ScholarMail — Terms of Service

Welcome to ScholarMail. These Terms govern your use of the ScholarMail email forwarding service ("the Service"). By applying for, holding, or using a ScholarMail address, you agree to these Terms.

The Service is operated by The ScholarMail Project, a UK-based public-benefit initiative.


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1. Description of the Service

ScholarMail provides users with a persistent email forwarding address (e.g. firstname.lastname@scholarmail.org) intended for long-term academic correspondence.

ScholarMail does not provide:

All incoming messages are forwarded to a destination email address provided by the user.


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2. Eligibility

ScholarMail is intended for research-active individuals including (but not limited to):

Undergraduate users who publish scholarly work may request access. Eligibility decisions are made at the discretion of The ScholarMail Project.


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3. Verification & Account Provisioning

Users may be asked to verify identity, affiliation, or research status using methods such as:

Accounts are provisioned upon successful verification and approval.


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4. Email Forwarding Behaviour

Emails sent to a ScholarMail address are forwarded to the user’s currently configured destination address. Delivery is handled by our upstream email provider (MXroute).

Forwarded mail is not stored by ScholarMail and cannot be retrieved once forwarded, filtered, or rejected by downstream providers.

Users may update their forwarding destination through our verification process.


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5. Delivery, Filtering & Limitations

Email is not a guaranteed delivery medium.

Messages may be:

ScholarMail relies on third-party infrastructure (MXroute and destination providers). As a result:

ScholarMail makes no warranty regarding the successful delivery, availability, or timeliness of any message sent to a ScholarMail address.

Users are responsible for monitoring their destination inbox and ensuring it remains active and operational.


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6. No Liability for Non-Delivery

The ScholarMail Project is not liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential loss resulting from:

This includes cases where upstream or downstream mail infrastructure contributes to delivery failure.


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7. Acceptable Use

ScholarMail provides an identity and forwarding service intended for legitimate academic correspondence. Users agree not to use their ScholarMail address in ways that may:

Examples of prohibited or discouraged use include:

ScholarMail is not intended for use as a general-purpose personal email address or for mass-subscription list intake. We reserve the right to suspend or revoke addresses that materially compromise service integrity, security, or deliverability.


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8. Security & Encryption

ScholarMail forwards messages without inspecting contents. Industry-standard spam filtering is conducted by our service provider, MXroute, to ensure the security and integrity of the system. Email is not inherently confidential. Users requiring confidentiality should consider PGP or other end-to-end encryption methods. Forwarding is compatible with encrypted payloads.


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9. Account Deletion & Exit

Users may request deletion at any time. Upon deletion:

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10. Donations

ScholarMail accepts voluntary donations to support operation. Donations are entirely optional and confer no contractual rights or service guarantees. Donations are processed on our behalf by Stripe.


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11. Service Continuity

ScholarMail is committed to providing a long-term, stable forwarding service for academic correspondence. The core function of delivering mail to your chosen forwarding address is intended to remain consistent over time.


If operational changes become absolutely necessary (e.g. domain, hosting, forwarding provider, or service configuration), reasonable efforts will be made to notify active users well in advance and to ensure smooth continuity of service. The ScholarMail Project will not make disruptive changes without attempting to communicate and provide migration paths.


In exceptional circumstances (e.g. legal, technical, or security reasons), the Project may need to make urgent adjustments, but will still seek to inform users wherever possible.


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12. Amendments to These Terms

These Terms may be updated periodically. Continued use of the Service constitutes acceptance of updated Terms. The “Last updated” date will be revised accordingly.


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13. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.


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14. Contact

If you have questions about these Terms, you may contact us at:

support@scholarmail.org


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Last updated: 22nd January 2026