The author's handbook to pre-submission review.

Before you submit

What the service is, whether your draft is ready, and the one choice you make before matching: the language of the review.

A verified researcher in your field reads your manuscript the way a journal referee would and writes a structured review addressed only to you. You decide what to change before you submit anywhere.

A review is most useful on a draft you would be willing to submit next week. That way the reviewer focuses on what you haven’t spotted, and you still have room to act on what they find.

The review is written in the language you choose, and only reviewers who work in that language are matched. Choose the language you read most comfortably, so you can follow every detail.

If your manuscript is in English and English is your second language, say so in your description. Reviewers can then keep language issues and problems with the argument in separate findings.

Choosing a reviewer

Who you are matched with, what their profile tells you, and what you pay.

Four filters run before anyone is offered your manuscript. You see the result, with names and fees, before paying anything.

Up to three matched reviewers are invited. Each sees only your abstract, field and their fee. The first to accept takes the review; the other invitations lapse.

Their past reviews stay with the authors who commissioned them, just as yours will stay with you.

Each reviewer sets their own fee, shown before you choose. Most fall between $300 and $600. Payment is held, and charged when a reviewer accepts; from that moment the fee is frozen.

Reviewers are paid the same for every completed review, whatever it concludes, so every verdict is independent.

Using the findings

How findings are graded, how to turn them into revisions, and how to use your one follow-up.

Every finding quotes the passage it refers to, so you always know where to look. A typical report has two to four majors; a report with none tells you the paper is ready.

Sort majors by what they need, more data, a changed claim, or a clearer explanation, then write a revision plan before editing anything.

After delivery you can send the reviewer one round of questions. Use it where the answer changes what you do next.

Privacy and boundaries

What stays private, what becomes public, and where the service stops.

Journals referee and decide; CitePep gives you advice first. A review here is for you alone.

That separation protects you: you can commission a critical read that stays with you, and you remain free to disagree with any finding. A review improves your odds by showing you what a referee is likely to raise.