FAQs

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Academic Editing and Proofreading

Along with standard editing, a subject editor can do the following:

  • Ensure the accuracy of field-specific terminology and jargon
  • Offer subject/field-specific insight into the work
  • Provide critical commentary on the methods and approaches of the work
  • Highlight potential weaknesses in the research and provide suggestions for improvement
  • Ensure an appropriate writing style for the field
  • Ensure that the work conforms to the norms and expectations of the field
  • Offer suggestions to improve the suitability of the work for publication

You can make as many changes to your document as are necessary to perfect it, so long as the revised document's word count remains within 10% of the original document's word count. Documents exceeding such a word count may not qualify for the proofread included in this service. There are two options in this case: the proofread can be removed from the order or you can pay for the additional words and have the proofread completed.

Please revise your document to your editor's suggestions and feedback and resubmit the revised document for its final proofreading pass within seven days after receiving your document.

Though our editing certificate guarantees that your document is ready for publication from a language standpoint, your editor cannot guarantee that your article will be accepted for publication. This is because your journal may have specific criteria for evaluating which content is accepted that are beyond the control of the editor or author, such as the timeliness of the research, the appropriateness of the research for the journal, the quality and appropriateness of other submissions to the journal, the likelihood of the research to help maintain or increase readership, and, likely, the personal interests of the reviewers and editors. An editor also cannot guarantee the appropriateness of any revisions made after the document leaves their hands. However, your editor can help you ensure that you have a strong and worthy paper in order to give your work the best chance possible for publication.

Academic Editing

Along with standard editing, a subject editor can do the following:

  • Ensure the accuracy of field-specific terminology and jargon
  • Offer subject/field-specific insight into the work
  • Provide critical commentary on the methods and approaches of the work
  • Highlight potential weaknesses in the research and provide suggestions for improvement
  • Ensure an appropriate writing style for the field
  • Ensure that the work conforms to the norms and expectations of the field
  • Offer suggestions to improve the suitability of the work for publication

Early Draft Academic Editing

Merudio's Early Draft Academic Editing service is not meant to produce publication-ready documents. Instead, it is meant to help writers develop a strong first draft to work from by assuring structural soundness and conformance to academic standards. After addressing all revisions and feedback in your revised document, proofreading may be required to ensure grammatical perfection, formatting consistency, and compliance to your target style guide.

Having a subject-matter expert assist in the structuring of your paper helps ensure the coherence of your writing as well as conformance to standard academic writing conventions. Having them do so early in the writing process ensures a suitable structure for your paper as well as clear argumentation, giving you a strong draft to work from and the best chance of publication down the road.

Along with standard editing, a subject editor can do the following:

  • Ensure the accuracy of field-specific terminology and jargon
  • Offer subject/field-specific insight into the work
  • Provide critical commentary on the methods and approaches of the work
  • Highlight potential weaknesses in the research and provide suggestions for improvement
  • Ensure an appropriate writing style for the field
  • Ensure that the work conforms to the norms and expectations of the field
  • Offer suggestions to improve the suitability of the work for publication

Most file types can be submitted to Merudio's Early Draft Academic Editing service. However, file types that allow direct revisions, including Microsoft Word and OpenOffice, ensure that your editor can make any necessary revisions to the structure or formatting. In contrast, the text in some file types cannot be edited directly, such as with PDF files, though your editor will still provide suggested revisions and critical commentary, and you will then have to implement these changes yourself. If you would like more information about what is provided for different file types, please contact Customer Service.

Express Academic Proofreading

Yes! We understand the need for last-minute proofreading and can provide you with a presentation-ready document in five hours or less for documents containing under 2,500 words or seven hours or less for documents containing up to 5,000 words.

Please submit a Microsoft Word or a PowerPoint file for Express Academic Proofreading if you want to ensure that your presentation is formatted for consistency. File types that cannot be directly modified, such as PDFs, can also be submitted for Express Academic Proofreading if you do not need your presentations directly revised for correctness or consistency (comments indicating revisions for errors and inconsistencies will be provided, but you will have to implement the changes yourself). If you would like more information about what is provided for different file types, please contact Customer Service.

Teaching Portfolio Editing

It is our belief that an expert in education is best suited to review your teaching portfolio. As an expert in education, your editor will be able to comment on all aspects of your portfolio, including the following:

  • Teaching philosophy
  • Description of teaching experience/responsibilities
  • Summary of teaching effectiveness
  • Sample materials (e.g., previous syllabi, exams, rubrics, teaching logs, quantitative results of student examinations, student reviews and letters, support from other faculty, awards, etc.)

Most file types can be submitted to Merudio's Teaching Portfolio Editing service. However, file types that allow direct revisions, including Microsoft Word and OpenOffice, ensure that your editor can make any necessary revisions to the structure or formatting. In contrast, the text in some file types cannot be edited directly, such as with PDF files, though your editor will still provide suggested revisions and critical commentary, and you will then have to implement these changes yourself. If you would like more information about what is provided for different file types, please contact Customer Service.

Academic Document Formatting

Any file type that can be directly modified can be submitted for Academic Document Formatting, including MS Word and OpenOffice files. As an example, PDF files cannot be directly altered and therefore cannot be formatted by our editors. If you are unsure if your file type can be formatted, please contact Customer Service.

Academic Reference Formatting

We can format your references to any style guide or journal guidelines. If your target style is not included in our dropdown menu, please specify your journal guidelines in the notes section when placing your order.

Merudio's Academic Reference Formatting service is best suited for modifiable file types, such as Microsoft Word and OpenOffice, to ensure that proper formatting is applied for your citations and references. While you can submit file types for this service where the text cannot be directly modified, such as PDF files, please note that the necessary revisions will be shown in comments rather than made directly, and you will then have to implement these changes yourself. If you would like more information about what is provided for different file types, please contact Customer Service.

Academic Figure Formatting

We can revise any file type that can be modified in Illustrator or Photoshop. Examples of acceptable file types include the following:

  • .jpg
  • .tiff
  • .png
  • .eps
  • .pdf
  • .doc
  • .docx
  • .ppt
  • .pptx

If you're not sure whether your file type can be modified, please contact Customer Service.

No, this service does not include the creation of figures.

Security and Privacy

Yes! Merudio uses industry standard (256-bit SSL) or higher encryption for communications between your computer and our website. This is the same strength used by leading banks and luxury retail stores. Your work is safe.

We have a dedicated IT staff to ensure best practices in IT security. In addition, our IT processes are regularly audited by a respected, independent third-party, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 9001-2015).

Absolutely not. Merudio and its editors make no claim on your copyright, and we don't require credit, acknowledgment, or anything else beyond the fees for the services we render. Your work is safe on our secure, encrypted system, and no one outside of Merudio will ever be able to access your work.

Yes! Your editor will never show your work to anyone.

Merudio uses industry-standard (256-bit SSL) or higher encryption for communications between your computer and our website. This is the same strength used by leading banks and luxury retail stores.

When you pay by credit card, your card details are not stored on our servers; the fields where you enter your card credit details are securely served directly to your computer by our payment processor, and your card details are communicated directly to our processor and your issuing bank over encrypted connections. Merudio's aim is to ensure with absolute certainty that your work is safe at all times.

General Merudio FAQs

Yes. We recommend browsing our full list of services to discover which best suits your needs. In summary, our expert editors can eliminate typos, ensure grammatical correctness, and smooth out writing so that it is clear and expressive. They can also provide critical commentary, pointing out where issues remain, where arguments are flawed or incomplete, and where improvements can be made. In addition, we can make revisions to ensure consistency throughout the document, and we can apply the style guide of your choice, including specific journal guidelines, to your work. We can help you at any stage of the writing process, from early draft editing all the way through to a final proofread.

You've done the hard work, and you don't want your work to be rejected because it lacked a final polish. We're ready to help you submit your strongest work.

The editing provided by a subject expert cannot replace or guarantee success in the peer review process, as this process is managed independently by each journal, but editing can maximize your chances of success by offering the best preparation for peer review. Different peer reviewers will typically notice different issues during their reviews and will offer suggestions and critical evaluations based on these observations, while journals have to consider many factors when it comes to accepting articles, including how many articles have already been accepted and the particular focus and aims of both the journal as a whole and the current issue being prepared for publication.

Beyond the quality of the work itself, the current direction of the field and the personal interests and aims of each journal's managing editor will also have a major impact on what articles are accepted. However, the better your work, the better your chances. Editing by a Merudio subject expert—who will have experience with the peer review process—can provide that extra leg up on the competition to ensure that your work is in the best shape possible for peer review. The best editing is provided by someone who understands the theories, terminology, logical connections, and academic background of your work. Not only will your Merudio editor refine your language and writing and ensure clarity, consistency, and correctness, they will also be able to provide the following:

  • Field-specific insight into your work
  • Critical commentary on the methods and approaches of your work
  • Identification of potential weaknesses and suggestions for improvement
  • Alignment with field-specific writing styles, norms, and expectations
  • Correct and consistent handling of field-specific terminology and jargon
  • Suggestions to help you improve your chances of publication

No problem. Just tell us what style guide we should refer to when you place your order, and our editors will ensure that the style guidelines are applied consistently throughout your document. While many of our services include formatting support, we recommend using our Academic Document Formatting and Academic Reference Formatting services to ensure that your final draft consistently and correctly aligns with your preferred style guide or the guidelines of your target academic journal.

It may be that you have the "Show Markup" feature turned off. If you are using MS Word 2010, 2013, 2016, or 2019, click on the Review tab. In the section named "Tracking," there are three drop-down menus—they're to the right of the button named "Tracked Changes." Click on the top one. Choose All Markup. Then, click the Show Markup menu to make sure all the markup options are checked, including "Insertions and Deletions."

If you are using Word 2007/Office XP, click on the tab named Review. In the section named "Tracking," there are three drop-down menus—they're to the right of the button named "Balloons." Click on the top one. Choose Final Showing Markup.

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If you still don't see any changes, please feel free to contact us or get in touch via Chat.

We can apply any style guide to your work. The most popular style guides are those of the American Psychological Association (APA), Modern Language Association (MLA), and Council of Science Editors (CSE), as well as the Chicago Manual of Style, Turabian style, and Harvard style. We can also apply a journal's style guide (just send us the details) or a corporate/internal style guide.

Yes, we can certainly apply your target journal's style guidelines to your article. Please provide us with the name of the target journal when you place your order. If possible, please provide a link to the specific style guidelines: Simply copy the URL for the journal's guidelines and paste it into your client notes when you place your order.

For MS Word files (.doc and .docx), we use the Track Changes and the Comments features. You can access the Track Changes and Comments tools by clicking on the Review tab.

Merudio FAQs

You can use the tools on the Review tab to Accept or Reject changes one by one, or you can Accept or Reject the changes all at once.

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You can also right-click on individual changes in the document to access the Accept/Reject functions.

Merudio FAQs

You can also delete the comments with the Review tab.

Merudio FAQs

Right-clicking on a comment balloon also brings up a Delete Comment function in the fly-out menu.

Merudio FAQs

In MS Word, go to the Review tab or Tools menu and select Word Count. If you're obtaining a word count for an academic paper, be sure to check the option to include footnotes and endnotes in the word count.

Please note: We do try to double-check word counts on the documents that we receive, but to ensure that there are no delays in processing your order, please make every effort to give us an accurate count. If there is a section that you do not want us to check, please mention this in the "Special Instructions" field of the order form.

Yes. We provide a complimentary editing certificate upon completion of our Academic Editing and Proofreading service. In addition, your Merudio invoice can be used as proof of editing as it has been designed to provide the necessary information.

We take customer satisfaction very seriously. You can provide feedback directly to us (there will be a link on your order details page), or you can get in touch with us using Merudio's Contact Us page and we will look into your issue immediately.