Terms of Service

1. Agreement to These Terms

By accessing or using Submedit (submedit.com), creating an account, or placing an order, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

These Terms constitute a binding legal agreement between you and FUTELLA Co., Ltd. ("FUTELLA," "we," "us," or "our"), a corporation registered under the laws of the Republic of Korea (Business Registration No. 483-88-03326), which operates the Submedit platform. These Terms apply solely to the Submedit service and do not govern any other products or services operated by FUTELLA.

2. Description of Services

Submedit provides professional academic manuscript editing and review services. Two service tiers are available:

(a) Gold Review — academic language editing, scientific integrity verification (citation validity and figure-text consistency checking), and cover letter editing.

(b) Platinum Review — all Gold Review services, plus structural and narrative flow editing, peer-reviewer-level strategic commentary, and an enhanced cover letter.

Services are delivered in two speed options:

(a) Standard Delivery — within five (5) business days of Service Commencement.

(b) Express Delivery — within forty-eight (48) hours of Service Commencement.

All editing is performed by human expert editors. FUTELLA may use proprietary analytical tools, including AI-assisted diagnostic instruments, as part of its internal editorial workflow. No client manuscript is used to train any artificial intelligence model. Submedit's services are editorial assistance only and do not constitute a guarantee of journal acceptance, editorial triage passage, or any specific publication outcome.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years of age to use the Service. By using the Service, you represent and warrant that you meet this age requirement and have the legal capacity to enter into binding contracts. If you are using the Service on behalf of an institution or organisation, you represent that you are duly authorised to bind that entity to these Terms.

4. Account Registration and Security

To place an order, you must register an account. By registering, you agree to:

(a) provide accurate, current, and complete registration information;

(b) maintain the confidentiality of your account credentials;

(c) promptly notify us of any unauthorised access to your account at [email protected]; and

(d) accept full responsibility for all activities occurring under your account.

FUTELLA is not liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to maintain account security.

5. Orders and Pricing

An order is confirmed when you complete the Submedit checkout process and receive written confirmation (including automated email confirmation). By submitting an order, you represent and warrant that:

(a) the uploaded manuscript is your own work, or you have full authority to submit it for editing;

(b) the files comply with the required format (.docx); and

(c) all information provided is accurate and complete.

The binding price for each order is calculated at checkout based on the word count extracted from your uploaded manuscript file, the selected service tier, and the selected speed option, and is confirmed to you before payment is collected. Prices are displayed and charged in United States Dollars (USD). All applicable taxes are handled by our payment processor as described in Section 6.

6. Payment and Billing

All payments are processed by Paddle.com Market Ltd. ("Paddle"), which acts as the Merchant of Record for all transactions on Submedit. Accordingly:

(a) your payment is processed by Paddle, and your receipt or tax invoice will be issued by Paddle;

(b) Paddle is responsible for calculating and remitting all applicable VAT, GST, and sales taxes in jurisdictions where required;

(c) your billing relationship for the payment transaction is governed by Paddle's terms of service; and

(d) your service relationship — the editing contract — remains with FUTELLA.

Payment must be received in full before Service Commencement. FUTELLA does not store your payment card information.

7. Service Commencement and Delivery

"Service Commencement" occurs when FUTELLA begins active editorial work on your manuscript, reflected by an order status change to "In Progress" in your Submedit dashboard.

(a) Standard Delivery — your edited manuscript will be delivered within five (5) business days of Service Commencement. "Business days" means Monday through Friday, excluding US Federal Holidays. Delivery deadlines are expressed in US Eastern Time (ET).

(b) Express Delivery — your edited manuscript will be delivered within forty-eight (48) hours of Service Commencement, including weekends and public holidays.

Delivery timelines may be affected by force majeure events, including natural disasters, pandemics, war, or critical infrastructure failures. Such delays do not trigger refund obligations under Section 8.3.

8. Cancellation and Refund Policy

8.1 Pre-Commencement Cancellation

If you cancel your order before Service Commencement (i.e., before your order status changes to "In Progress"), you are entitled to a full refund of the amount paid. To request cancellation, contact us at [email protected] with your order ID.

8.2 Post-Commencement Cancellation

Once Service Commencement has occurred, cancellation is not permitted and no refund will be issued for cancellation requests alone, except as provided in Sections 8.3 and 8.4 below. This is consistent with Article 17 of the Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce of the Republic of Korea, which provides that the right of withdrawal does not apply to services that have commenced with the consumer's prior consent.

8.3 Late Delivery Refund

If FUTELLA fails to deliver your edited manuscript by the applicable deadline, you are entitled to a partial refund calculated as follows:

(a) Standard Delivery — a refund of 20% of the service fee for each full business day by which delivery is late, up to a maximum of 100% of the service fee.

(b) Express Delivery — a refund of 25% of the service fee for each full 12-hour period by which delivery is late beyond the 48-hour deadline, up to a maximum of 100% of the service fee.

Late delivery refunds do not apply to delays caused by force majeure events or by your failure to provide correctly formatted files or required information.

8.4 Quality Re-work

If you believe the quality of the delivered editing falls short of the stated service description, you may submit a formal quality concern request within seven (7) days of delivery to [email protected]. To be considered, your request must include:

(a) your order ID;

(b) a specific, itemised description of the editorial deficiencies you have identified, with reference to the relevant sections or passages in the delivered manuscript; and

(c) an explanation of how each identified deficiency fails to meet the scope of the service description for your selected service tier.

Upon receipt of a complete request, FUTELLA's editorial team will review the delivered work against its internal quality standards and the service description within five (5) business days. A free re-work will be provided only where FUTELLA's review confirms that the delivered editing demonstrably failed to meet the standards of the selected service tier.

The re-work guarantee does not apply where: (a) the concern relates to stylistic preferences or scientific content that falls outside the scope of the selected service; (b) the request does not meet the documentation requirements set out above; or (c) the request is received after the seven (7)-day period has elapsed. The re-work guarantee is limited to one (1) re-work per order and does not entitle you to a monetary refund.

8.5 Refund Processing

Approved refunds will be processed through Paddle within ten (10) business days and credited to your original payment method.

9. Intellectual Property

9.1 Your Manuscript

You retain all intellectual property rights in your submitted manuscript and related materials. FUTELLA claims no ownership, licence, or rights in your manuscript beyond what is strictly necessary to perform the Service. Your files are retained for up to two (2) years after order completion as described in our Privacy Policy, then permanently deleted.

9.2 Submedit Platform

All intellectual property rights in the Submedit platform, website, software, editorial frameworks, brand assets, and content are owned exclusively by FUTELLA. You may not copy, reproduce, modify, distribute, or create derivative works from any part of the Submedit platform without our prior written consent.

10. Confidentiality

FUTELLA treats all submitted manuscripts as strictly confidential. We will not disclose your manuscript or any information contained therein to any third party, except: (a) to editors and staff directly engaged in performing your order, all of whom are bound by written non-disclosure agreements; or (b) as required by applicable law or valid court order.

11. No Use of Manuscripts for AI Training

FUTELLA does not, and will not, use any client manuscript, uploaded file, or personal data for the purpose of training, fine-tuning, evaluating, or otherwise developing any artificial intelligence or machine learning model, whether operated by FUTELLA or any third party.

12. Disclaimer of Warranties

The Service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, FUTELLA disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including any warranty that the Service will result in journal acceptance, editorial triage passage, or any particular publication outcome; any warranty of uninterrupted or error-free availability; and any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Editorial review is a professional service involving expert human judgment and does not guarantee any specific outcome from journal submission.

13. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, FUTELLA's total liability to you arising out of or in connection with these Terms or the Service shall not exceed the total amount paid by you for the specific order giving rise to the claim. In no event shall FUTELLA be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including loss of profits, loss of data, or loss of publication opportunity, even if FUTELLA has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

14. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless FUTELLA and its officers, employees, and contractors from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, and costs (including reasonable legal fees) arising from: (a) your breach of these Terms; (b) your submission of materials that infringe the rights of any third party; or (c) your violation of applicable law.

15. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Korea, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Seoul Central District Court of the Republic of Korea as the court of first instance.

16. Amendments

FUTELLA reserves the right to modify these Terms at any time. Material changes will be communicated to registered users by email or by prominent notice on the Service at least 14 days before taking effect. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

17. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

18. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and FUTELLA with respect to the Service and supersede all prior agreements and understandings.

19. Contact

All enquiries regarding these Terms should be directed to:

FUTELLA Co., Ltd.
66 Duho-ro, Buk-gu, Pohang-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Republic of Korea
Business Registration No.: 483-88-03326
[email protected]