Cookie Policy
What is stored on your device, by whom, and how to switch it off.
Current status
ScholarBrief sets no cookies of its own, and no third-party cookies are active on this site today. The one thing we store on your device is a dark/light mode preference in browser local storage, which is not a cookie and never leaves your device. This policy also describes the third-party advertising cookies that will apply when advertising is enabled, so that nothing about it is a surprise.
1. What a cookie is, and what else counts
A cookie is a small text file a website asks your browser to store and send back on later requests. Several other technologies do a similar job and are treated the same way in law and in this policy:
- Local storage and session storage — key/value data held in the browser, not automatically transmitted with requests.
- Pixels and web beacons — tiny images or scripts whose loading signals that a page was viewed.
- Device fingerprinting — deriving a semi-unique identifier from your device configuration without storing anything.
ScholarBrief uses none of the last two, and does not fingerprint.
2. What this site stores today
| Name | Type | Set by | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
sb-theme |
Local storage (not a cookie) | ScholarBrief (first party) | Remembers whether you chose light or dark mode, so the site does not reset every visit. Value is the literal text light or dark. Never transmitted. |
Until you clear site data |
That is the complete list. No first-party cookies exist. If you never touch the theme switch, nothing at all is stored.
Because this entry is strictly necessary to deliver a preference you explicitly requested, and because it is not transmitted or used for tracking, it does not require consent under the ePrivacy Directive or the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. You can still remove it: clear site data for this domain in your browser settings.
3. What will apply when advertising is enabled
ScholarBrief is funded by display advertising, and we intend to serve advertising through Google AdSense. It is not live yet. When it goes live, this page will be updated with the activation date, and the following will apply.
Categories of advertising cookie
| Category | Typical purpose | Consent required |
|---|---|---|
| Ad serving and delivery | Deciding which ad to show, capping how often you see the same one, and recording that an ad was displayed. | Yes in the EEA, UK and Switzerland |
| Ad measurement | Counting impressions and clicks so that advertisers and the publisher can be paid correctly. | Yes in the EEA, UK and Switzerland |
| Personalisation | Selecting ads based on inferred interests from your browsing across other sites. | Yes — and it can always be declined separately |
| Fraud prevention and security | Detecting invalid traffic and automated clicks. | Generally treated as strictly necessary for the ad service |
Google and its advertising partners set these cookies as independent controllers, not as our processors. We do not receive the data they collect, cannot read their cookies, and cannot delete them for you. Their handling is described in How Google uses information from sites that use its services (opens in a new tab). A current list of certified ad technology providers Google may work with is published in the Google ad technology providers list.
Consent
Visitors in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland will be shown a consent notice before any advertising cookie is set, meeting the requirements of the ePrivacy Directive, the GDPR and Google’s EU user consent policy. It will offer a genuine choice: accepting non-personalised advertising, or refusing entirely, will be no harder than accepting. Nothing on this site is put behind a consent wall — you get the full content either way. Your choice will be changeable at any time from a link in the footer.
4. Turning cookies off
In your browser
Every major browser lets you block or delete cookies, either globally or per site, and all of them offer a setting to block third-party cookies specifically — which stops advertising cookies while leaving ordinary sites working. Look under Settings → Privacy. This site is fully usable with all cookies blocked.
Industry opt-outs
- Google Ads Settings — turn off ad personalisation across Google services.
- DAA WebChoices — US-focused multi-vendor opt-out.
- NAI opt-out — Network Advertising Initiative members.
- Your Online Choices — European equivalent.
These opt-outs are themselves usually stored as cookies, so clearing your cookies erases them and you will need to set them again.
Global Privacy Control
Where advertising is enabled, we will honour the Global Privacy Control signal as an opt-out of sale/sharing in the US states that recognise it.
5. Cookies set by sites we link to
We link out to government departments, scholarship commissions and universities. Following a link takes you to their site, under their cookie policy, which we do not control. We link directly rather than through redirect or tracking services, so no third party is inserted between you and your destination by us.
6. Changes
Any change to what this site stores will be reflected here before or at the same time as the change goes live, with the date recorded.
Change log: 11 September 2026 — first published. No cookies in use at publication.
Related: Privacy Policy · Terms & Conditions