How this site works

FORUMS

Our forums allow offers and requests to be sent as public messages by academic research editors, translators, writers, publishers, research organisations, groups, or projects, and by editing or translation companies.

All forums at this site can be viewed without any registration or fee. This is a free, not-for-profit website.

To use the forums fully, please register, giving your name - real or imaginary - and a valid email address. The Research Cooperative will immediately send a password to your email address. You can then Sign in to your own account at any time, to modify your personal profile information, to post, modify or cancel offers or requests, reply to messages by other members, send private mail to other members, or participate in special-interest Groups established within the Cooperative.

It is more likely that visitors will respond favourably to your messages if you give special attention to the information given on your personal profile page.

WHO CAN USE THIS SITE?

1. Volunteers and also those who seek payment, for services offered to writers, publishers, and language-service companies.

2. Writers who can only afford to ask for volunteers, writers who can offer reciprocal services (as editors, translators, or science illustrators), and writers who can afford to pay fees.

3. Publishers, and companies offering services to writers (e.g. language service companies).

We strongly encourage students and experienced researchers to volunteer as academic editors, translators, or in other ways, as a contribution to their research communities. Volunteer work with unpublished drafts is a good way to learn about academic editing and writing. It is also important for establishing and maintaining a network of working relationships in your own research field, locally and internationally.

Around the world, many individuals and research communities depend on informal and voluntary support networks. This site can help people create and maintain these networks.

We also encourage professional editors and translators to use this site, and commerical editing or translation companies.
This site will work best if many people participate, and if we all make efforts to communicate clearly and honestly, to build good working relationships. If communication is clear, then it does not matter what skill level is being offered or requested, the service can be useful for someone working at a similar or lower level. The stated abilities or requirements of users will not be checked or vetted by the Research Cooperative. Members are strongly encouraged to help promote this site among their friends and colleagues, by sending out invitations (see the Invite tab in the menu above)
LANGUAGES

In the our forums, any language and combination of languagess can be offered or requested for editing and translation, or for other sevices, but we can only offer Roman characters for notices posted in the forums (see article on languages at the Research Cooperative).

Worldwide, languages that are often used for conducting and publishing academic research include English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin (Chinese), Portugese, Russian and Spanish. This does not mean that other languages cannot or should not be used. Writers should identify the most suitable languages for publishing their own research, according to their intended audiences. The Research Cooperative encourages writers to explore all possibilities for both local and international publishing.

Next, I give an brief overview of forums and how to use them. Please read this!
OFFERS

When making offers, members must assess their own level or status as professional, experienced, learner, etc. At this site, learners are just as welcome as others, but they should try to be conscious of the limits of their own experience and identify themselves as learners!

Please be as honest and realistic as you can be when stating your own skill level. Our categories are only approximate. You can say more about yourself in the text of your offer or request, and on your personal profile page. Exaggeration or shyness may lead to disappointment for yourself and others. If you want, you can offer to provide contact details for academic and/or personal referees.
REQUESTS

Requests can be made by academic research writers, science writers, research organisations, groups, or projects, conference organisers, the publishers or editors of academic books and journals (hard-copy or electronic), and by editing or translation companies. If you are looking for an editor or translator, please explain the nature of the work required as clearly as possible.

Make a realistic assessment of how much effort is needed, and describe the work needed in as much detail as you want

If careful editing of the content is required, do not ask for a superficial brushing-up of spelling and grammar, or for proof-reading - especially if you have only written a rough draft without attempting any revision yourself. Be aware that rough drafts are very difficult for translators. Edit and revise your own work yourself as much as possible, before sending it to an editor or translator.
Of course, you can ask for a superficial service if there is a good reason to. This is one way to limit the cost of an editing or translation job. Paying for a quick superficial revision or translation can be a starting point for establishing trust and negotiating a price for full editing or translation of a text.

If you want, ask for a free quote or trial. Send a sample to the editor or translator, and ask them give a quote for working on it. Or send the whole manuscript, and ask your contact to look it all over before giving a quote.
NOTES FOR ALL USERS OF THIS SITE
Do not be afraid to negotiate! Be clear about what you need and want, but be flexible and be polite. It is also good to be optimistic, but to avoid having false expectations. How is this possible? Ask friends, colleagues and others about their experiences, the people they found, their negotiation methods, the protocols they used for doing the work, and the prices they paid or received Or join our member's group (Calling all members!) to discuss these and other matters related to academic writing, editing, and translation.

Replies to all offers or requests should be sent to the address(es) provided in each message. The Research Cooperative cannot offer personal help for making contact, negotiating prices, or resolving conflicts. For more details concerning money matters, see our article on money and payments.
Members can edit or delete their own messages and replies (check!) at any time. Please delete messages that you no longer wish people to see. To do this, visit your Profile page to see a list of all the messages you have sent.
Very old messages (e.g. those that are one year old or more) may eventually be deleted by the Research Cooperative, to keep offers and requests up-to-date. Having too many ancient notices will make the site less useful for all of us, although it is also interesting to look at old messages, as examples for others to learn from when composing new messages.

Moderators chosen by the Research Cooperative can review messages and discussions, and suggest new directions in the discussions. As with most interactive sites, the moderators can also delete irrelevant, defamatory, or inflammatory messages at any time. If you see a problem or possible trouble anywhere on the site, please send us an alert message.

Thank you for reading this article!

Last updated by Peter Matthews Aug. 6, 2008.

Welcome to
The Research Cooperative

Sign Up
or Sign In