Alum Canyon Editing no longer accepts manuscripts for editing and now refers all clients to https://www.thinkscience.co.jp/en/, who offer very high quality services for manuscript editing and translation.
Because Alum Canyon Editing has no control over the acceptance of manuscripts or proposals submitted to publishers or agencies, we are unable to guarantee acceptance of documents, which depends primarily on the quality of the described or proposed research and is entirely at the discretion of the reviewing entity.
However, Alum Canyon Editing guarantees that the quality of English in materials we edit will conform to the standards required by scientific publishers at any level of service we offer and for all documents we edit.
LEVEL 1 Editing addresses English grammar, usage, punctuation, and scientific format standards. It is most appropriate for native English writers and includes a single round of editing.
RECHECKs (see below) for LEVEL 1 projects require a new, separate contract and fee.
LEVEL 2 Editing corrects English grammar, usage, punctuation, standard scientific format, and also addresses the higher-level organization and logic of the document in a single round of editing.
RECHECKs (see below) for LEVEL 2 projects require a new, separate contract and fee.
LEVEL 3 Editing corrects English grammar, usage, punctuation, standard scientific format, higher-level organization and logic, and can address journal-specific style with Level 3 Complete service.
RECHECKs (see below) for all LEVEL 3 projects require a new, separate contract and fee.
LEVEL 3 Complete is for complete manuscripts, including title page, figure legends, tables, captions, and references, and includes journal-specific editing and repeated editing of projects beyond the initial edit and recheck. Continued revisions are provided if requested within 180 days from the first return date.
LEVEL 3 Complete services must be agreed to in advance and include editing responses to reviewers and correspondence with the journal before or after conditional acceptance.
If you expect to make many changes after initial editing, please promptly indicate that you will require LEVEL 3 Complete editing services for the entire document.
RECHECKs (see below) for all LEVEL 3 projects require a new contract and fee.
LEVEL 3 Partial is for partial documents, such as only the main text and figure legends, so does not include journal-specific editing.
The English language quality guarantee cannot apply because LEVEL 3 Partial services do not include editing the entire manuscript.
RECHECKs (see below) for all LEVEL 3 projects require a new contract and fee.
PREVIEW is an add-on service that includes checking for text overlaps by running the manuscript on an online service and editing to address any text overlaps found.
PREVIEW services must be agreed to before starting the project.
The fee for the PREVIEW service comprises the cost of the online service and a fee for redrafting text overlaps.
RECHECK is a separate service for proofreading any manuscript previously edited by Alum Canyon Editing and is equivalent to LEVEL 1 service (see above).
RECHECK services require a new, separate contract and fee.
RESPONSE is a separate service for editing correspondence before submission and responses to reviewers after submission of a manuscript to a publication.
RESPONSE services require a new, separate contract and fee.
General notes
When a manuscript is sent to a publisher for external review, a good reviewer scrutinizes all aspects of a manuscript. So it makes little sense to have only part of the manuscript edited. Why subject yourself to the risk of having a manuscript rejected or returned to you for extensive copyediting because only part of the manuscript was edited? The thoroughness of Level 3 Complete editing of the entire document ensures that you will not experience delays and frustration due to editing of an incomplete document.
Drafting assistance for correspondence and responses to reviewers (RESPONSE) are also available, but drafting of original manuscript content remains beyond the scope of services provided by Alum Canyon Editing. Authors are responsible for the scientific content of their manuscripts.
Requirements for application of language guarantee
Please carefully review all changes and comments made by Alum Canyon Editing and promptly email or add comments to the document for all questions regarding any changes or comments. If significant revisions have been made to any Document that have not been reviewed by Alum Canyon Editing, if recommendations made by Alum Canyon Editing have been rejected, if the document contains language exactly matching that from other publication(s), or if the original agreement has expired, the language guarantee does not apply and a new editing agreement and contract will be required.
Very important: The English language quality guarantee does not apply to any Document that:
1) was not rechecked by the Editor after revision by the author and before the first submission to any publication (such as by failing to request a RECHECK); or that
2) contains any language exactly matching that from any other publication(s) and for which a PREVIEW service to check for text overlaps was not requested.
Continuing revision under the above two circumstances occurs only at the Editor’s discretion. In general, failure of the language quality guarantee for the above two reasons requires a new contract and fee for continued editing of the manuscript.
Routine comments from reviewers regarding English-language revision
After the first submission to a journal, reviewers often comment that a revised manuscript should be rechecked by a native English writer before it is returned to the reviewers at the journal. This is a standard comment because reviewers expect to receive a revised manuscript back from the authors. It should not be misconstrued as a rejection of the manuscript due to English. Please also be aware that many reviewers are themselves not native English speakers and often suggest grammatically or semantically incorrect changes.
Upon request, Alum Canyon Editing can provide an electronically signed PDF Certificate of Editing for edited Level 3 Complete documents to submit to the publisher or organization together with the edited document only if the Editor’s recommendations have been followed during revision, and no new errors have been introduced. This can avoid a journal automatically returning a manuscript with a routine recommendation to seek a native-English editing service.
How to address English language quality issues for manuscripts
If your manuscript that was edited by Alum Canyon Editing is rejected for publication in a journal because of the quality of English, you have corrected the manuscript in good faith according to the Editor’s recommendations, you have made no changes before submission to the journal other than those recommended, the manuscript was rechecked at least once before the first submission to the journal, the original agreement has not expired, and the manuscript does not contain language exactly matching that from other publications, please contact the Managing Editor.
The request to review English language quality must be accompanied by the exact version of the manuscript that was submitted to the journal and any reviewer’s or editor’s comments regarding the language.
The Editor will initially respond within 48 hours from receipt of your request and will review a request to recheck the manuscript. If, at the Managing Editor’s discretion, the editorial services were inadequate, the document will either be edited again at no charge, or continued review at a substantial discount will be offered.
Text overlaps void the English language quality guarantee
Many journals use software to detect text overlaps and reserve the right to reject manuscripts containing passages exactly matching those from other publications. A journal might describe the reason for such rejection as a deficiency in English quality simply to avoid impugning an author’s integrity.
The English language quality guarantee does not apply to any manuscript that contains any language exactly matching that from other publications unless the PREVIEW service is chosen in advance to check for text overlaps (language exactly matching that from other publications). Without the PREVIEW service, Alum Canyon Editing cannot guarantee that all instances of matching language would be identified and redrafted.
Guarantee applies only to manuscripts rechecked before first submission to journal
The English language quality guarantee that a manuscript will not be rejected due to English language errors after it has been edited by Alum Canyon Editing only applies if it has been returned to the Editor for a RECHECK after the first edit at least once before it is submitted to any publication, for all services. If any Document has not undergone RECHECK before submission to any publication, there is no guarantee that errors have not been (re)introduced into the Document.
Guarantee for book chapters, grant proposals, or theses
If you are not satisfied with the quality of English for a book chapter or grant proposal edited by Alum Canyon Editing, and you made a good-faith effort to correct the document according to the Editor’s recommendations; made no changes other than those recommended; the document has undergone RECHECK at least once before the first submission to the publisher or other organization; the original agreement has not expired; and the document does not contain language exactly matching that from other publications, please contact the Managing Editor.
A request to review English language quality must be accompanied by the exact version of the document that was submitted to the organization together with original emails or letters containing any reviewers’ or editors’ comments regarding the language.
The Editor will usually respond initially within 48 hours from receipt of your request and will review a request to recheck the document. If, at the Managing Editor’s discretion, the editorial services were inadequate, the document will either be RECHECKed at no charge, or a RECHECK at a substantial discount will be offered.
English language quality guarantee depends on service level chosen
Unless the PREVIEW service is chosen in advance to check a manuscript for text overlaps (language matching that from other publications), the English language quality guarantee does not apply to any document containing any language matching that from any other publications, because Alum Canyon Editing does not guarantee that all instances of text overlaps could be identified and redrafted.
Publishers, grant funding organizations, academic institutions, and other organizations use software to detect text overlaps and reserve the right to reject manuscripts containing passages matching those from other publications and might describe the reason for such rejection as a deficiency in English quality simply to avoid conflict.
Guarantee only for documents rechecked before first submission to publication or organization
The guarantee that a Document will not be rejected due to English language errors after it has been edited by Alum Canyon Editing only applies if the Document has been returned to the Editor for a RECHECK at least once before it is submitted to the publisher, grant funding organization, academic institution, or other organization, for all services, but particularly for Level 3 Partial service. The language guarantee cannot apply to LEVEL 3 Partial services because this service does not include the entire manuscript. If a manuscript is not rechecked before submission, there is no guarantee that errors have not occurred or been reintroduced into a document.
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© Wildlife photograph copyright 2007 Tim Zurowski. All rights reserved.
