• Member profiles, created when members sign up.
  
• Forums for offers and requests, for services supporting research communication.
  
• Groups for activities or organisations supporting research communication. 'Research communication' means the publishing of original research, science communication for the general public, and the preparation of research-based teaching materials -- by any method (online, printed, written, visual or audio).
• Individual member blogs (attached to profile pages).
  
• Notes written for the Research Cooperative (aims, history, and advice).
  See also forum categories and descriptions.

NAVIGATION

• Navigate to forums through links in the central panel of our top page, or
• Follow links under tabs in the main menu at the top of every page in our network.

WHO CAN JOIN & WHO CAN USE THIS SITE?

• Volunteers and learners who can offer help for free, or for a low price.
• Professionals and others who seek payment for services provided.
• Researchers, research students, science writers and publishers who need volunteers, or low-cost services, or who can offer reciprocal (mutual) help.
• Researchers, research students, science writers and publishers who can afford to pay for help, at full commercial rates
• Publishers, and companies offering services to writers (e.g. public or private academic publishers, and private language-service companies).

VOLUNTEERS & NON-VOLUNTEERS

• We encourage students and experienced researchers to join the Research Cooperative and volunteer as academic editors, translators, and in other ways, as a contribution to their research communities.
• We also encourage use of our site by professional editors, illustrators, translators, and language-service companies.
  
  Volunteering is a good way to learn about academic writing, editing and publishing. It is also important for establishing working relationships with others in your own research field, locally and internationally. Many individual researchers and research communities depend on voluntary mutual support. The Research Cooperative is helping people to build social networks for mutual support.
  
  This site will work best if we all make efforts to communicate clearly and honestly, in order to develop good working relationships. The abilities or requirements of our members will not be checked or vetted by the Research Cooperative.
  

LANGUAGES

• Any language and combination of languages can be offered or requested for editing and translation, or for other services (see article on languages at the Research Cooperative).
  
  Languages that are often used for publishing academic research include English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin (Chinese), Portugese, Russian and Spanish. The Research Cooperative encourages researchers to explore all possibilities for local and international publishing, in any language.
  

MAKING OFFERS

• When making an offer in one of our forums, please assess your own status as professional, experienced, and/or learner.
  
• All learners are welcome - we wish to support learning by writers, editors, translators, and others. Consider the extent of your own experience as objectively as possible, and describe yourself accordingly.
• You can say more about yourself in the text of your offer (or request), and on your personal profile page.
  

MAKING REQUESTS

• Requests can be made by research writers, research students, science writers, academic research institutions, groups, or projects, conference organizers, the publishers or editors of academic books and journals, and by editing or translation companies.
  
• Always explain your request as clearly as possible, with a realistic assessment of how much time and effort is needed, and indicate when work needs to be started. 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 first draft without any revision by yourself.
  
• Rough drafts are very difficult for translators. Edit and revise your own work yourself as much as possible, before sending it to a translator.
  
• You can ask for a quick or incomplete service if there is a good reason to. This is one way to limit the cost of an editing or translation job. A short or quick trial request can be a starting point for establishing trust and negotiating a price for full editing or translation later.
  
• Ask for a free quote or trial. Send a sample or the whole manuscript, and ask your contact to look before giving a quote.

USE NEGOTIATION SKILLS

• Be clear, and polite. It is also good to be flexible, and optimistic. Avoid false expectations by communicating.
  
• Ask friends, colleagues and others about their experiences, people they have worked with, their negotiations and protocols, and the prices paid or received.
  
• Join our member's group (Calling all members!) to discuss these and other matters related to academic writing, editing, translation, and publishing.
  
• The Research Cooperative cannot provide personal help for making contact, negotiating prices, or resolving conflicts. For more details concerning money matters, see our article on money and payments.

KEEP YOUR DETAILS CURRENT

• Update the email address used for registration, if your address changes (see profile page, settings)
  
• Edit or delete your own messages and replies at any time.
  
• Sign in to edit or delete messages that you no longer wish people to see. Your Profile page will show a list of all the messages you have sent.
  
• Old messages in our forums (more than one year old) may be deleted by the Research Cooperative.
  
• Moderators will review messages in our forums and groups. They can suggest new directions for discussions, and can also delete irrelevant, defamatory, or inflammatory messages at any time.
  
• If you see a problem or possible trouble anywhere on the site, please tell us.

Thank you for reading this article!

[Return to FAQ]