Privacy Statement

Privacy Statement

Dar es Salaam Tumaini University (DarTU) – University Journals and Publications

Effective Date: 8 August 2026
Last Updated: 8 August 2026

1. Introduction

Dar es Salaam Tumaini University (DarTU) is committed to protecting the privacy, confidentiality, integrity, and security of personal information entrusted to the University through its scholarly publishing activities.

This Privacy Statement explains how Dar es Salaam Tumaini University, including its journals, editorial offices, and authorized publishing personnel, collects, processes, uses, stores, discloses, and protects personal data through the DarTU Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform.

The DarTU OJS platform supports scholarly publishing activities including journal management, manuscript submission, peer review, editorial communication, publication, indexing, metadata dissemination, research discovery, and preservation.

This Privacy Statement applies to individuals who access or interact with the DarTU OJS platform, including:

  • Authors and co-authors;

  • Editors and editorial board members;

  • Reviewers and peer reviewers;

  • Journal managers and administrators;

  • Readers and visitors;

  • Researchers and academic contributors;

  • Corresponding authors;

  • Individuals who communicate with editorial offices; and

  • Other persons whose personal information is provided to the DarTU publishing platform in connection with scholarly publishing.

DarTU processes personal data in accordance with applicable laws and regulations of the United Republic of Tanzania, including the Personal Data Protection Act, 2022 (Cap. 44) and applicable regulations and guidance issued by the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC).

2. Data Controller

For purposes of personal data processed through the DarTU scholarly publishing platform, Dar es Salaam Tumaini University (DarTU) is responsible for determining the purposes and means of processing personal data, subject to applicable law and the specific responsibilities of third-party service providers.

Individual journals operating within the DarTU OJS platform may process personal data on behalf of DarTU for legitimate editorial and publishing purposes.

Where a journal has specific privacy requirements, those requirements may supplement this Privacy Statement but shall not reduce the privacy protections required by applicable law.

3. Personal Data We Collect

Depending on how you interact with the DarTU OJS platform, we may collect and process different categories of personal information.

3.1 Account and Identification Information

This may include:

  • Full name;

  • Username;

  • Password credentials in protected form;

  • Email address;

  • Telephone number, where provided;

  • Institutional affiliation;

  • Department, faculty, school, or research organization;

  • Academic or professional position;

  • Country of residence or institutional location;

  • ORCID iD, where provided;

  • Researcher identifiers; and

  • Other information voluntarily supplied during account registration.

3.2 Author and Submission Information

For manuscript submissions, we may process:

  • Author names;

  • Co-author information;

  • Corresponding-author information;

  • Institutional affiliations;

  • Email addresses;

  • ORCID identifiers;

  • Author biographies;

  • Academic qualifications and professional information voluntarily provided;

  • Manuscript files;

  • Supplementary files;

  • Figures, tables, datasets, appendices and other research materials;

  • Funding information;

  • Conflict-of-interest declarations;

  • Ethical approval information;

  • Copyright and licensing information;

  • Author contributions;

  • Acknowledgements; and

  • Correspondence relating to the submission.

3.3 Peer-Review Information

For reviewers and peer-review activities, we may process:

  • Reviewer name;

  • Email address;

  • Institutional affiliation;

  • Academic or professional expertise;

  • ORCID iD, where provided;

  • Reviewer profile information;

  • Review reports;

  • Recommendations concerning manuscripts;

  • Editorial communications;

  • Confidential comments to editors;

  • Review history; and

  • Records necessary to document the peer-review process.

Peer-review information may be confidential and shall be handled in accordance with the applicable journal's peer-review model and editorial policies.

3.4 Technical and Usage Information

When users access the platform, technical information may be automatically recorded, including:

  • IP address;

  • Browser type and version;

  • Operating system;

  • Device information;

  • Date and time of access;

  • Pages visited;

  • Referring pages;

  • Session information;

  • Error logs;

  • Security logs;

  • Authentication events;

  • Download and access activity; and

  • Other technical information required for operating, securing, and maintaining the platform.

Such information may be used for security monitoring, troubleshooting, system administration, analytics, and service improvement.

4. How We Collect Personal Data

DarTU may collect personal data through:

4.1 Direct Collection

Information may be collected when you:

  • Create an OJS account;

  • Submit a manuscript;

  • Register as an author or reviewer;

  • Accept or decline a review invitation;

  • Complete a peer review;

  • Communicate with editors;

  • Subscribe to journal notifications;

  • Submit comments or inquiries;

  • Update your profile;

  • Provide ORCID or other researcher identifiers; or

  • Otherwise voluntarily provide information through the platform.

4.2 Automated Collection

Certain technical information may be collected automatically when you access the platform through server logs, security mechanisms, cookies, and similar technologies.

4.3 Information Received from Third Parties

Where permitted by law and necessary for scholarly publishing, DarTU may receive information from:

  • ORCID;

  • DOI and scholarly metadata services;

  • Research indexing services;

  • Institutional systems;

  • Editorial collaborators;

  • Research organizations; and

  • Other authorized scholarly communication services.

5. Purposes of Processing Personal Data

DarTU processes personal data for legitimate academic, administrative, technical, legal, and publishing purposes, including:

  1. Creating and managing OJS user accounts;

  2. Receiving and processing manuscript submissions;

  3. Administering editorial workflows;

  4. Selecting and communicating with reviewers;

  5. Conducting peer review;

  6. Communicating editorial decisions;

  7. Publishing accepted scholarly works;

  8. Maintaining author and reviewer records;

  9. Generating scholarly metadata;

  10. Assigning and maintaining persistent identifiers such as DOIs where applicable;

  11. Connecting publications with ORCID and other researcher identifiers;

  12. Supporting indexing, abstracting, discovery and scholarly communication;

  13. Maintaining publication records and archives;

  14. Preventing plagiarism, fraud, abuse, and manipulation of the publication process;

  15. Maintaining the security and integrity of the OJS platform;

  16. Detecting and investigating security incidents;

  17. Monitoring system performance and usage;

  18. Providing technical and editorial support;

  19. Complying with legal and regulatory obligations;

  20. Protecting the rights, property, and legitimate interests of DarTU and its users; and

  21. Supporting the University's teaching, learning, research, knowledge dissemination, and scholarly communication mission.

DarTU applies the principles of purpose limitation and data minimization and seeks to process only information reasonably necessary for the stated purposes. These principles are also reflected in the PDPC's published privacy notice.

6. Legal Basis for Processing

DarTU processes personal data on one or more lawful grounds applicable to the particular processing activity, which may include:

  • Performance of a service or institutional function;

  • Compliance with a legal or regulatory obligation;

  • Performance of a task carried out in the public interest;

  • Consent, where consent is required;

  • Protection of legitimate institutional interests where permitted by law; and

  • Other lawful grounds recognized under applicable Tanzanian data-protection legislation.

Where processing is based on consent, the individual may withdraw consent subject to applicable legal and operational limitations.

Withdrawal of consent does not necessarily affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.

7. Publication of Author Information

Scholarly publishing requires certain information about authors and publications to become publicly available.

When a manuscript is accepted and published, information such as the following may be publicly displayed:

  • Author name;

  • Institutional affiliation;

  • ORCID iD, where supplied and configured for publication;

  • Author biography, where supplied;

  • Article title;

  • Abstract;

  • Keywords;

  • Funding information;

  • Conflict-of-interest statements;

  • Corresponding-author information where publication requires it; and

  • Other scholarly metadata.

Authors should therefore avoid submitting personal information that is not necessary for publication.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that they have the appropriate authority and lawful basis to provide personal information relating to co-authors, research participants, collaborators, or other individuals included in submitted materials.

8. Peer-Review Confidentiality

DarTU recognizes the confidential nature of scholarly peer review.

Depending on the journal's review model, reviewer identities, review reports, editorial communications, manuscript files, and editorial decisions may be treated as confidential information.

Reviewers shall not:

  • Disclose unpublished manuscripts;

  • Share manuscript content with unauthorized persons;

  • Use unpublished research for personal or professional advantage;

  • Contact authors regarding confidential manuscripts outside authorized editorial channels; or

  • Disclose their review recommendations except through authorized journal processes.

The precise confidentiality arrangements may differ according to whether a journal uses single-anonymous, double-anonymous, open, or another peer-review model.

9. Disclosure and Sharing of Personal Data

DarTU does not sell personal data.

Personal data may be disclosed or made available only where necessary, lawful, proportionate, and consistent with the purposes described in this Privacy Statement.

This may include disclosure to:

  • Authorized DarTU staff;

  • Journal editors and editorial board members;

  • Authorized peer reviewers;

  • Service providers supporting the OJS infrastructure;

  • DOI registration agencies and metadata services;

  • ORCID and researcher-identifier services;

  • Scholarly indexing and abstracting services;

  • Research and publication infrastructure providers;

  • Information technology and cybersecurity service providers;

  • Government authorities or regulatory bodies where legally required; and

  • Courts, law-enforcement authorities, or other competent bodies where required or permitted by law.

Third-party service providers processing personal data on behalf of DarTU shall be subject to appropriate contractual, technical, and organizational safeguards.

10. Scholarly Metadata and Third-Party Services

Academic publishing requires the dissemination of bibliographic metadata.

Depending on the journal and its configuration, article metadata may be transmitted to services such as:

  • DOI registration agencies;

  • ORCID;

  • Crossref;

  • OpenAIRE;

  • scholarly indexes;

  • discovery services;

  • library systems;

  • repositories; and

  • other scholarly communication infrastructure.

Once scholarly metadata has been legitimately transmitted or published, it may be indexed, replicated, cached, archived, or redistributed by third-party services beyond DarTU's direct control.

Users should understand that publication is intended to facilitate broad scholarly discovery and dissemination.

11. Research Data and Supplementary Materials

Authors may submit datasets, supplementary materials, images, documents, questionnaires, transcripts, or other research materials.

Authors must ensure that submitted research materials:

  • Do not unlawfully disclose personal data;

  • Have appropriate ethical approval where required;

  • Have appropriate participant consent where required;

  • Are anonymized or pseudonymized where appropriate;

  • Comply with applicable research-ethics requirements; and

  • Do not contain unnecessary personally identifiable information.

DarTU may request removal, anonymization, correction, restriction, or replacement of materials where necessary to address privacy, ethical, legal, or security concerns.

12. Cookies and Similar Technologies

The DarTU OJS platform may use cookies and similar technologies to:

  • Maintain authenticated sessions;

  • Remember user preferences;

  • Support essential platform functionality;

  • Improve usability;

  • Maintain security;

  • Analyze platform usage; and

  • Diagnose technical problems.

Some cookies may be essential for the operation of the platform and cannot be disabled without affecting functionality.

Users may control cookies through their browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of the OJS platform.

Where non-essential analytics or tracking technologies are used, DarTU will apply appropriate privacy and consent requirements.

13. Information Security

DarTU implements reasonable and appropriate technical and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal data against:

  • Unauthorized access;

  • Unauthorized disclosure;

  • Accidental loss;

  • Destruction;

  • Alteration;

  • Misuse;

  • Cybersecurity attacks; and

  • Other unlawful or unauthorized processing.

Security measures may include:

  • Role-based access controls;

  • Authentication mechanisms;

  • Password protection;

  • Access logging;

  • Server and application security controls;

  • Network security controls;

  • Secure backups;

  • Vulnerability management;

  • Security monitoring;

  • Administrative controls;

  • Confidentiality obligations; and

  • Appropriate encryption and secure transmission mechanisms where applicable.

No internet-based system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. DarTU therefore continuously evaluates and improves its technical and organizational security measures.

14. Account Security

Users are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their OJS credentials.

Users should:

  • Use strong and unique passwords;

  • Never share account credentials;

  • Log out after using shared devices;

  • Immediately report suspected unauthorized access;

  • Keep account information accurate; and

  • Avoid submitting confidential information through unsecured communication channels.

DarTU may suspend or restrict accounts where necessary to protect the platform, users, publications, or institutional interests.

15. Data Retention

DarTU retains personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, comply with legal and institutional obligations, maintain scholarly records, and protect the integrity of the academic publishing process.

Different categories of information may have different retention periods.

For example:

  • Published article metadata may be retained indefinitely as part of the scholarly record;

  • Published articles may be preserved permanently or for extended archival periods;

  • Editorial records may be retained for research-integrity and publication-governance purposes;

  • Reviewer records may be retained to support editorial administration;

  • Account information may be retained while the account remains active and for an appropriate period thereafter;

  • Security logs may be retained for security, audit, and incident-investigation purposes.

Where personal data is no longer required and there is no legal, academic, archival, or legitimate institutional reason for continued retention, DarTU will take appropriate steps to delete, anonymize, or securely dispose of the information.

16. Data Subject Rights

Subject to applicable law and legitimate scholarly-record requirements, individuals may have rights concerning their personal data, including the right to:

  • Be informed about the processing of personal data;

  • Request access to personal data;

  • Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data;

  • Request deletion or erasure where legally applicable;

  • Request restriction of processing where legally applicable;

  • Object to certain processing activities;

  • Request data portability where applicable;

  • Withdraw consent where processing relies on consent;

  • Obtain information about certain automated processing;

  • Lodge a complaint concerning the handling of personal data; and

  • Seek other remedies available under applicable law.

These rights are reflected in the rights identified by the Tanzanian Personal Data Protection Commission.

Certain rights may be subject to lawful limitations, particularly where exercising a right would conflict with:

  • Legal obligations;

  • Academic integrity;

  • Research integrity;

  • Publication ethics;

  • Preservation of the scholarly record;

  • Rights of other individuals;

  • Freedom of expression or scholarly communication; or

  • Legitimate institutional interests.

17. Requests to Correct or Remove Published Information

Requests relating to published scholarly material require special consideration.

DarTU recognizes that the scholarly record must remain accurate, reliable, and persistent.

Correction, retraction, removal, anonymization, or modification of published content will therefore be handled in accordance with applicable journal policies, publication-ethics principles, legal requirements, and the University's research-integrity procedures.

A request to erase personal data does not automatically result in deletion of a published article or scholarly record.

Where appropriate, DarTU may instead:

  • Correct the relevant information;

  • Anonymize information;

  • Restrict access;

  • Publish a correction;

  • Publish a retraction or editorial notice; or

  • Apply another appropriate scholarly-record remedy.

18. International and Cross-Border Data Transfers

Some scholarly publishing services, infrastructure providers, indexing systems, research-identifier services, or cloud-service providers may process information outside Tanzania.

Where personal data is transferred outside Tanzania, DarTU will apply the requirements and safeguards prescribed by applicable Tanzanian data-protection law.

The Tanzanian data-protection framework recognizes restrictions and safeguards concerning transborder transfers of personal data.

DarTU will seek to ensure that cross-border processing is undertaken only where lawful, necessary, proportionate, and supported by appropriate safeguards.

19. Third-Party Websites and Services

The DarTU OJS platform may contain links to external websites, repositories, indexing services, scholarly databases, DOI services, ORCID, institutional websites, or other third-party platforms.

DarTU is not responsible for the privacy practices, security, content, or data-processing activities of third-party websites that are outside the University's control.

Users are encouraged to review the privacy policies of external services before submitting personal information.

20. Children and Minors

The DarTU OJS platform is primarily intended for academic researchers, authors, reviewers, editors, students, staff, and members of the scholarly community.

DarTU does not intentionally seek unnecessary personal information from children.

Where a research submission involves children or other vulnerable participants, authors are responsible for ensuring that all applicable ethical approvals, consent requirements, privacy safeguards, and legal requirements have been satisfied before submitting research materials.

21. Automated Decision-Making and Profiling

DarTU does not intend to use personal data collected through the OJS platform for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects on individuals without an appropriate lawful basis and safeguards.

Editorial and peer-review decisions are made through human-led scholarly processes in accordance with the policies of the respective journal.

Where automated tools are introduced into editorial workflows, DarTU will evaluate their privacy, security, fairness, transparency, and research-integrity implications.

22. Research Integrity and Misuse Prevention

DarTU may process certain personal and technical information to protect the integrity of scholarly publishing.

This may include detecting or investigating:

  • Plagiarism;

  • Fabricated or manipulated submissions;

  • Duplicate submissions;

  • Reviewer manipulation;

  • Identity fraud;

  • Editorial conflicts of interest;

  • Peer-review manipulation;

  • Unauthorized access;

  • Abuse of the publishing platform; and

  • Other activities that may compromise research or publication integrity.

Such processing will be conducted in accordance with applicable law and relevant institutional and journal policies.

23. Data Breaches and Security Incidents

Where DarTU becomes aware of a personal-data breach affecting the OJS platform, the University will assess and respond to the incident in accordance with applicable law, institutional incident-response procedures, and regulatory requirements.

Depending on the nature and severity of an incident, DarTU may:

  • Contain the incident;

  • Investigate its cause and scope;

  • Preserve relevant evidence;

  • Implement corrective security measures;

  • Notify relevant authorities where required;

  • Notify affected individuals where legally required or otherwise appropriate; and

  • Take measures to prevent recurrence.

24. Accuracy of Personal Information

Users are responsible for ensuring that information supplied to the OJS platform is accurate, complete, and current.

Users may update relevant account information through their OJS profile or contact the appropriate journal or DarTU publishing administrator where direct modification is unavailable.

DarTU may request verification where necessary to protect the integrity and security of user accounts.

25. Confidentiality of Editorial Communications

Communications between authors, reviewers, editors, and journal administrators may contain confidential or sensitive information.

Users shall not disclose confidential editorial communications to unauthorized third parties unless disclosure is:

  • Authorized by the journal;

  • Required by law;

  • Necessary for exercising a legal right; or

  • Otherwise permitted under applicable policies.

26. Privacy of Published Articles

The publication of an academic article may involve the permanent dissemination of information contained within the article.

Authors should carefully review manuscripts and supplementary files before submission to ensure that unnecessary personal information is not included.

This is particularly important for:

  • Patient information;

  • Research participants;

  • Students;

  • Children;

  • Interview participants;

  • Survey respondents;

  • Vulnerable individuals; and

  • Individuals whose identity could reasonably be inferred from the information provided.

Authors must follow applicable research ethics, informed-consent, anonymization, and confidentiality requirements.

27. Changes to This Privacy Statement

DarTU may periodically update this Privacy Statement to reflect:

  • Changes in legislation;

  • Regulatory requirements;

  • Changes to OJS functionality;

  • Changes to publishing practices;

  • Changes to third-party services;

  • Changes to security controls; or

  • Institutional policy changes.

The updated version will be published on the DarTU OJS platform together with the applicable effective or revision date.

Users are encouraged to periodically review this Privacy Statement.

28. Contact and Privacy Requests

Questions, concerns, requests concerning personal data, or privacy-related complaints regarding the DarTU OJS platform should be directed to the University's designated contact for data protection and privacy matters.

Dar es Salaam Tumaini University (DarTU)
University Journals and Publications / OJS Administration

Institution: Dar es Salaam Tumaini University
Country: Tanzania

Privacy/Data Protection Contact:
[Insert official Data Protection Officer / Privacy Office email]

OJS Technical Support:
[Insert official ICT/OJS support email]

Journal Contact:
Users may also contact the editorial office of the relevant journal through the contact information provided on that journal's website.

Where a concern cannot be resolved through DarTU's internal procedures, individuals may have the right to lodge a complaint with the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) in accordance with applicable Tanzanian law. The PDPC identifies complaint mechanisms and data-subject rights under Tanzania's data-protection framework.

29. Governing Legal Framework

This Privacy Statement is intended to operate within the legal and regulatory framework applicable to Dar es Salaam Tumaini University and its scholarly publishing activities, including, where applicable:

  • The Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania;

  • The Personal Data Protection Act, 2022 (Cap. 44);

  • Applicable Personal Data Protection Regulations;

  • Applicable guidance and requirements issued by the Personal Data Protection Commission;

  • Applicable copyright and intellectual-property laws;

  • Applicable research-ethics requirements;

  • Applicable cybersecurity and information-security requirements; and

  • Relevant DarTU institutional policies and regulations.

The Personal Data Protection Commission identifies the Personal Data Protection Act, 2022 as the principal statutory framework governing the collection, processing, storage, disclosure and transfer of personal data in Tanzania.

30. Acknowledgement

By registering an account, submitting a manuscript, participating in peer review, or otherwise using the DarTU OJS platform, users acknowledge that they have had an opportunity to read this Privacy Statement and understand how personal data may be processed in connection with the University's scholarly publishing activities.

Where applicable law requires consent or another specific legal basis, DarTU will obtain or rely upon the appropriate lawful basis before undertaking the relevant processing.

Dar es Salaam Tumaini University (DarTU)
University Journals and Publications
Tanzania

Effective Date: 8 August 2026
Version: 1.0