This Legal Notice and Terms of Use (“Legal Notice”) governs access to and use of the HRL Journal Service website, journals, publications, digital platforms, services, and other materials made available through HRL Journal Service (“HRL Journal Service,” “we,” “us,” or “our”).

HRL Journal Service is a scholarly publishing company operating in Kenya and provides publishing infrastructure and services for peer-reviewed, open-access scholarly journals.

By accessing or using the HRL Journal Service website or any journal hosted or published through the platform, you acknowledge and agree to this Legal Notice, together with any applicable journal policies, publication policies, privacy policies, ethical guidelines, and other terms displayed on the relevant journal or webpage.

Where terms applicable to an individual article or journal expressly differ from these general terms, the terms expressly stated for that article or journal shall apply to the extent of that difference.

1. Copyright Ownership of Published Articles

Copyright in scholarly articles published by journals under HRL Journal Service remains with the author or authors of the article.

Publication by HRL Journal Service does not, by itself, constitute an assignment or transfer of the author's copyright to HRL Journal Service.

Authors retain their copyright and grant the relevant journal and HRL Journal Service a non-exclusive licence to publish, reproduce, display, distribute, communicate, archive, preserve, index, format, and otherwise make the article available as necessary for scholarly publishing and dissemination, subject to the applicable open-access licence.

This publishing licence enables HRL Journal Service to:

• publish and display the article online;
• produce PDF, HTML, XML, metadata, and other publishing formats;
• distribute and disseminate the article;
• submit article information to indexing, abstracting, discovery, preservation, DOI, and scholarly infrastructure services;
• preserve and archive published materials;
• make technical, formatting, accessibility, and metadata-related adjustments that do not improperly alter the scholarly substance of the work; and
• facilitate lawful reuse of the article under its applicable open-access licence.

Nothing in this Legal Notice shall be interpreted as transferring ownership of an author's copyright to HRL Journal Service unless a separate written agreement expressly provides otherwise.

2. Open Access and Creative Commons Licence

HRL Journal Service operates an open-access publishing model.

Unless expressly indicated otherwise because particular material is owned by a third party, all scholarly articles published through HRL Journal Service are made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0).

Under CC BY 4.0, users may:

• copy and redistribute published articles in any medium or format;
• share and reproduce the material;
• remix, transform, translate, or adapt the material;
• build upon the material; and
• use the material for lawful purposes, including commercial purposes.

These freedoms are subject to the conditions of the CC BY 4.0 licence.

Users must provide appropriate attribution to the original author or authors, identify the source of publication, provide a reference or link to the applicable Creative Commons licence where reasonably practicable, and indicate whether changes were made.

Attribution must not be presented in a manner that falsely suggests that the original author, journal, editor, editorial board, or HRL Journal Service endorses the user, the modified work, or the purpose for which the work has been reused.

Users may not impose additional legal or technological restrictions that prevent others from exercising rights granted under CC BY 4.0.

The Creative Commons licence applicable to a published article governs the reuse of that article and takes precedence over any general provision in this Legal Notice that would otherwise restrict an activity expressly permitted by the licence.

For reuse of scholarly articles, users should first refer to the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Deed and Legal Code and the copyright/licensing statement displayed on the relevant article.

3. HRL Journal Service Intellectual Property

The open-access licence applying to scholarly articles does not mean that every element of the HRL Journal Service website is released under CC BY 4.0.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, HRL Journal Service owns, controls, or is licensed to use intellectual property associated with its publishing platform and corporate or journal branding, including, where applicable:

• the HRL Journal Service name and logo;
• journal logos and visual identities;
• journal thumbnails and cover designs;
• graphical elements created by HRL Journal Service;
• website design and layout;
• banners, promotional graphics, and marketing materials;
• original website text and informational content produced by HRL Journal Service;
• icons and other proprietary visual assets;
• proprietary publishing templates and presentation elements; and
• other original materials specifically created or commissioned for HRL Journal Service.

Such materials may be protected by copyright, trademark, passing-off, and other applicable intellectual property laws.

Except where expressly licensed otherwise, these materials may not be copied, reproduced, altered, republished, commercially exploited, used to impersonate HRL Journal Service, or used in a manner that implies sponsorship, affiliation, accreditation, partnership, or endorsement without prior authorization.

Accordingly, any statement such as “All Rights Reserved” appearing in connection with HRL Journal Service applies to HRL Journal Service-owned branding, website materials, logos, thumbnails, and other proprietary content. It does not override the CC BY 4.0 licence applicable to published scholarly articles.

4. Editors, Editorial Boards, Reviewers and Intellectual Contribution

HRL Journal Service relies upon editors, editorial-board members, peer reviewers, academic advisers, and other scholarly contributors for intellectual, academic, and editorial assistance in maintaining the quality and integrity of its journals.

Editors and reviewers may contribute scholarly judgment through manuscript evaluation, peer-review coordination, editorial recommendations, academic guidance, assessment of relevance and originality, and decisions concerning publication.

Such editorial or intellectual assistance does not ordinarily transfer copyright in an author's article to an editor, reviewer, HRL Journal Service, or the institution with which an editor or reviewer is affiliated.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, editors and reviewers participate in an independent scholarly capacity. References to their universities, research institutions, professional organisations, employers, academic qualifications, or other affiliations are provided principally for identification and transparency. An editor's or reviewer's institutional affiliation does not by itself mean that the institution:

• owns or operates HRL Journal Service;
• owns the journal concerned;
• sponsors or financially supports HRL Journal Service;
• endorses every article published by the journal;
• assumes responsibility for HRL Journal Service's activities; or
• assumes responsibility for opinions expressed by authors.

HRL Journal Service shall not represent an editor's institutional affiliation as constituting institutional sponsorship, ownership, accreditation, or endorsement unless such a relationship has been expressly authorised.

5. Author Responsibility

Authors remain responsible for the scholarly content of their published works.

By submitting a manuscript for consideration, an author represents that, to the best of their knowledge and subject to the journal's publication policies:

• the manuscript is original or all reused material has been appropriately acknowledged;
• they possess the rights necessary to submit the manuscript;
• publication will not knowingly infringe another person's copyright or other intellectual property rights;
• quotations, figures, tables, photographs, datasets, illustrations, and other third-party materials have been used lawfully;
• all authors entitled to authorship have been appropriately identified;
• conflicts of interest and funding sources have been disclosed where required; and
• the manuscript complies with applicable research, publication, and professional ethics requirements.

Peer review, editorial review, proofreading, similarity checking, or publication by HRL Journal Service does not relieve an author of responsibility for the accuracy, originality, legality, ethical integrity, or reliability of their work.

6. Third-Party Material Within Articles

An article published under CC BY 4.0 may occasionally contain photographs, figures, illustrations, maps, datasets, quotations, or other materials obtained from third parties.

Where a credit line, copyright statement, licence notice, or other indication identifies different rights or restrictions for particular third-party material, that material is not automatically covered by the article's CC BY 4.0 licence.

Anyone wishing to reuse such separately identified material is responsible for determining whether their intended use is permitted by law or by the relevant rights holder and, where necessary, obtaining permission directly from that rights holder.

7. Author and User Submissions

Where the HRL Journal Service platform allows authors or users to upload manuscripts, supplementary materials, comments, correspondence, files, data, or other content, ownership of such material remains with the applicable rights holder unless otherwise agreed.

Submission of a manuscript gives HRL Journal Service and the relevant journal the limited permissions reasonably necessary to receive, store, screen, process, copy, transmit to editors and reviewers, evaluate, edit, and otherwise administer the manuscript through the editorial and peer-review process.

If the manuscript is accepted and published, the author grants the non-exclusive publishing rights described in this Legal Notice and the applicable journal publication agreement.

If a submission is rejected or withdrawn, unpublished material will not be treated as HRL Journal Service-owned work merely because it was submitted through the platform.

8. Scholarly Opinions and Editorial Independence

The views, findings, interpretations, conclusions, recommendations, and opinions expressed in published articles belong to their respective authors unless expressly stated otherwise.

Publication of an article does not necessarily mean that its contents represent the views or policies of:

• HRL Journal Service;
• the journal's editors;
• individual peer reviewers;
• members of an editorial board;
• institutions with which authors, editors, or reviewers are affiliated; or
• organisations referenced in the article.

Editorial decisions are intended to be based upon scholarly merit, relevance, publication standards, peer-review considerations, research integrity, and the editorial policies of the applicable journal.

9. Accuracy and Disclaimer

HRL Journal Service seeks to promote accurate, ethical, reliable, and professionally reviewed scholarly communication. Nevertheless, research knowledge evolves and published works may contain errors, limitations, contested interpretations, or information that subsequently becomes outdated.

Accordingly, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, HRL Journal Service does not provide an absolute warranty that every statement, conclusion, dataset, citation, method, recommendation, calculation, or other item appearing in published material is complete, error-free, universally applicable, or suitable for a user's particular circumstances.

Users should exercise appropriate professional, academic, scientific, clinical, legal, financial, technical, or other expert judgment when applying information obtained from published material.

Content published through HRL Journal Service is primarily provided for scholarly, educational, research, and informational purposes and should not automatically be regarded as personalised professional advice.

10. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted under Kenyan law, HRL Journal Service, its officers, employees, editors, editorial-board members, reviewers, contractors, service providers, and agents shall not be liable for losses or damages arising solely from a user's reliance upon or application of information contained in published articles or other website content, except where liability cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

Nothing in this Legal Notice excludes or limits liability where exclusion or limitation is prohibited by applicable law.

11. Website Availability and Technical Services

HRL Journal Service endeavours to maintain reliable access to its journals and publishing services but does not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free availability of the website.

Access may occasionally be suspended, interrupted, or affected by maintenance, upgrades, internet disruptions, hosting failures, cyber incidents, third-party infrastructure problems, preservation activities, or circumstances outside HRL Journal Service's reasonable control.

HRL Journal Service may modify, maintain, upgrade, replace, or discontinue technical features of the platform where reasonably necessary.

Technical measures intended to protect the stability or security of the website shall not be interpreted as altering the open-access rights granted to users in relation to articles under CC BY 4.0.

12. External Links and Third-Party Services

The website may contain links to external websites, DOI services, indexing services, repositories, institutional websites, databases, social-media platforms, research tools, or other third-party resources.

Such links may be provided for scholarly convenience and informational purposes. Unless expressly stated, the presence of a link does not mean HRL Journal Service controls, sponsors, guarantees, or endorses the external website or its content.

HRL Journal Service is not responsible for the availability, security, privacy practices, accuracy, or content of independently operated third-party websites.

13. Improper Use of HRL Journal Service Identity

No person or organisation may use the HRL Journal Service name, journal names, logos, editorial information, journal thumbnails, website appearance, or other identifying materials in a manner that falsely represents or implies:

• affiliation with HRL Journal Service;
• authorization to act on behalf of HRL Journal Service;
• employment by HRL Journal Service;
• ownership of an HRL Journal Service journal;
• institutional partnership;
• editorial appointment;
• accreditation or indexing status;
• sponsorship; or
• endorsement by HRL Journal Service.

HRL Journal Service reserves the right to take appropriate action against impersonation, deceptive use of its identity, infringement of its intellectual property, fraudulent journal activity, or other misleading representations.

14. Copyright and Intellectual Property Complaints

HRL Journal Service respects the intellectual property rights of authors and third parties. A person who believes that material appearing on an HRL Journal Service website infringes their copyright or other intellectual property rights may contact HRL Journal Service and provide sufficient information to identify:

• the protected work concerned;
• the allegedly infringing material;
• where the material appears on the website;
• the complainant's relationship to the rights concerned; and
• appropriate contact information.

HRL Journal Service may investigate such complaints and may temporarily restrict access to disputed material where reasonably necessary while a matter is reviewed.

Correction, retraction, removal, or other action relating to scholarly articles may additionally be governed by the relevant publication ethics, correction, retraction, and editorial policies.

15. Privacy and Personal Information

Personal information submitted through HRL Journal Service is governed by the applicable Privacy Policy and relevant data-protection requirements.

Names, professional titles, institutional affiliations, ORCID identifiers, author biographies, and other information intended to form part of the scholarly publication record may be publicly displayed where appropriate.

Confidential editorial and peer-review information will be handled in accordance with the applicable journal policies and editorial procedures.

16. Changes to this Legal Notice

HRL Journal Service may revise this Legal Notice from time to time to reflect changes in law, publishing practices, technology, Creative Commons licensing arrangements, journal operations, or organisational requirements.

The current version will be published on the HRL Journal Service website together with its effective or updated date.

Changes to this general Legal Notice shall not retrospectively remove rights already validly granted to users under the Creative Commons licence applicable to a published article.

17. Governing Law

This Legal Notice and matters concerning the operation and use of HRL Journal Service shall be governed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Kenya, subject to any mandatory laws that may apply in another jurisdiction.

Any dispute falling within the jurisdiction of the Kenyan courts shall be submitted to a court of competent jurisdiction in Kenya.

Nothing in this provision prevents HRL Journal Service, an author, or another rights holder from seeking appropriate remedies in another competent jurisdiction where necessary to protect intellectual property rights.

18. Severability

If any provision of this Legal Notice is held to be invalid, unlawful, or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue to apply to the fullest extent permitted by law.

19. Contact

Questions relating to copyright, licensing, permissions, editorial matters, intellectual property, or this Legal Notice may be directed to:

HRL Journal Service
Kenya
Email: hrl@eastafricajournal.org