Web hosting policy

Policy implemented in September 2022. Page last updated in March 2023.

This policy applies to any website affiliated with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (SPH), whether it was created and/or hosted by the Department of IT or the Office of Communications. This policy is established by the SPH Web Governance Committee.

If your website has one or more of the following characteristics, it is considered affiliated:

  • The SPH logo or name is displayed in a way that suggests this website is affiliated with the School (e.g., header, footer, homepage, about us page, etc.).
  • Your contact email is an @hsph.harvard.edu email, or the contact address is on campus.
  • More than 25% of the content on the website is based on work/research/courses/etc. done at the School.

Request and approval

All entities at the School must review the web publishing policies, submit a request, and receive approval before getting started.

Compliance

All websites must adhere to all University and School policies including but not limited to Style and Branding, Accessibility, Trademark, Copyright, and Information Security. The Web Communications Working Group is available to help with compliance questions.

Domain names

While some exceptions exist due to legacy and business continuity, new websites must use the following rules around domain names:

  • Only websites hosted on the School’s main website hosting platform are eligible to use the hsph.harvard.edu domain.
  • Websites hosted externally (OpenScholar, self-hosting, etc.) and that have been requested and approved (as described in the “Request and approval” section) are eligible to use a xxx.sph.harvard.edu subdomain. (Please note that the School is not allowed to grant new xxx.hsph.harvard.edu subdomains).
  • In very specific use cases, websites might be allowed to use an xxxx.org domain. This will have to be requested and approved by the Harvard Chan School Web Governance Committee. (Please note that .org is the only extension currently allowed: .com, .net, etc., should redirect to a .org extension).
  • In very specific cases, websites might be allowed to use a xxx.harvard.edu subdomain. This will have to be requested by the user, approved by the SPH Web Governance Committee, and then approved by the Harvard Provost’s Office.

Required Content

All websites must contain the following information on all pages (usually in the footer):