Terms of Service

Last updated: November 7, 2026

1. The Service

Sage Editors provides human-only copyediting, proofreading, pre-submission peer review, and editor-assisted publishing support for academic manuscripts, performed by subject-matter-matched human editors. No AI model edits your manuscript at any stage.

2. Pricing & Payment

Editing and peer review are priced per word, by service and turnaround; editor-assisted publishing is a fixed fee paid as a deposit and a balance. Current rates are published on our Pricing page and may change; the rate in effect at the time you submit an order is the rate that applies to that order. Payment is processed via Stripe or Paystack and is due before an order enters review, except for free 500-word samples.

3. The Free Sample

One free 500-word sample edit is available per manuscript. Word count is capped at 500 words regardless of what's submitted. The sample is provided to demonstrate our editing quality and comes with a formal quote for the remainder of your manuscript — there is no obligation to proceed.

4. Our Guarantees

Rejection guarantee: if your manuscript is desk-rejected by your target journal purely for language/clarity issues after our edit, we will re-edit it at no charge or assist with your resubmission cover letter, subject to our reasonable review of the rejection reason.

Deadline guarantee: if we miss the delivery date stated at the time of your order, your order is eligible for a discount or refund. See our Refund Policy for the full process.

5. Editors

Editors are independent, verified academic professionals, not Sage Editors employees. All editors are verified through our academic verification partner before approval to edit any manuscript. Editors are compensated with a share of the order price for manuscripts they complete; withdrawal terms are covered in each editor's account agreement.

6. Confidentiality

Your manuscript is treated as confidential. See our Privacy Policy for details on how manuscript data is handled and who can access it.

7. Account Suspension

We reserve the right to suspend accounts (client or editor) for violations of these terms, fraudulent activity, or abuse of the platform's free tools.

8. Limitation of Liability

Sage Editors provides language editing and review services. We do not guarantee journal acceptance, and our review does not constitute an endorsement of your manuscript's scientific content, methodology, or findings.

9. Changes to These Terms

We may update these terms from time to time; continued use of the service after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.