- How do I submit my manuscript for editing?
Submitting your work to Bioedit for language editing is simple and effective. Click Editing Services to gain rapid access to our English editing services. Decide on the service most suitable for your needs, and then select any extra add-on services that you require. Click'Use This Service' in the column of your preferred service to proceed.
You will then be asked to log into your account, or if you are a first time user, to create a new account. Next, you will need to upload your files. Please ensure that all of the files you wish to send to us have been 100% uploaded before proceeding further. You can select multiple files at a time for upload.
Below, please provide us with all of the requested information where possible, including the manuscript title, the general subject area, and the journal to which you intend to submit the work. The Notes section allows you to communicate any additional information. When everything is complete, click 'Submit Files' to proceed.
On the next page you will be able to add a discount code if you have one. Please then review the order details and click to Confirm. If your order has been processed successfully, you will receive an email confirming this. Bioedit will then send you a quote, or contact you if we have any questions relating to your order.
- What happens to my manuscript after I send it to Bioedit?
Once you have uploaded your work, you will receive a confirmation by email indicating that we have received your order successfully. We will then send you a quote for the cost of your order.
If you wish us to proceed with your work, you must log into your account on our website, open the current job, and click 'Make Payment'. Using our checkout, you will be able to complete payment via our credit card merchant (SagePay, PayPal or Alipay) or indicate your intention to pay by BACS bank transfer.
Once we have received this confirmation, your deadline will be amended accordingly and we will begin working on your documents. When the job is complete, you will receive email notification that your order is ready for you to download from your account.
- What about on-line security?
All communication beyond the login page is protected by SSL encryption through RapidSSL, the world's second largest digital certificate provider for secure e-business transactions. This means that no one can access the content of your account, communications between you and your account, or the content of any manuscript or file during the upload or download process.
- What about confidentiality?
All editors at Bioedit Ltd have signed a legally-binding confidentiality agreement in which they agree not to divulge the content of any manuscript to anyone else or use it in their own work.
- May I request a specific editor?
Of course, we are happy to try to accommodate any preference you might have for a particular editor. You can inform us of this by including details of your preferred editor in the notes section of your job submission details.
However, please note that our ability to accomodate your requests is based on an editor's availability, which in turn is based on their personal schedule and current workload. If you would be happy for us to extend a deadline in order to have your paper worked on by a particular editor, then please ensure you inform us of this.
In cases where we are not able to offer the services of a particular editor, we will select the next most suitable editor for your subject matter.
- How are editors selected?
All editors selected to work with Bioedit Ltd must (i) be native speakers of the English language and have practised English as a first language, (ii) possess a PhD in one of the life or medical sciences, (iii) have a publication record and (iv) have either prior experience of the review process as a referee or have acted as an editor/reviewer of a peer-reviewed journal in the life or medical sciences
Additionally, editors must show a consistently high level of quality editing over a three-month period before becoming permanent members of the Bioedit editing team.
- What document formats does Bioedit accept?
All manuscripts must be submitted in MS Word format (all versions, including RTF and MS Word 2010) or in simple text format. We will also accept work written with other word processors, as long as it has been converted to Open XML format.
- How can I pay?
You can pay for the English editing of your paper by credit card, cheque, or bank transfer. If you opt to pay by credit card, you can do this through an encrypted page on our website (Credit card and PayPal). Clients based in China also have the option to pay via Alipay.
Otherwise, you will be supplied with details about how to pay by bank transfer or cheque in the email containing the receipt for the paper.
We can also arrange for prepayments to be made if you wish to make a deposit from which to charge future editing jobs. Please simply specify your payment requirements in the Notes accompanying your job request.
- Will I be charged VAT?
All our invoices are exclusive of VAT. You will not be charged VAT if you supply us with a registered EC VAT number or if you are based outside of the European community. Please provide us with your VAT number when you register your account.
- I thought Bioedit was a DNA sequence alignment editor.
Bioedit is the registered trademark of the English proofreading company Bioedit Ltd [EC Trademark 003348745, US Trademark 077724587]. We have no association with the Bioedit sequence alignment editor.
- What types of work does Bioedit edit?
We edit and proofread all types of documents, including grant proposals, letters, manuscripts, papers, reports, theses, publicity, presentations at international conferences, and dissertations in all disciplines of biology, biomedicine, medicine, bioscience, and biotechnology.
Please feel free to contact us to discuss any specific requirements you may have.
- What about tables and figures?
Bioedit will edit the English of all files containing tables, figures, and any accompanying material as long as it is accessible to word processing under MS Word (all versions). However, if you require the tables and figures be checked for consistency and accuracy, particularly with respect their correct citation within the text, you must use the Premium service.
We cannot edit files in PDF, TIFF, GIF, or JPG format, but we can edit PowerPoint and MS Excel files. However, please upload all figures and tables even if they are not in editable format as having access to the data helps us to better understand and edit the text.
- How will I know when my manuscript is ready?
You will receive an email informing you that the paper has been edited and is available for downloading from your account on the Bioedit website.
- Can I get a discount?
We offer a 20% discount on all editing jobs involving documents longer than 6000 words.
In addition, we operate a discount scheme for regular clients. You will be issued a discount token every time you pay an invoice. This is the number that appears under Loyalty Discounts on the job page when the work is completed. Each token provides a 10% discount on the cost of editing the next manuscript. Additionally, you can transfer the discount codes to your colleagues to enable them to use Bioedit at a discounted rate.
Only one discount code may be used per job request.
- How will I know you have received my manuscript?
An email confirmation is sent to you immediately after we have received your order successfully. We will then send you a quote for the cost of your work, and you will be able to either complete payment by credit card, or indicate your intention to pay the fee by bank transfer (BACS). Once we have confirmation of this, you will receive a receipt for the payment and the deadline for your work will be updated accordingly.
- Will I receive a quote?
An email containing a quote will be sent by email usually within the 5 hour period following receipt of the manuscript. You will be requested to pay the quote by credit card or by bank transfer (BACS) on a secure server on the website. Login into your account and open the current job. Click Make Payment and you will be directed to a secure page where you can pay by credit card or bank transfer (BACS). If you cannot pay by credit card, or if you are unhappy with the quote, please contact us as soon as possible.
- How can I pay?
You will be requested to pay the amount in the quote you received by email before we start editing your manuscript. After you receive the quote, login into your account and open the current job. Click “make payment†and you will be directed to a secure page where you can pay by credit card or bank transfer (BACS). If you cannot pay by credit card or BACS, or if you are unhappy with the quote, please contact us as soon as possible.
- Will I receive a payment receipt ?
Yes. You will be issued a payment receipt from SagePay, our credit card merchant, immediately after you have made payment. The receipt is send to the email address you used when you opened your account with Bioedit.
- Will I have to pay again for the editing of revised manuscripts?
Most papers submitted to peer-reviewed scientific journals are not accepted for publication the first time. Authors must respond to the criticisms of referees and modify their paper accordingly before resubmitting it again for publication. Bioedit operates a policy where you will not have to pay for the English editing of a revised paper if the following conditions are met:
(i) The new/modified text is highlighted in the revised paper. You can use underlining or coloured fonts.
(ii) The amount of new text does not exceed 10% of the word count of the paper originally edited by Bioedit.
If these two conditions are met, we will only edit the new/modified text and you will not have to pay. You will receive back the edited version within 3-4 days.
Note: You can send the same revised manuscript to Bioedit a maximum of two times. Please accept any previous changes in the manuscript visible under MS Word "Track Changes" before making new changes in the manuscript.
If the amount of text exceeds 10% of the word count of the original paper originally edited by Bioedit or if you have not highlighted the new/modified text appropriately, then we will edit all the manuscript again. You will be charged 75% of the Standard Editing service rate, i.e., 0.11 USD per word.
- Do Bioedit edit responses to editors and referees?
Yes, we do. Letters containing responses to editors and reviewers are treated in exactly the same manner as papers, and are subject to the same editing fees.
Please send us the revised manuscript together with the response letter, even if the revised manuscript does not need editing. If the revised manuscript needs editing, you will not be charged if it meets certain criteria.
- How will I see the changes in my manuscript?
You will receive back two files; one containing the manuscript with the changes visible under Track Changes and another with the changes accepted for clearer reading.
Track Changes is a feature of MS Word and can be accessed through the review menu of MS Word 2007 and 2010. When Track Changes is activated, all the editing work in the manuscript is visible, including deletions and insertions, and format changes. You can accept or reject changes by simply right clicking on the highlighted text and choosing the appropriate option.
- What do I do if my paper is late?
Please check the website to check the status of the paper. If the status is still marked editing in progress and the date exceeds the delivery date in the receipt you received by email, please contact us immediately by email. Bioedit will always endeavour to deliver the edited work before the announced deadline. If not, you will be refunded 10% of the editing fee for each day the delivery date exceeds the deadline.
Note: Bioedit will only start editing a paper after payment has been made by credit card or bank transfer. Please make the payment promptly to avoid a delay in the editing process.
- What happens if I am not happy with the work?
All our work comes with the guarantee that any manuscript that has been entirely edited by Bioedit will not be rejected for publication because of language problems.
In the unlikely event that this should happen, we will continue to work with you until you are happy with the edited version. If you are still unhappy, we will make a full refund.
- What do the add-on services involve?
To help you customise your order, Bioedit offer a range of add-on services that you can use to increase your chance of publication. These include the following:
Journal Selection: If you are unsure about which journal to send your paper to, then our Journal Selectionn service will evaluate the content and subject matter of your research, and then suggest three potentially suitable journals with different impact factors for you to consider.
Pre-Peer Review: Address potential problems in your paper before you submit it for publication by taking advantage of our Pre-Peer Review service, which provides a detailed evaluation of the work, its novelty, its suitability for your target journal, and how it reads as a written document. Our editors identify major and minor issues with the manuscript, thus allowing you to address them before the journal peer reviewers see them.
- Will I have to pay for the editing of my manuscript again if I make revisions?
We actively encourage authors to make further changes to their paper after we have edited it, particularly if our editors have posed questions or left comments about text that needs to be revised further.
If you selected our Standard editing service, then Bioedit will provide a second edit to check your changes at no extra charge within a 1 year period. This is intended to allow authors to make amendments based on our feedback, and thus any substantial new additions to the text may not be covered by this policy.
If you selected our Premium editing service, then Bioedit will check your changes at no extra charge on an ongoing basis within a 1 year period. This is intended for papers in need of substantial editing, which benefit from continued collaboration with our editors.
Jobs submitted for our Basic editing service can be re-edited at a discounted rate.
- The journal rejected my edited paper on the grounds of its language quality. What should I do?
First, we ask that you contact us as soon as possible and send us a copy of the last version of the manuscript you submitted to the journal. We cannot be held responsible for any mistakes introduced into the paper between the time we edited it and the time it was submitted for publication.
We will consider your case and continue to assist you, whether this involves making further changes to the work or appealing against the comments made by the journal. Our editing certificates verify that we have checked the work and consider the language to be of publishable quality.
- Can I get an editing certificate to send to the journal?
Any paper edited by either the Standard or Premium service is eligible for an editing certificate, provided we have been allowed to check the paper in its entirety. The certificate is provided in digital format via a unique link that can be sent to the journal, and it contains information including the title of the paper, the names of the editors, and the date we completed the job.
This digital format is used instead of a PDF certificate because it discourages fraud and promotes greater confidence in the quality of the work provided by Bioedit. Please note that Basic service jobs are not eligible for a certificate, as the checks provided by this service are insufficient to provide this level of guarantee.
- Do you check references?
Currently, none of the services offered provide editing of references, citations, or bibliographies. The word count of the reference section is not used when calculating the cost of editing.
- What document formats do Bioedit accept?
All manuscripts must be submitted in MS Word format (all versions accepted, including RTF) or in simple text format. We will also accept work written with other word processors as long as it has been converted to Open XML format.
Tables and figures may also be submitted in image or PDF formats; however, please note that these files will not be edited.
- How do I check the status of my job?
We will notify you of any change to the job status via email. You can also check the current status of all live jobs by logging into your Customer Portal and selecting View all, then More Information in the Live Jobs panel.
- Where can I find information on Bioedit's editors?
Please select the Our Editors & Writers link at the top of the homepage, which will take you to the biographies of all our editors. These include their education history, research experience, and publication history.
- What are your opening hours and time zone?
Bioedit is UK-based and we operate in GMT. Thus all deadlines given are in GMT. Our opening hours are 9 am to 5 pm (GMT) 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Please note that we may need to extend the deadline for manuscripts whose return date falls on Sunday or a UK bank holiday.
