FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about Submedit, our services, and how the process works. Can't find your answer? Contact us.
About the Service
Submedit is a professional academic manuscript review service designed specifically for researchers preparing papers for peer-reviewed journal submission. We go far beyond language editing — our core offering is Citation Integrity™ verification: systematically checking that every citation in your manuscript actually supports the specific claim it is cited for.
Most editing services focus on grammar and language fluency. Submedit provides a fundamentally different level of review:
- Citation Integrity™ verification — every citation is retrieved, read in full, and assessed against the exact claim it supports. No other commercial service performs this.
- Figure-text-table consistency checking — all numerical values are cross-validated across manuscript sections.
- Orchestrated AI-human workflow — a proprietary AI engine analyses and edits the full manuscript, and every result passes expert human review before delivery.
- Field-specific expert matching — reviewers are active researchers in your field, not generalist freelancers.
- Platinum tier — adds structural narrative editing and peer-reviewer-level strategic commentary for high-impact journal submissions.
Citation Integrity™ verification means that every reference in your manuscript is retrieved and read in full, then assessed against the specific claim it is cited to support — not just checked for formatting. A citation is flagged as invalid if it does not directly and explicitly support your stated claim. The most common failure we identify is the equivocation error: citing evidence for one construct to support a claim about a related but distinct construct. We also identify cases where authors cite a secondary source, unknowingly breaking the evidentiary chain.
Submedit operates as an Orchestrated Intelligence™ system. Our proprietary AI editorial engine performs the analysis and produces the edits, and a qualified human reviewer — ordinarily an active researcher or PhD-level scientist, field-matched where available — reviews every manuscript before delivery. The reviewer has full authority to reject the output or direct revisions, and no manuscript is delivered until it has passed this review. Editing is targeted rather than wholesale: we revise the passages that require correction and leave the rest of your text as you wrote it.
No. Submedit provides professional editorial assistance to improve the scientific rigour, clarity, and submission readiness of your manuscript. We cannot and do not guarantee acceptance, editorial triage passage, or any specific publication outcome. Publication decisions are made solely by journals and are dependent on scientific novelty, scope fit, and reviewer judgment.
Gold & Platinum Review
- Initial Diagnostic Scan — AI-generated verification map covering citations, numerical values, figure references, and linguistic patterns.
- Academic Language Editing — full manuscript language revision with tracked changes and explanatory editor comments on every revision.
- Scientific Integrity Editing — Citation Integrity™ verification (every citation retrieved, read, and assessed) and numerical cross-validation across text, figures, tables, and supplementary files.
- Cover Letter Editing — revised to ensure every claim to the editor-in-chief is directly substantiated by your study.
- Structural & Narrative Flow Editing — the system maps the logical sequence across all sections and delivers a structured editorial memo explaining each proposed restructure, reviewed and approved by a PhD-level expert.
- Peer-Reviewer-Level Strategic Suggestions — your manuscript is read as a rigorous reviewer would, with full knowledge of your sub-field and target journal. Delivered as a structured review memo: each potential objection listed with severity assessment and recommended author response.
- Strategic Cover Letter — structured to address the most likely editorial concerns before they are raised, calibrated against your journal's most recent editorial priorities.
Choose Gold Review if your primary needs are scientific accuracy, citation validity, language precision, and submission readiness for a solid journal target.
Choose Platinum Review if you are targeting a high-impact or competitive journal (e.g., Nature family, Science, Cell, top-tier specialist journals with impact factors above 15), or if you want strategic preparation for the reviewer scrutiny those journals apply. Platinum is particularly valuable when your manuscript makes a claim that overturns an established model, where anticipating reviewer objections is critical.
Yes. All language and structural edits are delivered as tracked changes in your Word document (.docx), with an explanatory editor comment alongside every revision. You can accept, query, or decline each change with a full understanding of the reasoning. Nothing is silently rewritten.
Express Delivery
Express Delivery is completed within 48 hours of Service Commencement — the point at which your order status changes to "In Progress." Express coverage includes weekends and public holidays.
Yes. Express Delivery applies the same editorial standards, the same AI diagnostic scan, and the same field-matched expert review as Standard Delivery. The difference is in how we prioritise editor assignment and workflow scheduling — not in what is reviewed or how rigorously.
Yes. Express Delivery is a speed option available with both Gold Review and Platinum Review. You select your tier and delivery speed at checkout. The Express rate is a 40% uplift on the standard tier price.
Standard Delivery is completed within 5 business days of Service Commencement. "Business days" means Monday through Friday, excluding US Federal Holidays. Delivery deadlines are calculated in US Eastern Time (ET).
Files & Process
We currently accept Microsoft Word documents (.docx) only. PDF and other formats are not supported. If your manuscript is in another format, please convert it to .docx before uploading.
Upload your manuscript (and optional cover letter) directly through the Submedit platform at submedit.com/order. The system automatically extracts the word count and calculates your price before you proceed to payment. No quote request or back-and-forth is required.
"Service Commencement" occurs when we begin active editorial work on your manuscript, reflected by an order status change to "In Progress" in your Submedit dashboard. This typically happens within a few hours of payment confirmation during business hours.
Your edited manuscript is delivered through your Submedit dashboard. You will receive an email notification when your order status changes to "Completed," after which a secure download link is available in your dashboard. The download link is generated on demand and expires after 5 minutes for security purposes; you may generate it again at any time.
Yes. You can upload a cover letter as a separate .docx file during the order process. Cover letter editing is included in both Gold and Platinum Review at no additional charge. With Platinum Review, a cover letter is not required — if you provide one, it is strategically edited; if you don't, one is written for you directly from your manuscript.
Confidentiality & AI
Yes. All submitted manuscripts are treated as strictly confidential. Your manuscript is accessible only to the editors and staff directly engaged in performing your order, all of whom are bound by written non-disclosure agreements. It is never shared with any third party except as required by law.
No. Submedit does not use — and will not use — any manuscript, uploaded file, or personal data for the purpose of training, fine-tuning, or otherwise developing any artificial intelligence or machine learning model. This prohibition applies to all internal systems and to all third-party processors engaged by Submedit. This commitment is written into our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Uploaded manuscript files are retained for two years after order completion or cancellation, then permanently deleted. Account and order data are retained for the same period. You may request earlier deletion of your data by contacting [email protected].
Yes. Submedit implements industry-standard security measures including TLS encryption for all data in transit and encryption at rest for stored files. File storage uses Cloudflare R2 with presigned URLs, meaning your manuscript is never directly publicly accessible. Payment is processed by Lemon Squeezy — we do not store or handle your card details.
Pricing & Payment
The price is calculated based on: (1) the word count of your uploaded manuscript, extracted automatically from the .docx file — any text you highlight in yellow, such as a reference list or raw data table, is excluded from both the count and the price; (2) the service tier selected (Gold or Platinum); and (3) the delivery speed (Standard or Express). The per-word rate for Gold Review is $0.0400/word; for Platinum Review, $0.0585/word. Express Delivery applies a 1.4× multiplier to the tier price. The binding price is confirmed to you before payment is collected.
Yes. The Pricing page includes an interactive calculator where you can enter your approximate word count and see the estimated price for each tier and speed combination.
All prices are displayed and charged in United States Dollars (USD).
Payment is processed by Lemon Squeezy, which acts as the Merchant of Record. Your payment receipt and tax invoice are issued by Lemon Squeezy — you can open your receipt and download a tax invoice PDF from the Invoice button on your order in the Dashboard. Lemon Squeezy handles VAT, GST, and sales tax in all applicable jurisdictions. The charge appears on your card statement under Lemon Squeezy (e.g. "LEMSQZY*"). Submedit does not store your payment card information.
Refunds & Quality
Yes, if you cancel before Service Commencement (before your order status changes to "In Progress"), you are entitled to a full refund. To cancel, contact [email protected] with your order ID. Once editorial work has begun, cancellation is not permitted.
- Standard Delivery — 20% of the service fee refunded for each full business day delivery is late, up to 100%.
- Express Delivery — 25% refunded for each full 12-hour period beyond the 48-hour deadline, up to 100%.
- Late delivery refunds do not apply to delays caused by force majeure events or by issues with your submitted files.
If you believe the delivered editing falls short of the stated service description, you may submit a quality concern request within 7 days of delivery to [email protected]. Your request must include your order ID and a specific, itemised description of the deficiencies. Our editorial team will review within 5 business days and provide a free re-work where the concern is confirmed. The re-work guarantee is limited to one re-work per order and does not entitle you to a monetary refund.
Approved refunds are processed through Lemon Squeezy within 10 business days and credited to your original payment method.
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