Terms of service

These terms apply to editorial and consulting work unless we have signed something different. Where your institution requires its own contract or purchase terms, tell me and we will agree which applies before work starts.

1. What I provide

Editorial services on scientific manuscripts, grant applications and related documents: pre-submission review, manuscript editing, reviewer response support, drafting, journal selection advice, and training. The specific work, the price and the dates are set out in the written quotation for your project. That quotation, together with these terms, is the agreement between us.

2. No guarantee of publication

I cannot and do not guarantee that any manuscript will be accepted, sent for review, or published anywhere. Editorial decisions belong entirely to the journals concerned. I have no influence over any journal’s decisions, including at journals I have worked for. Nothing in my work, my quotation, or anything on this website should be read as promising a publication outcome, a review outcome, or a timescale for either.

If anyone offers you a guaranteed acceptance, they are either lying to you or doing something that will end your paper and possibly your career. This clause is here because that offer is common in this market and it is worth being explicit.

3. Quotations and acceptance

I quote a fixed price for a defined scope after seeing the material. Quotations are valid for 30 days. Work begins when you confirm the quotation in writing and, where a deposit applies, when the deposit is received.

If the material turns out to be substantially different from what I was shown (significantly longer, a different article type, or requiring work outside the agreed scope), I will tell you before continuing and we will agree a revised price or stop. I will not do extra work and invoice you for it afterwards.

4. Fees and payment

Prices are in pounds sterling, and any taxes or duties that apply will be confirmed on the quotation before you accept it.

For projects over £1,000, half the fee is payable before work starts and the balance on delivery. Otherwise the full fee is payable on delivery.

Invoices are issued by Captivated Ltd and are payable within 30 days. Purchase order numbers and institutional billing details can be included on the invoice. Send them before I invoice rather than after. Late payment may attract statutory interest and compensation under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.

5. Revisions

One round of follow-up is included with every service: questions about the work, clarification of comments, and reasonable minor amendments arising from what I delivered.

This does not cover editing new material, re-editing after substantial rewriting by you or a co-author, or a second full pass following peer review. Those are new work and I will quote for them.

6. Timescales

Turnaround times run in working days from the date I have the final material and any deposit, not from the date of first contact. UK public holidays are excluded. If I am going to miss an agreed date I will tell you as soon as I know, and you may cancel without further charge if the delay does not work for you.

7. Cancellation

You may cancel at any time by telling me in writing. You will be charged for work completed to that point, and I will send you what has been done. Any balance is refunded within 14 days.

If I have to cancel (illness, a conflict of interest coming to light, or anything else), you pay only for completed work you have received, and I will refund the rest within 14 days and help you find someone else where I reasonably can.

8. Confidentiality

Everything you send me is treated as confidential unpublished work, including the existence of the project itself. I will not disclose it, publish it, use it for my own purposes, or discuss it with anyone.

I am happy to sign your institution’s non-disclosure agreement. Confidentiality continues indefinitely, and does not end when the project does.

I do not put client manuscripts, data or unpublished results into third-party AI or machine-learning tools.

9. Conflicts of interest

I do not advise on manuscripts I handled during my time as an Associate Editor at Science Immunology, and I will decline work that would place me in conflict with a journal I have worked for or opposite a former colleague’s decision.

If a conflict becomes apparent after work has started, I will tell you immediately, stop, and refund any unbilled work.

10. Authorship, disclosure and research integrity

My contribution is editorial. Where I have contributed substantially to drafting, that contribution should be disclosed in the acknowledgements in line with ICMJE recommendations, and I will help you word it. I do not seek authorship.

I will not fabricate, alter or reinterpret data; write a paper whose conclusions the data do not support; or produce work for undisclosed use where a journal or funder requires disclosure. My full position is on the editorial ethics page and forms part of these terms.

You confirm that the work you send me is yours to send, that your co-authors are aware of it, and that any necessary ethical approvals and permissions are in place.

11. Intellectual property

Your manuscript remains yours throughout. Nothing I do gives me any claim over it.

Reports, edits, cover letters and response drafts I produce for you become yours on payment in full, to use as you wish. Any general teaching materials used in a workshop remain mine, and attendees may use them internally but not resell or republish them.

12. Liability

I will carry out the work with the reasonable skill and care expected of a professional editor.

Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited. Subject to that, my total liability arising from a project is limited to the fees paid for that project, and I am not liable for indirect or consequential loss, including rejection of a manuscript, delay to publication, loss of funding, or loss of opportunity.

13. Data protection

Personal data is handled as described in the privacy policy, which forms part of these terms.

14. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.

15. Changes

These terms may change. The version that applies to your project is the version in force when you accepted the quotation.