Grant Editing

We are pleased to offer a free editing service for Weill Cornell grant applicants. As a program with limited capacity, we concentrate on the following prioritized grant categories:

1. Resubmissions of Scored But Not Funded grant applications
2. Junior faculty writing their first R01 grant, including FARM participants
3. Junior faculty career awards
4. Limited submission grants (for institutional nominees only)
5. Sections of large collaborative awards - for example, the introduction for a P01
6. Grants in other categories will be considered, if possible

Please note that this service is designed to review the language, not the science, of your grant application. Although we may comment on areas of concern, such as the new NIH requirements on scientific rigor and reproducibility, we are not a substitute for the scientific review that a mentor or colleague can provide.

What we offer:

Light editing:

• Correcting spelling, word usage, grammar, and punctuation
• Cross-checking text with tables and figures for correct association

Medium editing:

• Suggesting textual changes for clarity and concision
• Ensuring style consistency
• Changing passive to active voice

Boilerplate language:

• A selection of standardized descriptions of WCM resources and programs

What we deliver:

• Professional editing expertise
• Timeliness: edited grant documents returned within one week
• Confidentiality: only our small editorial team will have access to grant materials

What we expect:

• Submission of grant materials, including reviewer comments for resubmissions, well before grant deadline (three weeks strongly recommended; no requests accepted within one week of deadline)
• Grant materials in Microsoft Word format
• Completion of brief post-editing survey
• Sharing of grant score and outcome*

What we evaluate:

• Difference in NIH scores for grants before and after using the service*
• Grant application outcomes, including funding and scores, if applicable*
• Customer feedback - you will be required to complete a brief survey
• Capacity of program

*Note: A requirement for using this service is confidential disclosure of the grant outcome, including the score and percentile for NIH applications. This information will be used only for evaluating the effectiveness of the program and will not be disclosed outside of the group administering the service.

Editorial requests are considered both on a first-come, first-served basis and also ranked by categories as noted above. To increase your chance of acceptance, we strongly encourage you to request this service and deliver your grant materials at the earliest possible date.

We will notify you within 24 business hours whether your request has been accepted. Please do not send any grant materials before then.

Please complete our two-part form to request this service. If you have any problems, please send an email to: libedit@med.cornell.edu