FAQ - Contents

• What is the Tarpan Group?
• How Do I Submit My Manuscript?
• How Do I Accept an Editing Contract?
• How Does Tarpan Deal with Possible Conflicts of Interest?
• What Kind of Computer Technology Do I Need?
• How Much Time Does My Manuscript Require for Editing?
• Even Though My Editing Project Will Be Quoted, Is There A Set Fee Schedule?
   
• Q: What is the Tarpan Group?
  The Tarpan Group consists of recognized professionals with extensive editing experience in the areas of human and veterinary medicine, nursing, public health, and health care policy and administration. The editor for your project will be selected based upon his or her area of expertise. Tarpan can edit manuscripts for journal submission, books and book chapters, monographs, master's theses, doctoral dissertations, and grant proposals.
  In addition, the Tarpan Group offers ancillary Special Services that include Illustrations, Tables and Histograms, Binding, and Copies.
  
• Q: How Do I Submit My Manuscript?
  If you have saved your written work to an electronic file - in Microsoft®Word (.doc), Adobe®Acrobat (.pdf) or as text (.txt) - then you can easily send the Tarpan Group your manuscript. Make sure you add a page with your personal identifiers and contact information. After reviewing the Special Services section, add the details for any other tasks that you want done to the personal identifier page. When the file is complete, start the manuscript submission process at Quotation. Your file will be uploaded from you computer to the Tarpan Group server.
  
• Q: How Do I Accept an Editing Contract?
  Our response to you will depend on the time criteria you have selected when you submit your manuscript. You will receive via email a QUOTATION, with a QUOTATION NUMBER, for the editing services you have requested. The email will describe the Reply process for you to accept the proposed editing contract. All accepted editing work requires an advance payment of 50% of the total amount. The initial payment by check in US$, with the QUOTATION NUMBER written on the check, can be made by mail to:
  The Tarpan Group
  808 E Franklin Street
  Chapel Hill, NC  27514
  USA
  
• Q: How Does Tarpan Deal with Possible Conflicts of Interest?
  A Tarpan editor will not be assigned nor accept editing work on a project for which there could be a conflict of interest between the author and the final vehicle for publication. For example, an editor will not be given an editing assignment intended for a journal on which he or she is an editorial board member or a decision editor. Likewise, an editor will not be given an editing assignment intended for publication as a book in which the editor has an affiliation.
  
• Q: What Kind of Computer Technology Do I Need?
  If you can save an electronic file in PC or Macintosh, in an accepted format [How Do I Submit a Manuscript], we will be able read your work. If you want to use the collaborative functions available in Microsoft®Word, especially the advanced tracking functions in Office XP, indicate that you are using XP, for example, in your personal identifier page.
   
• Q: How Much Time Does My Manuscript Require for Editing?
  The amount of time depends on the length, complexity, and baseline quality of the manuscript submitted. Your QUOTATION will indicate the estimated amount of time to complete the editing tasks. All editing work starts only after an initial payment has been received for the work.
  
• Even Though My Editing Project Will Be Quoted, Is There A Set Fee Schedule?
  There is no set fee or rate card because there are too many variables that influence the editing process and impact the cost of the service. However, the minimum charge is US$130 for accepted editing work regardless of the brevity - or length - of the manuscript.