Frequently Asked Questions

Our editors will ensure that your technical content is not only consistent but used in line with the requirements or house style of your target journal. We follow modern best practice in the academic community and will work to ensure your work is in line with these standards.

If, when ordering your package, you list your target journal for publication, we will edit according to the journal's house style and guidelines. We offer this for all editing packages.

Beyond ensuring your use of language is correct, we will ensure that it is consistent, clear, and easy to understand - thus maximising the potential audience and impact of your research.

We will work to ensure that your use of tables, graphs and charts is appropriate, clear and easy to understand - while also following the guidelines of your target journal.

Our editors are experienced in reducing word counts in a way that still keeps your research clear, legible and easy to follow.

We offer a word count reduction of up to 10% with our Essential and Advanced editing packages, or 20% with our Scientific package.

We offer a free re-edit if our work on your paper is not satisfactory.

We also offer a free re-edit if the paper we have edited is rejected due to poor quality of English - provided that it is unchanged from the result offered by our editing team.

Offered as part of our Advanced and Scientific Editing Packages, this services involves a check of your citations to ensure they follow the structure favoured by your target journal. However, our editors will not rewrite or switch the actual format between, for example, Harvard and Vancouver styles. If you do require this service, we offer reference formatting as part of the Charlesworth Flexible services.

Although, for confidentiality reasons, we do not offer direct communication with our editors, they will edit responses to your peer reviewers and check them against your paper. This ensures any necessary actions are taken to get the best possible chance of publication. This is offered as part of our Advanced and Scientific Editing Packages.

Charlesworth Author Services works with both individual academic authors and the global publishing community. As we serve across the publishing sector we follow ethical guidelines and a policy of transparency to ensure no conflicts of interest occur.

Ethical Duties of Charlesworth Author Services

We provide services under strict Confidentiality Agreements and Quality Agreements with our publishers, editors and authors, and services to all sectors are clearly shown on our website. It is our responsibility to ensure best practice is followed by our editor and publication staff to avoid any conflict of interest between the publishers we provide services for, our editorial and publishing staff, and the individual academic authors using our services. 

We promote best ethical practice by implementing the following:

• Supporting our editors: we lay down the standards required for ethical behaviour through training and Confidentiality and Quality Agreements
• Journal selection & clear ethical selection criteria.
• Monitoring procedures: our manuscript submission workflow is fully automated and audited. When a manuscript is accepted, our system allocates it to a subject-specific editor on an availability basis. This ensures no conflict of interest between editor and author can occur.
• Publisher work and author work are both allocated to editors on an editor-availability basis.
• Author awareness of ethical publishing at multiple locations on our website.
• Charlesworth Author Services must protect the confidentiality of all material submitted and communications made.
• To act without bias with a high level of integrity.
• Regular review of our policy.

Ethical Duties of The Editor

• To perform their duties to Charlesworth Author Services under the Confidentiality and Quality Agreements.
• To act with a high level of personal integrity with an unbiased view.
• To allow their work to be subject to review by a Quality Control editor and Charlesworth Author Services monitoring procedures.
• When selecting journals, to ensure the section process is fair, unbiased and follows company criteria.
• Journal selection reports are unbiased, transparent and complete.
• Editors cannot attempt to influence an author in the journal selection service.
• The editor must protect the confidentiality of all material submitted and communications made (ensuring it may not be used in their own research).
• All information received is confidential and cannot be used for personal advantage.
• Any potential editorial conflicts of interest must be declared to Charlesworth Author Services as soon as there is knowledge of risk of the conflict arising (conflict extends to family members and colleagues).
• The editor must not write any of the paper submitted by an author.
• An editor cannot submit a paper to a journal on behalf of an author.
• The editor should be vigilant to any potential ethical breaches (misconduct, plagiarism) in the submitted paper, and inform the author and provide corrective advice.
• The editor has a duty to report suspected misconduct and highlight this to the author with a plagiarism check recommendation.
• The editor will issue corrective action to the author.
• The editor will recheck the paper when resubmitted to ensure all corrective action has been carried out.

Ethical Duties of The Author

The author is expected to act ethically when submitting a paper for our editorial services. A paper is deemed ethical if it complies with the following:

• The work submitted is their original work.
• The work of others has been correctly cited.
• The work is correctly acknowledged and all permissions obtained.
• There are no fraudulent statements.
• There is no plagiarism.
• Where plagiarism has been reported to the author by the editor, the author takes corrective action.
• Concurrent publication – that the article has not been published in another journal.
• Authorship of the paper is clear and unequivocal and any co-authors are stated.
• Disclosure of any personal or financial relationship with any member of the Charlesworth Group staff when or before they submit their paper.
• To promptly notify the editor of any errors in the paper after submission that may constitute an ethical breach. The editor will then advise corrective action to the author.

Yes, if you would like to see a sample of some of our editing work on previous articles, then please contact us and we will be happy to provide you with a sample from a similar subject area. If you choose to use our editing service, you will also be provided with a sample of your edited article to check before you are asked to make your payment.

Where an author has received editorial assistance, it is common practice to acknowledge the name of the individuals or company who provided that service, after obtaining their agreement, in your manuscript. If you would like to acknowledge our English Language editing services, please include the following sentence on your Acknowledgement Page: ‘This manuscript was edited for English Language by Charlesworth Author Services (www.cwauthors.com)'

We take the issue of plagiarism extremely seriously, and we will not rewrite or paraphrase text that has been plagiarised from previously published work. It is the responsibility of the author to ensure that all previously published work included in their article has been cited appropriately.

As part of our Charlesworth Flexible services, we can offer a Plagiarism Check via iThenticate which will allow you to identify potential plagiarism and take action accordingly.

Once you have received your edited file, check through the edits made by the editor, which will be clearly marked using Word’s Track Changes feature. If you agree with the changes, you can Accept them using the Review tab. Go through any comments that the editor has added and make amendments to the text. If there are any points raised by the editor that you would like to have clarified, please contact us and we will contact the editor on your behalf.

Yes, if you have received comments from reviewers after submitting your article to your chosen journal, we would be happy to edit your reply before you resubmit. Please remember to send the reviewer comments and your responses along with the revised manuscript so that the editor can edit your reply appropriately. This is included as part of our Advanced and Scientific Editing services.

Yes. If you were particularly happy with the work on a previous paper, then you can request to have the same editor work on your next article (subject to availability). Please provide us with the paper number of your previous article, and we will ensure that your new article is assigned to the same editor. If, for any reason your chosen editor is unavailable, we will let you know and give you the option to choose another editor - or wait until the original editor becomes available.

Please note that as part of our Ethics Policy, we do not disclose the personal identities of our editors.

In the unlikely event that you are not completely satisfied with the editing of your article then we will re-edit your article free of charge. Please contact the helpdesk team stating the reasons why you are not satisfied, giving as much detail as possible. We will then arrange for the article to be checked again until you are completely satisfied with your edited article.

Yes. If there are any points you would like to clarify with the editor after your article has been edited, please let us know by contacting helpdesk@cwauthors.com. We will then contact the editor on your behalf and send you their reply.

As part of our Charlesworth Essential and Charlesworth Advanced and AI Editing Expert packages, we can reduce the length of your article by up to 10% to comply with journal guidelines. For our Charlesworth Scientific package, this increases to up to a 20% reduction in length. Please let us know when you upload your article if you would like the editor to reduce the length of your article.

AI Editing Light does not include article length reduction. 

Once you have uploaded your article to our website, it will be assessed by a member of our team before being assigned to an editor. Before your article has been assessed, if you would like to change the package type of your article, please contact us as soon as possible and we will arrange this. Once your article has been assigned to an editor, you will not be able to change the package type.

Yes, once your article has been completed, you can download an Editorial Certificate from your account (click 'Editorial Certificate' from the 'Past Orders' section). This applies to Essential, Advanced and Scientific orders only. We do not issue Editorial Certificates for our AI Editing services.

If you have made significant changes to your paper after we have completed our edit, the certificate may not be valid and you should check with our customer services department at helpdesk@cwauthors.com.  A ‘significant’ change is regarded as new content being introduced, or a large proportion of our recommended changes for the document not being accepted resulting in language errors remaining in the manuscript.

An Editorial Certificate does not guarantee publication, as this is the decision of the journal editor.
 

Yes, this is included in our Essential, Advanced, Scientific and AI Editing Expert packages. Please remember to mention your target journal when you upload your article. Our editors will then make sure that your article complies with the journal guidelines.

Our goal is to simplify the communication process to reduce the need for direct contact with the editors. To enable this, our helpdesk team is available to support queries between authors and editors, so we suggest that you contact our helpdesk in the first instance. However, we recognise that sometimes direct contact may be useful for complex projects or requests, and we can review this in specific circumstances. Please contact us to discuss your specific requirements.

Yes. We offer an independent journal selection service to identify the right journal for your article. As part of this service, an editor with subject expertise will review your article and provide you with a report listing four or five suitable journals for your article. Our editors select journals independently, and selection is based on the content of your article, your desired readership and your target journal impact factor, striking the right balance between impact factor and likelihood of acceptance.

You will be provided with a report listing journal name, the URL, the URL of the author guidelines, the reasons why the journal is suitable (examples of previous similar articles the journal has published), the journal's impact factor, ISSN, where the journal is abstracted and indexed, how many issues are published per year, or any other factors you specify. Providing you with a detailed report of the features of several suitable journals allows you to make an informed decision regarding the best journal for your manuscript.

Ethics Policy on Journal Selection

Charlesworth Author Services does provide editing services directly to the global publishing community under strict Confidentiality Agreements, and services to this sector are clearly shown on our website. It is our responsibility to ensure best practice is followed by our editors in our Journal Selection service to avoid any conflict of interest between the publishers we provide services for, the editor selecting the journals, and the individual academic authors using our services. We promote best practice by implementing the following:

Defined Journal Selection Criteria

Our editors follow a defined journal selection criterion, as follows:

• Content of your article
• Journal subject matter and readership
• Journal Impact Factor
• Journal acceptance criteria
• Likelihood of acceptance by the Journal
• A list of similar articles published by the journal
• Geographic focus of the journal
• How well the journal adheres to your requirements

Monitoring and Feedback

We continuously monitor and measure feedback on the quality of our editors, and their work is performed under our Confidentiality and Quality Agreement to ensure the advice you are given is independent and relevant. Once the Journal Selection Report is generated by the editor, this is checked independently by our editorial team before submitting to the author.

Ethical Journal Selection Protocols

Charlesworth Author Services follows ethical protocols when selecting journals. Our editors will only review suitable journals which we consider comply with ethical publishing guidelines, which should be transparent on their websites. Journals selected should:

Have transparent business and ethical practices, namely:

• Clear publication and ethics policies and guidelines on their website
• A clearly defined authorship criteria set out within Author Guidelines on the website.
• Clear information on how articles are selected
• Author fees clearly stated 
• A clearly defined journal name (one which cannot be easily confused with another journal)
• A clear statement of journal ownership together with details of any Governing Body
• Details of peer-review process
• Details of Open-Access policy
• Details of the Editorial Board
• A website which carries contact details, including full address of head office
• Be a member of an ethical publishing standards body (e.g. COPE).

Use of the journal selection service does not guarantee publication, as this is the decision of the journal editor.

All our editing packages include a high-level English language edit, checking for spelling, grammar, punctuation, style and readability, as well as checking for consistency of content and ensuring that your article complies with journal guidelines.  Each service offers a different level of benefits, depending at what stage your article is in the publishing process.

Charlesworth Essential: full language check, 60% discount for re-editing your article within one year, and ability to choose your preferred editor.

Charlesworth Advanced: in addition to the services offered in our Charlesworth Essential package, you will also be able to have your article re-edited free of charge within one year and will receive help with your reviewer responses and/or cover letter.

Charlesworth Scientific: for articles that may require a greater level of intervention in the scientific content as well as language, this package includes all the benefits of our Charlesworth Essential and Advanced packages, as well as a full scientific review from our expert editors to improve the content and increase the likelihood of peer review evaluation, and a plagiarism check. Please click here to see an example of the Scientific Review form used by our editors when reviewing your article. You will also be able to have your article re-edited free of charge within one year.

AI Editing Light: your manuscript is run through our AI Editing tool and then checked by an expert editor. We do not apply journal style or format the manuscript under this service.

AI Editing Expert: your manuscript is run through our AI Editing tool and then checked by a subject matter expert editor. This service does include formatting to journal requirements and 60% discount for re-editing within one year of the original submission date. 

Yes, as part of our Charlesworth Flexible range of services, we offer cover letter editing, and it is also included in our Charlesworth Advanced and Charlesworth Scientific packages.

To edit your cover letter, we will need you to supply your draft letter, information about your target journal and the full article to be submitted.

Please let us know if your article has already been submitted and undergone peer review. If this is the case, please also send on any reviewer comments so that the editor can refer to these when editing your cover letter.

In the unlikely event that you cannot find your subject area listed on our website, please contact us and we will be able to assign your article to the most appropriate editor.

Our standard turnaround for our Charlesworth Essential, Charlesworth Advanced and AI Editing packages is 6 working days, and 3 working days for fast-track (10 working days for Scientific). You may also select the 2 working day service on Essential, Advanced and AI Editing packages for papers under 6,000 words. Charlesworth Flexible turnaround times will vary depending on the service.

You will receive an email when you submit your paper confirming the turnaround time, and again once your paper is completed and ready to be downloaded. If you wish to change the turnaround time of your paper, please contact us as soon as possible and we will be happy to help. Click here to see full details about our packages.
 

We can edit both Microsoft Word (MS Word) and LaTeX files. If your manuscript is LaTeX, please ensure you provide all of the necessary files in a single zip file, i.e., .tex, .bib (if you have used BibTeX), .pdf, and any special style (.sty) files you have used, together with the figure files (.eps, .png, .pdf, etc.).

We have a specialist team of LaTeX editors who will edit the files directly for you and then generate a .diff PDF file to highlight the revisions made (note that it is not always possible to generate a .diff, in which case we will highlight the changes using other methods). If your manuscript is MS Word, revisions and comments will be visible in Tracked Changes.

We edit a full range of content types, including:

•  Journal papers

• Abstracts

• Books and book chapters

• Proceedings and conference papers

• Theses

• Curricula vitae

If your content type is not included here, please contact us to discuss it.

We also cover a full range of academic disciplines: Medical Sciences • Life Sciences • Physical Sciences & Engineering • Business & Economics • Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

Yes, we do edit references, and this is included as part of our normal editing service (with the exception of our AI Editing Light service). Please note that your references will count towards the total word count. You can also choose to exclude references if you wish.

References will be edited for compliance with the correct format of your chosen journal. However, our editors will not rewrite or switch the actual format between, for example, Harvard and Vancouver styles. If you do require this service, we offer reference formatting as part of the Charlesworth Flexible services.  

We understand that many authors choose to use reference management software such as Mendeley or Endnote to generate their citations and references. We cannot guarantee that our editors will have the software to be able to edit your references using these programs. In these cases, we will not be able to edit the references, as any changes would be overwritten if the citations or references are regenerated later. We recommend that you remove the reference management software before supplying your manuscript for editing if you would like the editor to work on your references.

If you have a target journal in mind, please review the guidelines/instructions for authors on the journal website to ensure you have followed their guidelines exactly.

You are also welcome to consult our Resources page which contains information about the publishing and article writing process. If you have any questions, please contact our helpdesk team for advice. We are here to help you achieve success in getting published.

It is very common that your target journal may recommend further changes after peer review. We recognise that it can be difficult to interpret and apply these recommendations. If you chose our Charlesworth Essential service or our AI Editing Expert service, we offer a 60% discount on re-editing your paper to accommodate the reviewers’ recommendations and any changes you made; if you chose Charlesworth Advanced or our Charlesworth Scientific service, your paper will be re-edited for free for up to 1 year from the original submission date. 

We reserve the right to charge for further re-editing if the changes are extensive or have been made to comply with a different target journal’s guidelines. Click here to read our policies.

To submit your paper for re-editing, please log onto the website. From the 'Past Orders' tab of your account, locate the correct order and select 'Re-edit' to enter your details and upload your revised manuscript.

If you have any questions about the process or would like to discuss your situation in more detail, please contact our helpdesk team.

Please note that we do not accept machine-translated documents for editing. These documents are frequently very difficult to understand, and there is a high risk that any changes made could introduce errors into your text. We reserve the right to reject a paper if we suspect that it has been machine-translated. Instead, we recommend that you have your article professionally translated.

We offer translation services for authors where a professional translator with knowledge of your subject area will work with your original article in the source language and translate it into English. The translated article will then be checked by a native English-speaking editor before being returned to you. Please contact us for further details.

You can email us at helpdesk@cwauthors.com or visit the Contact Us page for our full contact details.

You can check on the status of your order at any time from the ‘Current Orders’ section of your dashboard once signed in to your account. The order status appears beneath your article title – we have included a key below to help you understand the status. 

If your account with us is linked to your WeChat account, you can also use our self-service query function to retrieve your order status. Please click here to scan our WeChat QR code and follow these instructions to proceed.

You will be notified via email once your order has been completed and you will be prompted to sign in to your account to access the file.

What does my order status mean?

* Order waiting for assessment: Your order has been submitted. Our helpdesk team need to assess your order to ensure it meets requirements before placing it with an editor.

* Order waiting for assessment - On hold: We have sent you a query via email and cannot proceed with editing until we have received a response from you.

* Editor selection by Admin: We have selected a suitable editor, and we are waiting for them to start working on your order.

* Your order is being edited: Your order is now being edited – your order cannot be amended or cancelled at this stage.

* QC editor selection by Admin: Your order has completed the first stage of editing, and we have now selected a suitable quality control (QC) editor to finalise the edited file.

* Your order is being checked by QC editor: Your order is now being finalised by a quality control (QC) editor.

* Admin to check and upload sample: If payment has not been received by this stage, we will upload a short sample of the full edited file for you to preview.

* Sample to author: The short sample of the full edited file is now available to preview from your account. The full file will be made available once payment has been received.

* Plagiarism check: For Scientific orders only – we are running your edited manuscript through our plagiarism checker and will upload the similarity report alongside your edited files and review form.

Once payment has been made, or if payment has been received ahead of completion, your order will automatically move to your ‘Past orders’ tab on your dashboard.

You will be notified via email once your order has been completed, and you will be prompted to sign in to your account.

Please note that we do not accept machine-translated documents for editing. These documents are frequently very difficult to understand, and there is a high risk that any changes made could introduce errors into your text. We reserve the right to reject a paper if we suspect that it has been machine-translated. Instead, we recommend that you have your article professionally translated.

We offer translation services for authors where a professional translator with knowledge of your subject area will work with your original article in the source language and translate it into English. The translated article will then be checked by a native English-speaking editor before being returned to you. Please contact us for further details.

We take great pride in providing our customers with consistently high-quality work. Our expert editors are native speakers of English who have advanced qualifications in their specific subject areas, and have training and experience as editors. We test our editors to ensure they work to the highest possible standards, and many of our editors are also members of professional societies.

Yes. All papers and personal information are kept on secure servers, and all of our editors are contractually bound by non-disclosure agreements regarding the content of academic papers. Please click here to read our quality guarantee. 

All our editors can edit in British or US English, depending on your requirements and those of your chosen target journal. If you have a preference for which style to use, please let us know when you upload your paper.