Apex Governance LLC (“Apex”) believes that the long-run credibility of any quantitative governance framework depends on independent academic scrutiny. We therefore make Apex G-Score datasets available, on favorable terms and in many cases at no charge, to credentialed academic researchers conducting genuine scholarly research.
These Academic License Terms (the “Academic Terms”) describe the standard framework. Specific scope, fees (if any), datasets covered, and acknowledgement requirements are set out in an executed Academic License Agreement (the “Academic Agreement”) for each research engagement.
§ 01 Eligibility
Academic licenses are available to:
- tenured or tenure-track faculty at accredited universities;
- research-track faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students at accredited universities, in each case with faculty co-investigator sponsorship;
- research staff at recognized non-profit research institutes, central-bank research divisions, multilateral development institutions, and equivalent organizations.
Apex retains discretion to assess eligibility on a case-by-case basis.
§ 02 Permitted Uses
Subject to the executed Academic Agreement, the licensee may:
- use the licensed datasets solely for non-commercial scholarly research and instruction;
- publish research findings in peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, working-paper series (such as SSRN), and dissertations, in each case subject to the acknowledgement and citation requirements below;
- share aggregated or summarized findings (such as regression tables, distribution charts, and discussion of methodology) in academic outputs;
- retain a research copy of the licensed datasets for the duration of the research project and for a reasonable period thereafter for replication purposes.
§ 03 Restrictions
The licensee will not:
- publish or otherwise disclose individual issuer-level G-Score values, grades, archetype classifications, or Kill Switch flags in any output that would render Apex's commercial deliverable substitutable;
- publish the underlying indicator definitions, weights, threshold values, or classification algorithms (which are disclosed only under NDA-equivalent confidentiality);
- use the licensed datasets to develop, market, or operate any commercial product or service, including any consulting engagement;
- use the licensed datasets to train any artificial intelligence or machine-learning system intended for commercial deployment;
- redistribute the licensed datasets, in whole or in part, to any individual outside the named research team without Apex's prior written consent;
- use the licensed datasets to assess, value, recommend, or trade in any specific security or financial instrument.
Permitted academic publications may include sector-level or fold-level aggregate validation statistics, full regression tables, and reproducibility parameters (random seeds, train/test splits, cross-validation specifications), consistent with peer-review norms.
§ 04 Acknowledgement and Citation
All academic outputs that draw on a licensed dataset must include:
- an acknowledgement of Apex Governance LLC as the source of the underlying data;
- citation of the relevant Apex methodology paper(s) made available to the researcher;
- a statement of the version of the dataset used (for example, “Apex G-Score Korea v2.0, vintage 2026Q1”) to support replication;
- a disclosure that Apex did not direct, fund, or review the analytical content of the publication, except where such review was contractually agreed (which Apex generally does not request).
Apex does not require pre-publication review of academic findings. The licensee may share working drafts with Apex for context, but the publication decision rests with the licensee and the relevant publisher.
§ 05 Pre-Registration and Open Science
Apex encourages, but does not require, licensees to pre-register research designs with recognized open-science platforms (such as the AEA RCT Registry or OSF), to deposit replication code with peer-reviewed data archives, and to publish working-paper versions through SSRN or equivalent open repositories.
§ 06 Fees
Apex charges no fees for academic licenses where the research is funded primarily by public, philanthropic, or non-profit institutional sources and where the proposed publication will be openly accessible (open access journal, working-paper repository, or equivalent).
Where the research is funded by, conducted in collaboration with, or commissioned by a commercial institution, Apex may negotiate a research-services arrangement that recovers the cost of dataset preparation and review.
§ 07 Term and Termination
An Academic Agreement continues for the duration of the named research project, plus a reasonable replication period, unless terminated earlier. Apex may terminate for material breach (including unauthorized publication or commercial use) on written notice.
Upon termination, the licensee will cease use of the licensed datasets, except that already-published academic outputs may continue to circulate in the ordinary course.
§ 08 Disclaimers and Liability
Datasets are made available “as is” for academic use. Apex makes no warranty regarding accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular research methodology. The full disclaimer and limitation-of-liability provisions of the Data License Terms apply by reference to academic use, scaled appropriately to a non-commercial context.
§ 09 Governing Law
The Academic Terms and any Academic Agreement are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, U.S.A.