Editorial Consultation & Review

Pamela is available to work in one-on-one consultation with Department of Surgery faculty and trainees who are preparing grant proposals, research manuscripts, and book chapters for submission. Consultations generally take place via email and/or Zoom.

For grant proposals specifically, Pamela can help develop the Research Plan and Career Development Plan to make a compelling and straightforward case for the proposed work. Funding agencies have limited resources and most need a very practical reason to give a scientist money. Therefore, grant reviewers want to see that reason stated clearly and supported by a strong rationale and plan of action. A concise and unambiguous proposal has the best chance of being funded.

Any type of manuscript, including full-length articles, brief observations, review papers, case studies, editorials, letters, revisions, and cover letters for revisions can be submitted for editorial review. Most manuscripts can be edited and returned within 2-7 days.

In general, Pamela will edit the manuscript or proposal for organization, clarity, consistency, logic, emphasis, grammar, spelling, and style:

• checking that each section of the manuscript is complete and appropriate (for example, interpretation of results belongs in the Discussion section, not the Results section).
• querying you about statements that are unclear, missing, potentially problematic, or seemingly incorrect.
• whenever possible, providing suggested revisions of material that is ambiguous or discursive.
• cross-checking for accuracy among the different parts of the manuscript (for example, correspondence between the Results section and tables).
• evaluating tables, charts, figures for inclusion in the manuscript.
• ensuring the manuscript conforms to the style and requirements of the target journal or granting agency
• ensuring that idiomatic American English is used correctly (for authors whose primary language is not English)
• proofreading for spelling and grammatical errors.

For grants, which take priority over manuscripts because of imminent deadlines, advance notice is requested so that Pamela can accommodate many investigators who may be submitting proposals for the same deadline. In general, turnaround time is usually 1-4 days for grant proposals.