As part of Prolific's commitment to protecting participant privacy, we only keep personal data for as long as necessary.

If your account has been inactive for 12 months or you have been on the waitlist for an extended period, we'll send you a deletion notice via email. You'll then have 2 months to log in and keep your account active. If you take no action within this time, your details will be permanently deleted at the 14-month mark, and we cannot guarantee future access to a Prolific participant account. This means:

The simplest way to keep your account active is to log in regularly. If you use Prolific for studies, your account will naturally stay active. If you're not actively participating, logging in at least once every 12 months will prevent your account from being flagged for deletion.

To ensure you receive deletion notices and other important communications from Prolific, we recommend adding [email protected] to your safe sender list or contacts. These emails can sometimes end up in spam or junk folders.

If you haven’t logged into Prolific for a while, you may receive an email asking you to log in. By simply logging in, you can ensure your details are kept on record so that you can come back anytime you wish.

If you want your account deleted, no action is required — your account will be deleted on the deadline date.

If you're having trouble accessing your account, you can follow the below step-by-step guides:

Please note, if your account is currently on hold, signing in won’t change your account’s status, but it will prevent your account from being deleted.

If you continue to experience issues logging in, see I can't log in to my account

Unfortunately, we cannot reinstate an account once it is closed or deleted under any circumstances, so we are unable to offer you a new Prolific account in this case.

If your account is deleted while you still have a balance, any unclaimed funds will be permanently forfeited. This includes payable balance and studies awaiting approval. To receive your balance, log in before the deadline in the email and cash out.

Keep in mind that any balance in your Prolific account won't gain interest the way it would in a bank account, so we recommend cashing out regularly rather than letting large amounts accumulate. Large cashouts can also take longer to process than smaller withdrawals.

Yes. If you've been on the waitlist for a while without receiving or accepting an invitation, you'll receive an email. To renew your interest, simply follow these steps:

While we can't specify exact invitation timing, we continuously review our waitlist based on researcher needs and participant demographics.

Related resources:
1. How will you use my personal data
2. Data protection and privacy/GDPR