The art of the edit: Scientific Editing and Research Communication Core

Clear, concise, and compelling: These are the three Cs that the Scientific Editing and Research Communication Core lives by.

Christine Blaumueller, PhD, core director, consults with an author

A service open to investigators and their trainees, the core provides editing services for:

• Grants
• Research manuscripts
• Correspondence with journal editorial offices
• Conference abstracts/applications
• Other scientific writing projects

The core is led by two full-time editors with PhDs in the biomedical sciences who have years of scientific editing experience and laboratory work under their belts:

• Christine Blaumueller, core director, who has a PhD in biology, emphasis on development and cell biology
• Jennifer Barr, scientific editor and writing consultant, who has a PhD in anatomy and cell biology, emphasis on immunology

Depending on the level of editing requested, they will:

• Correct grammar and mechanical issues
• Rewrite or identify unclear statements
• Rearrange sentences and paragraphs to improve clarity and organization
• Clean up formatting
• Increase emphasis on key points
• Achieve a single voice if there are multiple authors
• Give a pre-review analysis from the perspective of a non-specialist reviewer
• Meet with authors for one-on-one consultations, as needed

Hear it from users

“I received compliments [on] our manuscript when I sent a publication inquiry to the same editor today, ‘Your (1st) manuscript has been accepted and was actually noted as one of the best written and organized submissions from an author, so I would absolutely love to have more submissions from your group.’”

—Assistant professor

“One of the reviewers of a grant that you edited and I submitted back in November said, ‘This is a beautifully constructed and exceptionally well written grant.’"

—Associate professor

“When given the daunting task of a multi-million dollar, multi principal investigator project, you accepted the challenge and not only succeeded but handled it with ease and extreme professionalism. Having your assistance in the future will never be in question, it will just be an expectation. Thank you for making the process so much more manageable, you were invaluable!”

– Center Administrative Officer, Veterans Administration

Pricing

The following departments and centers cover the cost of the service for their members:

• Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
• Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
• Iowa Neuroscience Institute
• Pappajohn Biomedical Institute
• Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Center

See pricing for other individuals.

Other services

The core also provides training and education on a variety of scientific writing skills, as well as grant planning forums, and occasionally offers an internship for scientists interested in scientific editing.

Learn more

Visit medicine.uiowa.edu/sercc to learn more and to submit a document for editorial review.