How iRead To Live protects the independence, integrity and quality of its research.
iRead To Live Initiative is an independent, nonprofit policy research organisation devoted to the study of higher education in Nigeria. Our mission is to produce rigorous, evidence-based research that improves how Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education admit, support, finance and graduate their students. Our four research areas are admissions and access, student affairs and welfare, education financing, and graduate outcomes.
The value of that work rests on three commitments: quality, independence and impact. Quality means our findings are accurate, well sourced and open to scrutiny. Independence means our conclusions follow the evidence and nothing else. Impact means our work reaches the policymakers, regulators, institutions, students and journalists who can use it. Our research is also designed to speak with equal authority to academic audiences, regulators and the public, and these policies are how we earn that authority.
Every person who works with iRead shares responsibility for these commitments. The policies on this page apply to our staff, fellows, interns and volunteers, to members of our Board of Trustees and Academic Advisory Council when they act on iRead’s behalf, and to outside authors and reviewers who contribute to our publications. Each person agrees to follow them as a condition of that role.
We publish these policies so that readers can hold us to them. A policy brief addressed to a tertiary education agency, such as the National Universities Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) or the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), or to the Federal Ministry of Education (FMoE), a state government or the proprietor of a private institution, carries weight only if its readers trust how it was produced. They should be able to see who reviewed the work, who paid for it and what we do when we get something wrong. Our Donor Guidelines explain how we accept and review financial support, and our Finances page shows how we are funded.
These policies are approved by the Board of Trustees and reviewed each year. Our full Conflict of Interest Policy and Disclosure Form are published on this site. Other internal documents referred to here, such as our disciplinary procedures, are available on request. Questions about any of these policies can be sent to info@ireadtolive.org.
iRead researchers have the final word on their research. They determine the questions they study, the methods they use, the evidence they rely on and the conclusions and recommendations they reach. No funder, partner, government agency, regulator or institution we study may predetermine, approve, alter or block a finding, or decide whether it is published.
We accept support only from donors and partners who respect that independence, and every prospective gift is reviewed under our Donor Guidelines before it is accepted. When an organisation funds or commissions a specific project, we disclose that support on the resulting publication and describe any role the organisation played, such as checking a draft for factual accuracy.
iRead staff do not lobby on behalf of any funder or promote a funder’s commercial, political or institutional interests. Our researchers, leadership and Board of Trustees will defend the independence of our research when a funder, partner or public official disagrees with what it finds.
Every iRead publication names its principal sources, explains its method and states its limits. Each statistic carries its source, year and definition, and our own calculations are labelled as iRead analysis. All iRead research is reviewed internally and then reviewed and approved for publication by our Academic Advisory Council. Commentary receives editorial review. We describe work as peer-reviewed only after formal peer review. We correct material errors online with a dated note. Report errors to info@ireadtolive.org.
All iRead staff, fellows, Advisory Council members and outside contributors must identify, disclose and manage any real, potential or perceived conflict of interest. That includes financial interests, employment, consultancies, board roles and close personal relationships connected to the subject of their work. Contributors complete our Disclosure Form before publication, relevant interests are stated on the publication, and anyone whose interest could affect their judgement steps back from that work. Read the full Conflict of Interest Policy and Disclosure Form.
iRead is nonpartisan. As an institution, we do not support or oppose any political party or candidate for office. Our researchers may brief and advise public officials, legislators and regulators of any party, provided they do so as researchers and not as representatives of a party or campaign. Staff who take part in political activity in a personal capacity do so on their own time, without iRead’s name or resources, and disclose any role that could affect how their work is perceived.
iRead prohibits plagiarism, the fabrication or falsification of data, and the misrepresentation of sources or findings. These rules apply to all work produced for iRead and to outside work published under an iRead affiliation. Authors must credit the ideas, words and data of others, including their own earlier work. Any publication found to contain misconduct will be corrected or withdrawn, and the matter will be handled under our disciplinary procedures.
iRead publications are open-access resources for policymakers, institutions, journalists, students and the public. Anyone may read, download, share and quote them free of charge, provided the use is non-commercial and the source is credited.
Attribution should name iRead To Live Initiative, the title of the publication, its series number where one exists and its date, for example: iRead To Live Initiative, “The Admissions Gap: Who Gets Into Nigeria’s Tertiary Institutions, and Why It Matters,” Policy Brief PB-001-2026, August 2026. Online use should link to the original publication on ireadtolive.org. Charts and tables reproduced from our work should carry the same credit with their original source notes.
Written permission is required to reprint a publication in full, to translate or adapt it, to use it commercially, or to reproduce our audio, video or photographs. Requests should be sent to info@ireadtolive.org with a description of the intended use. The iRead name and logo may not be used to suggest endorsement of any product, organisation, candidate or position without our written consent.
Quotations given by iRead researchers to the media reflect their own analysis and should be attributed to the researcher by name and affiliation.
iRead complies with the laws of Nigeria and of any country in which it operates, including the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020, the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022 and the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022. iRead staff may not offer, give or accept bribes or improper payments of any kind in connection with our work.
iRead permits the careful use of generative AI tools in research and communications under the following principles. First, staff must comply with all iRead policies when using these tools, including our standards for quality, attribution and data protection. Second, every fact, figure, quotation and citation produced or summarised with AI assistance must be verified against its original source. Third, staff must not enter confidential information, unpublished findings or personal data from research participants into public AI tools. Fourth, authors remain fully responsible for everything published under their names. Fifth, we disclose the use of AI-generated images and of any substantial passage of AI-generated text. Questions about whether a particular use is appropriate should be raised with the Executive Director before the work begins. These principles are provisional and will be updated as good practice develops.
Research involving human participants, including surveys, interviews and focus groups with students, staff or officials, is conducted by trained researchers under a research protocol reviewed and approved by our Academic Advisory Council before any data is collected. Participation is voluntary and based on informed consent. Personal data is collected only as needed, held securely, used only for the stated research purpose and handled in line with the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.
iRead prohibits discrimination and harassment on the basis of sex, ethnicity, religion, disability, state of origin or any other protected characteristic. This applies in our workplace, at our events and in our research, and covers staff, volunteers, participants and guests.
Anyone who suspects a breach of these policies, including research misconduct, an undisclosed conflict of interest, improper pressure from a funder or financial wrongdoing, should report it. Reports may be made to the Executive Director, or directly and in confidence to the Chair of the Board of Trustees at chair@ireadtolive.org, a mailbox read only by the Chair. Concerns involving the Executive Director should go to the Chair. Reports may be made anonymously.
Every report is reviewed promptly and, where warranted, investigated by a person with no involvement in the matter. iRead will act on the findings, which may include correcting or withdrawing a publication or applying our disciplinary procedures. iRead does not tolerate retaliation against anyone who raises a concern in good faith.
Anyone who retaliates against a person who has raised a concern will face disciplinary action.
This page summarises iRead’s policies and is not a complete statement of them. The full policies are maintained by the Executive Director, approved by the Board of Trustees and available on request. iRead may update these policies at any time, and the version on this page supersedes earlier versions. Last updated: 12 October 2026.
