Privacy Policy

Effective date: October 2026. Last reviewed: September 2026.

AfroStrategy operates afrostrategy.org and related account, publication, membership, newsletter and institutional-access services. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we may collect, why we use it, when we share it and the choices available to users.

For privacy enquiries or data requests, contact privacy@afrostrategy.org.

Scope

This Policy applies when you visit AfroStrategy, create or use an account, subscribe to communications, submit research or other content, purchase or receive Premium access, participate through an institution, contact us or otherwise interact with our services.

External websites, payment providers, embedded services and other third parties have their own privacy practices.

Information you provide

Depending on how you use AfroStrategy, we may process:

• name, username and email address;
• organization, professional title, affiliation and country;
• profile photograph, biography, research interests and languages;
• research identifiers and professional links such as ORCID, Web of Science ResearcherID, Scopus Author ID, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, OpenAlex, LinkedIn or a personal website;
• Contributor, Author/Researcher, Reviewer or editorial-role application information;
• manuscripts, reviews, editorial correspondence and publication metadata;
• newsletter-subscription information;
• support and contact correspondence;
• billing details, order records, purchase status and access-entitlement information;
• institutional-access information such as institution name, institutional email domain, contact person, proposed seats, access period and approved member accounts; and
• information supplied in connection with a privacy, correction or permissions request.

Do not send passwords, full payment-card numbers, government identification documents or other unnecessary sensitive information through ordinary email or public forms.

Information collected automatically

Technical systems may process information such as device and browser type, operating system, referring pages, timestamps, server/security logs, approximate location, pages viewed, interactions and cookies or similar identifiers used for security, login, preferences, analytics and site functionality.

Purposes of processing

We may use personal information to:

• provide and secure the website and user accounts;
• authenticate users and preserve login sessions;
• operate Registered, Premium and Institutional Access;
• process purchases, refunds and access entitlements;
• manage author, contributor, reviewer and editorial workflows;
• publish author profiles and attribution where a user participates publicly;
• send service, security, editorial, access and institutional notifications;
• deliver optional newsletters or communications;
• respond to enquiries, privacy requests, complaints and support matters;
• measure and improve website performance and readership;
• detect abuse, fraud and unauthorized access;
• maintain citation, archive and publication records; and
• comply with legal, tax, accounting, contractual or regulatory obligations.

Where applicable law requires a legal basis, processing may rely on consent, performance of a contract, legitimate interests, legal obligation or another lawful basis appropriate to the context.

Public author and publication information

If you publish or hold a public research profile on AfroStrategy, certain information is intentionally public. This may include your display name, professional title, affiliation, biography, profile image, publications and research-profile links you have supplied for public display.

Public scholarly records may remain in archives where retention is necessary to preserve citation, authorship and publication integrity.

Google Site Kit and analytics

AfroStrategy uses Google Site Kit to connect services including Google Analytics, Search Console and PageSpeed Insights.

Google Analytics may process browser/device information, session statistics, approximate location and on-site activity for measurement.

We use analytics to understand aggregate readership, discoverability, performance and engagement. We do not intentionally send passwords, full payment-card details or other direct sensitive credentials to Analytics.

Where applicable law requires consent for non-essential analytics technologies, those technologies should operate according to the visitor’s consent choice.

Cookies

We use essential cookies for functions such as authentication, security, account sessions, checkout and access control. We may also use preference and analytics cookies.

See the Cookie Policy.

Payments

AfroStrategy uses WooCommerce for products, checkout, orders and billing records and may use authorized payment gateways such as PayPal.

AfroStrategy does not intentionally store full payment-card credentials when those credentials are processed directly by the payment provider.

Transaction records may be retained for accounting, fraud-prevention, tax, dispute and legal purposes as permitted or required by law.

Institutional Access

Institutional requests may involve institution name, type, country, website, contact person, institutional email, user estimates, approved domains, access period, seat allocation and member-account relationships.

Institutional domain recognition does not automatically grant Premium access; eligibility may require approval.

Email and newsletters

We may use email-delivery providers to send account, editorial, Premium, institutional and newsletter communications.

Service notifications necessary for an account or transaction may be different from optional marketing or newsletter communications.

Data sharing

We may share information with service providers that help operate hosting, security, analytics, payment processing, email delivery, backups, search and other technical infrastructure.

We may also disclose information where reasonably necessary to comply with law, enforce rights, protect security, investigate fraud or respond to a valid legal process.

We do not sell personal information to advertisers.

International processing

AfroStrategy is accessible internationally and may use service providers located in different jurisdictions.

Where required, appropriate safeguards should be used for international transfers of personal data.

Retention

We retain information only as long as reasonably necessary for operational, contractual, archival, security, accounting, legal or publication-record purposes.

Different categories of information may have different retention periods.

Your rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to processing, obtain data portability, withdraw consent or complain to a competent data-protection authority.

These rights are not absolute. Information may need to be retained for legal obligations, freedom of expression, publication integrity, archiving or legal claims.

Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures intended to protect personal information.

No online service can guarantee absolute security.

Children

AfroStrategy is intended primarily for researchers, professionals, students, institutions and informed general audiences.

We do not intentionally collect children’s personal information where prohibited by applicable law.

External links

AfroStrategy publications may link to external websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of independent external services.

Changes

We may update this Policy as services, technology or legal requirements evolve. The current version will be identified by the review date above.

Contact

Privacy enquiries: privacy@afrostrategy.org

General enquiries: info@afrostrategy.org