Supporting Science, Countering COVID-19: Editage Pro Bono Services Crosses 700-Paper Mark

With the global scale and repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the amount of research generated has also increased. Researchers across the world are adding to the pool of knowledge at an unprecedented rate. Editage, the flagship brand of Cactus Communications, a technology company accelerating scientific advancement, had launched pro bono manuscript translation, editing, and artwork formatting services to help researchers across the world meet the standards required by journals. Now, they have processed over 700 papers under these services.

With the world grappling with a pandemic, research in most fields has taken a backseat. Scientists are focusing all their energy and resources in a race to find out more about, a vaccine against, or a cure for COVID-19. There is a tremendous amount of research being generated. In such a situation, researchers could use all the support they can get in communicating their research effectively.

Editage, the flagship brand of Cactus Communications (CACTUS), a technology company accelerating scientific advancement, through its author services, has helped over 430,000 researchers get their research published and reach a wide audience. In light of the global scenario, it had started offering free translation, editing, and artwork formatting services in February 2020.

“Our vision,” states Vikas Narang, Chief Operating Officer of Editage, “is to ensure that new research findings on COVID-19 get published quickly; it is the need of the hour. We don’t want the researchers working on this noble cause to worry about funds for our services.”

Now, 3 months after the launch of these pro bono services, Editage has reported that, as of June 8, it has processed over 700 papers on COVID-19 (valued at approximately USD 210,000), with a large majority being research on vaccines and drugs (378 out of 700 papers). A majority of the papers have come from China (310 papers).

“This opportunity to help out researchers has been very valuable,” notes Narang, “and the feedback from researchers has been overwhelmingly positive. It’s a difficult time for all of us, but more so for people working on the frontline. This is a small step by Editage that we hope goes a long way in helping in the global fight against the pandemic.”

In addition to the pro bono editing services, CACTUS launched a comprehensive AI-powered, expert-curated platform on COVID-19 research. Abhishek Goel, Co-founder and CEO of CACTUS, adds, “We want researchers who are working hard on improving our understanding of COVID-19 to work on finding the cure; our platform and services allow them to discover research from around the world that can further their efforts, and help disseminate their research. For instance, a researcher studying lung autopsy spoke about how difficult it was to get COVID-19 autopsy reports from Italy—we worked with agencies in Italy to source the data that is now available for researchers on our platform.”

More details on the pro bono translation, editing, artwork formatting services for COVID-19 research can be found here: https://www.editage.com/coronavirus/

The platform for discovering the latest research on COVID-19 and collaborating with other researchers can be found here: https://covid19.researcher.life/

About Editage

Founded in 2002, Editage (editage.com) has so far helped over 430,000 authors publish around 1.2 million research papers in scholarly journals across over 1000 disciplines through editorial, translation, transcription, and publication support services. Editage is a brand of Cactus Communications (cactusglobal.com), a technology company accelerating scientific advancement. CACTUS also offers strategic and tactical scientific content solutions to global life science organizations (Cactus Life Sciences); an integrated ecosystem of tools and support designed to simplify the life of the researcher (R); solutions for science dissemination and engagement with peers, public, and policymakers for wider research outreach (Impact Science); and AI tools and solutions for publishers to grow business opportunities and improve publishing workflows (UNSILO). Its innovation and R&D cell (Cactus Labs) powers all CACTUS businesses with latest technologies. CACTUS also incubates seed and early-stage startups that share its mission to solve global problems with science and technology solutions. It has offices in London, Princeton, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, Aarhus, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Mumbai; a global workforce of over 3,000 experts; and customers from over 190 countries.