Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

Q1. I'm in biomedical research, on a none-too-generous grant, and I need to publish my paper in English: how can I reduce my translation costs?

• Select your target journal and ensure that your manuscript complies scrupulously not only with all its instructions to authors, but also with its typological conventions (e.g. P, P, p or p, etc).
• Format your document using basic word-processing commands (Page Setup, Styles, Paragraph Keep With Next, Bullets & Numbering, etc). This avoids the translator having to spend a couple of hours at your expense reformatting your document before he or she can work within it.
• Check your list of references from source and include it in your manuscript. Fax the full text of any reference on which your manuscript relies heavily, especially if it has not appeared in a readily accessible journal from a readily accessible year.
• Include all figures and tables: these can help resolve queries.
• Write your manuscript in English if you feel comfortable expressing your thoughts in the language. This may enable us to select a named non-linguist editor, possibly from your own field, who might provide useful pre-referee input. If your English is good, requiring minimal correction, your costs will be substantially reduced and we will be able to turn your document around more quickly. Be warned, however, that texts in not-so-good English can take as long to revise as - and even longer than - translating from scratch.
• If submitting your paper in English, or if requesting editing in addition to translation (‘transediting’), agree a budget with us. Manuscript revision is notoriously time-consuming, indeed potentially limitless. Even native speakers working in their own specialty produce a dozen drafts before getting their paper right. No such luxury is possible in this case, on either our side or yours: 8 hours are probably adequate for essential revision on an average-length paper.