How Do I Choose an Academic Editing Service?

With so many editing services available online, graduate students may feel confused when trying to choose an academic editing service. Some things to think about when choosing an academic editing service are how much you can spend, your preferences for how the academic document is edited, and the skills and quality of the selected academic editing service. The reliability, quality, and turnaround times of individuals and businesses providing academic editing services vary greatly. Thus, you should always thoroughly review the policies of each academic editor or academic editing service you are considering. You don’t want to spend your time and money on an academic editing service that doesn’t meet your needs. If online ratings and reviews aren’t available, ask the academic editor if you can speak with a previous client of the academic editing service or if they can provide samples of previous academic editing work.

Academic editing services charge a wide range of prices. If your budget is limited, you may want to find an individual academic editor to work with. An individual academic editor sometimes offers lower fees while still having strong editing skills. Your university may have a writing center that provides free services to help you with writing academic documents. In addition, the graduate school of your university may have a list of recommendations for academic editing services they recommend based on previous students’ use of the services.

If your budget is flexible and/or your university doesn’t have a writing center or recommendations for academic editors, many academic editing services are available online. The prices for academic editing services vary drastically, with some companies charging by the page, some by the word, and some by the time it takes to edit an individual academic document. Some academic editing services provide various levels of editing (with different prices for each), while others offer a certain type of editing such as copyediting or content editing. Understanding how academic editing services charge for editing your academic document is important so you can compare the prices of different companies and aren’t surprised at the end of the transaction.

When choosing an academic editing service, consider whether you prefer an individual academic editor or if you prefer to use an academic editing service that has multiple editors available. If you choose an academic editing services company, do you want the company to assign the document to an editor, or do you want to choose which editor works on your academic document? Some companies allow you to talk directly with the editor working on your document, while others do not. This will obviously influence the academic editing service you choose if it’s important to you.

Academic editing services offer different types of turnaround times. When you will receive your edited document from the academic editing service is important to know up front. You should also review and confirm this information prior submitting your transaction. Before you choose an academic editing service, read all the policies on their website related to deadlines. Read through the ratings and reviews from previous clients of the academic editing service to better understand whether clients are satisfied and if documents are returned by the deadline stated. 

Lastly, you should know how and when you are required to make payments (e.g., pay the full amount up front or pay a part of the fee at different points in the editing process), the skills of the person editing your academic document, when your document will be returned, and how the editor will share the edited document with you (e.g., via email or through a website).

About Editor World: Academic Editing Services

Editor World: Academic Editing Services offers fast, affordable academic editing services. Professional academic editing services are available 24/7, with clients choosing their own personal academic editor and having the ability to communicate directly with that editor. Editor World offers academic proofreading and editing services for every type of scholarly manuscript, including journal articles, dissertations, theses, research papers, books, and more.