From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]> Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 20:08:22 -0500 Hmmm, sounds rather like what literary agents do for book authors.... Sandy Thatcher > From: Jim O'Donnell <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 19:18:36 +0800 > > EDANZ: Heard a presentation today in Singapore at the annual Fiesole > Retreat (very strong program here!) about a company called Edanz --- > www.edanzediting.com (see also: http://www.casalini.it/retreat/) > > Their pitch is that they work with scientific journal authors who need > help getting published. Their focus is on China and Japan, where they > believe there are large numbers of worthy scientists who have > inordinate difficulty getting published. These are scholars and > scientists and physicians and the like who need help at several > levels: editing the English of their articles; identifying > appropriate journals to which to submit; interpreting the sometimes > curt and cavalier communications of journal editors surrounding peer > review; and revising for resubmission. They have a fee schedule, > rapid turnaround time (a week for a fairly heavy intervention), and a > stable of native-English editors standing by to help you. > > The presentation was thought-provoking in several ways. The speaker > argued that journals should emphasize an author-centric perspective > and work hard to deliver a positive experience for authors. He backed > this argument with surveys and anecdotes that make clear that peer > review is often a hard barrier to climb for the non-English speaker > just at the level of figuring out whether this letter from the editor > really is an acceptance, a rejection or a revise-and-resubmit letter. > > And almost anyone could use their find-a-journal service, which they > animate by taking a chunk of your text and pattern-matching against > many journals to see whose content is most like what you are writing; > then they look at impact factor, selectivity, and turnaround time and > make recommendations. Several major publishers work with them > happily. > > This was a description of a service that I had never imagined was > needed; but on hearing, immediately recognized the appeal. I could > imagine such a service run in an exploitative way (the "Famous Writers > School" of yore comes to mind), but I can equally imagine one -- and > this seems to be Edanz -- genuinely interested in making a living by > offering a *real* service. > > (Another presentation at this very good retreat had figures suggesting > that Chinese and Japanese scholars have much more likelihood of having > grant money to support publication than US and European scholars do. > Spending some of that money fixing up your prose and finding the right > journal makes perfect sense.) > > Jim O'Donnell