Frequently Asked Questions

AfriData is a comprehensive data platform designed to make high-quality, verified datasets across the African continent accessible, interoperable, and easy to use. It connects researchers, organizations, and analysts to share and discover valuable insights.

AfriData is built for researchers, data scientists, government agencies, non-profits, students, and businesses who need access to reliable data for analysis, policy-making, or application development.

You can browse the platform and view public metadata without an account. However, you must create a free account to download datasets, publish your own data, or participate in the community forums.

Yes, creating an account, browsing, and downloading public datasets on AfriData is completely free. Some organizations may charge for access to specific, high-value proprietary datasets.

Click the "Create Account" or "Sign Up" button at the top right of any page. You can register using your email address. You will receive a verification email to activate your account.

Use the main search bar on the Home page or navigate to the "Browse Datasets" page. You can filter results by category, format, license type, and publication date using the sidebar filters.

AfriData supports open and widely-used formats including CSV, JSON, GeoJSON, Excel (.xlsx), and XML. We highly recommend using non-proprietary formats like CSV and JSON for maximum interoperability.

Quality scores reflect how well a dataset adheres to our data standards. The score is calculated automatically based on completeness, accuracy (e.g., absence of null values), metadata richness, and standard formatting.

Navigate to the dataset's detail page, ensure you are logged in, and click the "Download" button. Some datasets may require you to agree to a specific license or terms of use before downloading.

You might not be logged in, or the dataset might be marked as "Restricted" or "Private" by its author. If it's restricted, you will see a button to "Request Access" which sends a message to the data owner.

Verified datasets have been manually reviewed by the AfriData curation team to ensure they meet the highest standards of quality, accuracy, and ethical compliance. They are marked with a blue verification checkmark.

Log in to your account, click the "Upload" or "Submit Dataset" button, and follow the multi-step form to upload your file, provide metadata, and set visibility preferences.

You must provide a clear title, a detailed description, relevant tags, the geographic region, temporal coverage, and select an appropriate license. The actual data file must also be uploaded in a supported format.

Metadata is entered during the upload process through form fields. You can also upload a separate Data Dictionary or JSON metadata file if your dataset is highly complex.

Yes, dataset authors can edit metadata or upload new versions of the data file by visiting the dataset's detail page and clicking "Edit Dataset." Previous versions will be archived automatically if versioning is enabled.

Yes, you can delete datasets you have published. Go to the dataset page, click "Edit", and select "Delete Dataset". Note that if users have already downloaded it, you cannot force them to delete their local copies.

Currently, organizations join by having an administrator create a standard user account and then applying for an "Organization Profile" via our contact form. We manually review these to ensure authenticity.

Organization admins can invite members, assign roles (Viewer, Editor, Admin), and revoke access from the Organization Settings panel in their dashboard.

Yes, multiple users can be granted "Admin" rights, allowing them to manage datasets, approve access requests, and invite new members on behalf of the organization.

We verify organizations by confirming official email domains, cross-referencing public registries, and direct communication. Verified organizations receive a distinct badge on their profiles and datasets.

On a restricted dataset page, click the "Request Access" button. You will need to provide a brief explanation of your intended use case, research goals, and institutional affiliation.

Approval times vary depending on the data owner. On average, requests are processed within 3-5 business days.

Requests are sent directly to the individual author or the administrators of the organization that owns the dataset. AfriData staff do not approve or deny access to third-party data.

Yes, you can view the status of all your pending, approved, and denied requests in your user dashboard under the "Access Requests" tab.

We map our core fields to Dublin Core Metadata standards and ISO 19115 for geographic information, ensuring that data published here can be easily integrated with international repositories.

FAIR stands for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. These principles act as guidelines to ensure that datasets are structured and documented in a way that maximizes their value for the global research community.

Standards ensure that data can be correctly interpreted by other humans and machines. Without them, datasets lose context over time, making them difficult to trust or combine with other research.

At minimum, provide a clear description. Ideally, you should include a Data Dictionary (explaining column headers and data types) and a Methodology Document (explaining how the data was collected).

All data uploaded to AfriData is encrypted at rest and in transit. Our infrastructure is hosted on secure, compliant cloud servers with regular security audits and strict access controls.

Your public profile (name, bio, organization) and the metadata of any dataset you mark as "Public" are visible to everyone. Private datasets are hidden from search and public browse.

If a dataset is Public, anyone can see it. If it is Restricted, anyone can see the metadata but only approved users can download the file. If it is Private, only you and your organization members can see it.

Restricted datasets require manual approval for download. The file remains locked on our secure servers, and temporary download links are only generated for users who have been explicitly approved by the data owner.

Click the "Forgot Password" link on the login page. Enter your email address, and we will send you a secure link to reset your password.

Uploads typically fail due to file size limits or unsupported formats. Ensure your file is under the maximum size limit (e.g., 100MB for CSV) and check your internet connection. If the issue persists, contact support.

If a dataset you previously accessed is missing, it may have been removed by the author or taken down by administrators for policy violations.

Please try clearing your browser cache or using an incognito window. If the error continues, take a screenshot and contact our technical support team detailing the steps that led to the error.

You can reach out via our Contact Us page, or email us directly at info.jhub@jkuat.ac.ke. We aim to respond within 24 hours.