Must be the institution at which the material was produced or for which it was designed.
• Academic level: Must accurately reflect the level of the course (e.g. 100 level, 300 level, postgraduate).
• Material type: Must correctly categorise the material (lecture notes, past questions, study guide, etc.).

Where a material is updated via a new version submission, the metadata for the new version must accurately reflect the updated content.

Every material submission requires the lecturer to confirm, via a mandatory checkbox, that:

• The material is their original work or they hold the rights to distribute it on these terms.
• The material does not infringe any third-party intellectual property rights.
• Listing the material does not violate any employment contract, institutional policy, or other legal obligation binding on them.

This attestation is a binding representation. Submitting a false attestation is a serious violation of the Terms of Service §6 and is subject to Tier 4 enforcement action (permanent ban).

All submitted materials go through the following review pipeline before publication:

Materials that fail automated checks are flagged for manual review. Materials that fail manual review are rejected with a reason provided to the lecturer. Rejection reasons are accessible in Dashboard → Materials.

Typical review time is 24–48 hours from submission. Submissions made during weekends or public holidays may take longer.

Knovia reserves the right to review published materials at any time following publication, including in response to buyer complaints, DMCA notices, or routine quality audits. A published material may be:

• Flagged — removed from public discovery pending review, while remaining accessible to existing buyers.
• Delisted — removed from the marketplace entirely. Existing buyers retain access.
• Archived — removed from sale and from buyer access (reserved for confirmed violations).

Lecturers are notified by email when any post-publication action is taken on their material, along with the reason and any applicable right to respond.

Content guideline violations are subject to the Knovia enforcement tier system:

• First violation (minor): Tier 1 warning + material rejection or delisting.
• Repeated minor violations: Tier 2 restriction (listing suspension).
• Serious violations (e.g. confirmed plagiarism, false attestation, misleading metadata causing buyer harm): Tier 3 suspension or Tier 4 permanent ban.
• Confirmed copyright infringement: Immediate Tier 4 permanent ban. Two confirmed copyright findings result in permanent termination as a repeat infringer under 17 U.S.C. § 512(i).

Full details on the enforcement tier system and appeal rights are set out in the Terms of Service §13. Copyright-specific procedures are in the Copyright & DMCA Policy.

To report a material that you believe violates these guidelines, contact support@knovia.co with the material URL and a description of the violation. For copyright infringement specifically, use the DMCA process at dmca@knovia.co.