Refund Policy

Scientific Proofreading Refund Policy

This Refund Policy applies to all services purchased from Scientific Proofreading through our website, email, WhatsApp, telephone, invoice, payment link, or any other official communication channel.

By requesting a quote, placing an order, submitting payment, uploading a manuscript, or instructing us to begin work, you agree to the terms outlined in this Refund Policy.

Scientific Proofreading provides custom, digital, academic, editorial, proofreading, formatting, publishing, and manuscript support services. Because our work is personalised to each client’s document, subject area, deadline, service level, and project instructions, refunds are limited and are considered according to the stage of the project and the work already completed.

Nothing in this Refund Policy removes or limits any mandatory consumer rights that may apply under the laws of England and Wales or any other applicable consumer protection law.

About Scientific Proofreading

Scientific Proofreading is a UK-based academic, scientific, editorial, and publishing support service. We help researchers, authors, PhD students, postgraduate writers, academic teams, and professional clients prepare written work for review, submission, publication, or final presentation.

Our services may include:

• Scientific proofreading
• Academic editing
• Book editing
• Research paper editing
• Journal article editing
• Medical editing and writing
• Dissertation and thesis editing
• Journal selection and submission support
• Manuscript formatting
• Book publishing support
• Book marketing support
• Related writing, formatting, editing, and publication preparation services

Scientific Proofreading
1 Greenfield Cres, Birmingham B15 3BE, United Kingdom
Email: info@scientificproofreading.uk
Tel: +44 (20) 45148383
WhatsApp: +44 7882744775

General Policy Statement

All services provided by Scientific Proofreading are custom, service-based, and often digital in nature. This means that once our team has reviewed your files, assigned an editor, started planning, begun editing, prepared formatting work, provided consultation, or delivered any part of the service, time and professional resources have already been used.

Refunds are therefore not automatic. Each refund request is reviewed fairly based on:

• The service purchased
• The project stage
• Whether work has started
• Whether any deliverable has been sent
• The amount of editorial or administrative work completed
• Any third-party or payment processing costs already incurred
• The reason for the refund request
• Any statutory rights that may apply

Where a service issue can be corrected through revision, clarification, or reasonable follow-up support, revisions will normally be the first remedy.

Statutory Consumer Rights

This Refund Policy does not affect your statutory rights.

If you are a consumer buying services online or at a distance, certain cancellation rights may apply under UK consumer law. However, where you ask us to begin providing a custom service before any cooling-off period ends, you may be responsible for work carried out up to the point of cancellation. UK consumer law also recognises contracts for goods, digital content, and services, and businesses must not use unfair terms to avoid mandatory consumer protections.

If any part of this Refund Policy conflicts with a mandatory legal right that cannot be excluded, the mandatory legal right will apply.

When a Service Is Considered Started

A service is considered started once any of the following has taken place:

• We have reviewed your manuscript, document, brief, or project instructions
• We have prepared a quote based on your submitted material and you have approved the work
• Your project has been assigned to an editor, proofreader, formatter, consultant, or project coordinator
• Editing, proofreading, formatting, research, planning, manuscript assessment, or publication preparation has begun
• We have held a consultation, reviewed journal guidelines, checked publisher requirements, or assessed platform requirements
• We have begun preparing files, comments, tracked changes, formatting, strategy, recommendations, or other deliverables
• Any third-party tool, platform, submission system, ISBN, hosting, advertising, publishing, or marketing setup has been initiated on your behalf

Once a service has started, any refund will be assessed based on the work already completed.

Refund Eligibility by Project Stage

1. Before Service Commencement

If you cancel before work has started, before your project has been assigned, and before any document review, consultation, planning, formatting, editing, or preparation has taken place, you may be eligible for a full or partial refund.

Any approved refund may exclude:

• Payment processing fees
• Administrative fees
• Consultation fees
• Onboarding or file review fees
• Currency conversion charges
• Any third-party fees already paid

2. After Service Commencement but Before First Delivery

If work has started but no first draft, edited document, formatted file, consultation summary, strategy document, or other deliverable has been provided, you may be eligible for a partial refund.

Any partial refund will be calculated based on:

• The amount of work completed
• Time spent by editors, proofreaders, formatters, or consultants
• Resources allocated to the project
• Internal project management and administrative work
• Any third-party costs or payment processing fees
• The agreed project scope and deadline

Administrative, onboarding, consultation, payment processing, and third-party costs are generally non-refundable once incurred.

3. After First Delivery, Revision, or Milestone Completion

Once any deliverable has been provided, the service will usually be considered substantially performed.

Deliverables may include:

• Edited manuscript
• Proofread document
• Tracked changes file
• Clean copy
• Formatted manuscript
• Journal guideline review
• Submission-ready file
• Book editing file
• Manuscript formatting file
• Publishing preparation document
• Marketing plan
• Consultation notes
• Strategy document
• Any completed milestone or partial project delivery

After delivery, refunds are generally not available unless there is a clear service issue that we are unable to correct through reasonable revision or follow-up support.

Revisions Are the Primary Remedy

Editing, proofreading, formatting, publishing, and marketing support involve professional judgement. If you believe something in the delivered work does not match the agreed scope, you should contact us with specific details.

Where appropriate, we may offer:

• Clarification
• Minor corrections
• Reasonable revision
• File adjustment
• Formatting correction
• Additional explanation
• Follow-up support

Refunds are not normally issued for personal preference, change of mind, disagreement with editorial style, or dissatisfaction that can reasonably be addressed through revision.

Revision requests must relate to the original agreed scope. New instructions, new content, additional files, different journal guidelines, changed publishing requirements, or a different service level may require a new quote.

Non-Refundable Services and Fees

The following services and fees may be non-refundable once charged, started, booked, or delivered:

• Completed proofreading or editing work
• Completed manuscript formatting
• Completed consultation or strategy sessions
• Rush, priority, urgent, or expedited service fees
• Administrative and onboarding fees
• Payment processing fees
• Third-party platform charges
• ISBN, domain, hosting, publishing setup, or software fees
• Journal submission support after the process has started
• Book publishing setup after work has begun
• Book marketing, PR, advertising, SEO, outreach, or promotional campaign work once started
• Amazon KDP, book publishing, or platform setup support once initiated
• Any work already delivered as part of a bundle or milestone

This does not affect any rights you may have where a service has not been provided with reasonable care and skill.

Client Delays and Non-Responsiveness

Refunds will not normally be issued if delays, project interruption, or non-completion result from the client’s actions or lack of response.

This includes situations where the client:

• Does not respond to required questions or approvals
• Fails to provide files, instructions, references, guidelines, or access details
• Provides incorrect, incomplete, corrupted, or outdated files
• Changes the project scope after work has started
• Changes the deadline after work has started
• Changes the target journal, publisher, platform, or formatting rules after work has started
• Abandons the project after service commencement
• Requests a refund due to personal circumstances unrelated to service performance
• Decides to use another provider after work has begun
• Requests cancellation because of a change of mind

If we do not receive a response from the client within ten business days after requesting required information, we may place the project on hold. Continued non-responsiveness may affect refund eligibility.

Bundled Services

Some projects may include multiple services, such as editing, proofreading, formatting, journal selection, publishing support, or book marketing support.

If a bundled package is purchased, each part of the package may be reviewed separately for refund purposes. Refund eligibility applies only to the portion of work not yet started or delivered.

Any approved refund for a bundle will be calculated after deducting:

• Completed services
• Partially completed services
• Administrative work
• Consultation time
• Third-party fees
• Rush or priority fees
• Payment processing charges

Delivery and Acceptance

A project is considered delivered when the completed file, edited document, formatted file, report, consultation notes, or agreed deliverable is sent to the client’s registered email address, WhatsApp, client portal, file-sharing link, or other agreed delivery method.

Delivery may also be considered complete if we make reasonable documented attempts to send the file but the client does not respond, downloads the file late, provides an incorrect email address, or fails to monitor the contact channel used for the project.

The client is responsible for ensuring that their contact details are accurate and accessible.

Chargebacks and Payment Disputes

If you have a billing concern, please contact Scientific Proofreading first so we can review the issue and try to resolve it fairly.

Starting a chargeback or payment dispute before contacting us may delay the investigation of your request and may result in the suspension of active services until the payment issue is resolved.

If a chargeback is opened after work has started or after a deliverable has been provided, we may submit project records, delivery evidence, communication history, and service documentation to the payment provider.

No Guarantee of Academic, Publishing, or Marketing Results

Scientific Proofreading provides professional editing, proofreading, formatting, publishing, submission, and marketing support. However, we do not guarantee specific outcomes.

We do not guarantee:

• Journal acceptance
• Publisher acceptance
• University approval
• Dissertation or thesis approval
• Higher grades or academic marks
• Book sales
• Amazon ranking
• Bestseller status
• Reader reviews
• Media coverage
• Advertising results
• Return on investment
• Platform approval
• Publication success

Refunds will not be issued solely because a journal, supervisor, publisher, university, reader, advertising platform, Amazon KDP, or third-party platform does not produce the result the client hoped for.

Refund Request Process

All refund requests must be submitted in writing by email.

To request a refund, please email:

info@scientificproofreading.uk

Use the subject line:

Refund Request

Your email should include:

• Your full name
• Email address used for the order
• Service purchased
• Date of purchase
• Project title or document name
• Reason for the refund request
• Any supporting details or evidence

Refund requests made by phone, WhatsApp, live chat, social media, or informal messages may not be treated as official refund requests unless we ask you to confirm the request by email.

Submitting a refund request does not guarantee approval. Each request is reviewed according to this Refund Policy, the project stage, the service scope, the work completed, and any applicable consumer rights.

Refund Review Timeline

We aim to review refund requests within a reasonable time after receiving all required details.

If a refund is approved, it will usually be processed back to the original payment method where possible. The time it takes to appear in your account may depend on your bank, card provider, payment processor, or payment platform.

Any refund will be made only to the person or payment method originally used for the purchase unless otherwise required by law or agreed in writing.

Intellectual Property After Refund

You retain ownership of the original manuscript, research, book, thesis, dissertation, article, or document you submitted to us.

However, if a full refund is issued for a service, any completed or partially completed work produced by Scientific Proofreading may not be used, published, submitted, distributed, or relied upon unless we agree otherwise in writing.

Where a partial refund is issued, usage rights for completed work may depend on the amount paid, the work delivered, and the agreed service terms.

Currency, Taxes, and Fees

Payments and refunds will normally be processed in the currency used for the original transaction or as shown on the invoice or payment request.

The following may be non-refundable where applicable:

• VAT or tax amounts already processed
• Payment processor fees
• Bank charges
• Currency conversion fees
• International transaction fees
• Third-party platform fees

Scientific Proofreading is not responsible for exchange rate changes or bank charges applied by the client’s payment provider.

Policy Updates

We may update this Refund Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, payment process, legal requirements, or business practices.

The version of this Refund Policy in effect at the time of purchase will generally apply to that purchase, unless a change is required by law.

Continued use of our website or services after updates are posted means you accept the revised policy.

Last Updated: 15/7/2026

Governing Law

This Refund Policy is governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute relating to refunds, cancellations, payments, or service delivery will be handled under the applicable laws and courts of England and Wales, unless another mandatory legal rule applies.

Nothing in this policy limits any consumer protection rights that cannot legally be excluded.

Contact Information

If you have questions about this Refund Policy or want to submit a refund request, please contact us:

Scientific Proofreading
1 Greenfield Cres, Birmingham B15 3BE, United Kingdom
Email: info@scientificproofreading.uk
Tel: +44 (20) 45148383
WhatsApp: +44 7882744775

Get in Touch With Us

Need help with a payment, order, project scope, revision, or refund question?

Email: info@scientificproofreading.uk
Phone: +44 (20) 45148383
WhatsApp: +44 7882744775
Mailing Address: 1 Greenfield Cres, Birmingham B15 3BE, United Kingdom

Request Support

Whether you need help with scientific proofreading, academic editing, book editing, manuscript formatting, journal submission, publishing support, or book marketing, Scientific Proofreading is here to support your project with care, clarity, and professionalism.