Submission and editing process

How does the submission process work?

The steps involved are as follows:

  1. You calculate the cost (€10 + VAT, per 1500 characters excluding spaces).
  2. You submit your document and email it to us. At this point you are under no obligation to use our services.
  3. We send you an estimate within 1-6 hours. This estimate indicates the cost of the work, and the number of days it will take us to complete the work once you have given us authorization to proceed. We will also send you everything your administration department needs to prepare an order.
  4. You accept the estimate and authorize us to do the correction/translation. If ready, you also send us the order.
  5. We return your revised document within the agreed time. If you haven't already done so, you send us your oder.
  6. We send you our invoice.

If you confirm my order but I then need to send you a new version of the same paper, what should I do?

Inform us as soon as you can, and providing we haven't already started the revision process it is not a problem. If we have already started, you will also be charged for the work we have done so far if the original has been changed with respect to the new version.

How does the editing process work?

If your document is not already in Word, we will convert it for you. Your document will be read twice, using Track Changes. Our aim is to help you produce a document that is grammatically correct, clear, concise and readable to eliminate any aspects that might induce the referee to state in his/her report that 'the English needs revising'.
The editing process is as follows: First it will be proofread and corrected by a member of our editing team, who will check it for grammar, word order, vocabulary and spelling mistakes. Grammar mistakes include: wrong tense for the specific part of the paper, misuse of the definite article and indefinite article, confusion in relative clauses between which and that, misuse of gerund and infinitive, wrong construction with to allow, etc. Word order mistakes: English word order is much more rigid than the word order of most other languages. Our editors are trained to spot such mistakes and are helped by their knowledge of your language. Vocabulary mistakes include: false friends (eg actually vs currently, eventually vs if necessary, consistent vs substantial, control vs check), verbs with similar meanings (eg rise, raise, arose), differences between prepositions and adverbs (eg so far, by now, for the moment, by, within). Only an editor with a good knowledge of Italian is likely to be able to detect and correct such mistakes. Spelling mistakes: Unfortunately the spelling check of Microsoft Word cannot detect the correct spelling of certain pairs of words (eg from/form, then/than, whit/with) but your editor can! Your editor will also make sure that your document has consistent US or UK spelling, depending on the scientific journal where you intend to have your paper published. Secondly it will be read by one of the two managing editors. The managing editor will check for: flow, readability, ambiguity, redundancy and may also make suggestions on how to improve the structure of a particular paragraph or section. 

I was very happy with the last correction you did for me. But how do I know I will get the same editor?

Because we are a small team, we can try to ensure that you will always get the same combination of editors to work on your document. This enables the editors to become more familiar with your specific field of research and just as importantly to build up a relationship of trust with you. This means we will be able to become familiar with the typical phraseology that you use. Consequently if you have a tight deadline to meet, you can accept or reject our changes quickly in the knowledge that we will have only made appropriate changes in line with your scientific field. We generally ask our clients for feedback, which we can then use to further improve our revision and translation service.

How much does a second revision of the same document cost?

If the referees of your paper ask you to make changes to your paper, you can resubmit your paper for a second revision. In such cases we will only read the paper once and charge 50% of the normal cost. However, we reserve the right to charge more if we find there has been substantial rewriting.

My department is slow at issuing orders. Will you work without a buono d’ordine if I have an urgent paper to correct?

Yes, we will, provided that either you have had at least one paper corrected with us before or if one of our existing clients recommended us to you.

What 'after-sales' services do you offer?

At no extra charge you can email or telephone us for clarifications on our revisions or translations. For a costof 10 euros per 1500 characters we can also revise any correspondence you have with your journal or with the referees. If you decide to present your work at a congress, we offer further services, such as revising your presentation, poster, conference bio, or any speeches you may have to give.

Do you charge in euros? I don't want any sudden changes in exchange rates, nor do I want to be charged commission on currency conversion.

Our offices are in Pisa, Italy. All our services are charged in euros.

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