Services

Independent Editorial Support for Clinical and Public Health Researchers

Get Editorial Insight That Works Differently From Co-Author Feedback

The Pre-Submission Assessment is a structured editorial evaluation designed to help clinical and public health researchers understand how their manuscript will likely be read and evaluated before submission. It offers an independent editorial perspective on whether your contribution is visible, your argument is clear, and your communication is effective, together with an actionable plan for revision.

The Editor’s First Look

See Your Manuscript Through an Editor’s Eyes Before Submission

When you have lived with a project for months or years, it becomes difficult to read the manuscript as an outsider. The Pre-Submission Assessment shows you exactly where your argument gets hard to follow and which revisions will have the greatest impact.

I’m accepting a small founding cohort of clients at a launch rate. They receive the full assessment at the introductory fee in exchange for written feedback after the engagement. If your manuscript is near submission and you would like to be considered for the founding cohort, please fill out the contact form to request a Pre-Submission Assessment.

Extra Support After the Assessment

For Manuscripts That Need More Than a Roadmap for Revision

The Pre-Submission Assessment is my core service and is fully standalone. It shows you what to revise and in what order through the Strategic Submission Report and is the foundation for any additional support.
If you want further guidance on implementing the report’s findings, Extra Revision Guidance adds a fully annotated manuscript and a clarification round. Once you’ve revised, a Submission Readiness Check confirms whether the issues raised in the report have been resolved.

Extra support is only available after the Pre-Submission Assessment and can be requested by email.

During Revision

Extra Revision Guidance

Guidance as you work with the roadmap

The Pre-Submission Assessment gives you the complete picture of how to revise your manuscript before you submit. If you want expert input throughout revision, not just at the start, Extra Revision Guidance adds two things: a fully annotated manuscript with high-level comments in context, and one written clarification round for follow-up questions.
It’s designed for researchers who want hands-on guidance as they work through the revision, not only when they start.

Available to all assessment clients on request.
After Revision

Submission Readiness Check

Confidence that your revision has landed

Once you have revised your manuscript based on the Strategic Submission Report, you can send it to me for a focused written review before submitting it to the journal.
The Submission Readiness Check confirms whether the issues raised in the report have been resolved and whether any gaps remain.
You’ll submit your manuscript confidently, knowing the revision has landed, not hoping it has.

Available to all assessment clients on request.
My Qualifications

Expertise Shaped by Research, Writing, and Editorial Work

My work as a researcher, writer, and scientific editor spans more than ten years, including manuscript assessment and high-level editing guidance at BMC Medicine (Nature Portfolio). That experience informs how I approach every manuscript today.

  • PhD Chemistry — University of Hamburg, Germany
  • Former Medical Writer and Clinical Project Manager — proderm GmbH (now SGS proderm GmbH)
  • Former Scientific Editor — Springer Nature, BMC Medicine
  • Postgraduate Training in Evidence-Based Medicine — Charité — Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
  • Certificate in Translation Studies and Professional English — AKAD University

Professional Memberships

Member of the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) and the Verband der Freien Lektorinnen und Lektoren e.V. (VFLL).

What My Collaborators Say

Several collaborators from my time as a scientific editor at BMC Medicine (Nature Portfolio) share their experiences of working with me below.

  • Susanne is an excellent communicator. She has an exceptional ability to understand the central contribution of the research and how its significance can be communicated more clearly.
    Her feedback goes well beyond correcting language or addressing individual technical details.
    Professor Lei Zhang
    HEAD OF Artificial Intelligence and Modelling in Epidemiology Program,
    School of Translational Medicine, Monash University, Australia
  • These interactions far exceeded my expectations and were among the very most beneficial I have experienced in publishing over the last 35 years.
    I recommend Susanne for any scientific writing and editing needs.
    Professor Louis J. Muglia
    President & CEO
    Burroughs Wellcome Fund
  • I was impressed by her intelligent edits to lift clarity and precision. And she did this with care not to alter the content. I found myself interrogating her ‘track changes’ to glean tips on better writing.
    She is the best scientific editor I have ever worked with.
    Professor Stephen Tong
    Professor of Obstetrics; Head OF Translational Obstetrics Group;
    Co-Director, Mercy Perinatal
    University of Melbourne / Mercy Hospital for Women
  • Her editorial precision, clear communication, and ability to identify key issues impressed me.
    She showed excellent scientific understanding and editorial judgment, ensuring manuscripts were methodologically sound and clearly presented.
    Assoc. Prof. Priv.-Doz. Dr. med. univ. Johannes Ott
    Deputy Head, Division of Gynecologic Endocrinology AND Reproductive Medicine
    Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical University of Vienna
  • Susanne went above and beyond what I expected in a scientific editor. She was excellent in putting the manuscript in the bigger picture, determining possible fit for the journal, and finding similar articles that were published and summarizing their results.
    Working with Susanne yields excellent outcomes and is a pleasure.
    Marloes Dekker Nitert, PhD, SFHEA
    Associate Professor, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
    University of Queensland
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Is the Assessment Right for You?

Designed for Researchers Preparing Submissions for Selective Journals

This service is for:

  • Clinical researchers and clinician-scientists seeking structural and argument-level editorial assessment
  • Public health researchers in epidemiology, health services research, health policy, public health interventions, and evidence synthesis
  • Principal investigators and research group leaders leading collaborative studies
  • Researchers with a complete or near-complete manuscript
  • Researchers preparing submissions to selective journals publishing original research intended to inform clinical practice, public health, or health policy

This service is not:

  • Copyediting
  • Proofreading
  • Submission management
  • Publication coaching
  • Cover letter drafting*
  • Subject-matter review of study design or methodology
  • Simulated Peer-Review

*The Pre-Submission Assessment includes guidance on positioning your findings in the cover letter but doesn’t provide written journal communication.

Tell me about your manuscript, timeline, and publication goals. I’ll advise on whether the Pre-Submission Assessment is the right fit.

How to Start

Start Your Pre-Submission Assessment: Four Steps From Inquiry to Clarity

Our collaboration begins with a brief inquiry about your manuscript and moves through four steps to your Strategic Submission Report.

Step 1
Submit Your Manuscript Details
Complete a brief contact form with information about your manuscript’s research area, current stage, timeline, and target journal. The more specific your information, the better I can support you.
Step 2
Confirmation & Scope
I review your inquiry and confirm whether the assessment is a good fit for your needs. If so, I provide information about scope, availability, turnaround, and investment.
Step 3
Pre-Submission Assessment
I conduct a structured, independent evaluation of the manuscript, checking whether its contribution, argument, and clinical relevance come across clearly.
Step 4
Receive Your Strategic Submission Report
You receive your Strategic Submission Report with editorial findings and prioritized next steps for revision. Typical turnaround: within five business days.
FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to common questions about how I work and what to expect from the Pre-Submission Assessment. If your question isn’t covered, please email me.

The Pre-Submission Assessment is the core service. If you need further guidance during revision, I offer additional support through annotations in the manuscript and a written clarification round of your questions. If you have specific requirements beyond the assessment, describe them in your inquiry, and I’ll advise on the most appropriate approach.

Fill out the contact form with details about your manuscript’s research area, current stage, timeline, and target journal. I’ll confirm whether the Pre-Submission Assessment is a good fit for your needs. If so, I’ll provide information about scope, availability, turnaround, and investment.

AI tools do part of the job well, and most researchers who reach out have already used them. They can improve language, flag structural inconsistencies, and speed up time-consuming tasks like early-stage literature review or formatting checks.
But assessing whether an argument holds, whether the contribution is convincing, and whether a manuscript is framed to survive an editor’s first read at a selective journal is a different matter. These tools aren’t designed to address that reliably, or to be accountable for the judgment involved.
That judgment comes from working on both sides of the editorial process. I’ve evaluated manuscripts, interacted with peer reviewers and editorial advisors, and learned how novelty and significance are weighed before an editor decides between desk rejection and external review.
That experience shapes how I read a manuscript’s framing and whether its evidence supports the central claim. For many manuscripts that reach me, the problem was never the language. It was the argument.

Editorial decisions depend on many factors — scope, novelty, clinical relevance, methodological rigor, and journal fit — not on communication quality alone. When the science is sound, but the contribution isn’t coming through clearly, that is a communication problem, and that is where the Pre-Submission Assessment helps.
I can provide a structured editorial evaluation and help clarify how others will likely experience the manuscript and what to focus on during revision, but I can’t guarantee acceptance. If your manuscript has been rejected before, you are welcome to share that context in your inquiry.

Yes. The cover letter is one of the most consistently overlooked communication tools in the submission process, and one of the first things an editor reads.
The report includes a cover letter framing section: an editorial assessment of how your manuscript’s contribution, clinical relevance, and journal fit can be positioned clearly in the cover letter to the target journal.
This section doesn’t provide a written cover letter, but it gives you clarity on how to position the findings most effectively when communicating with the journal. It identifies what the manuscript demonstrates that the cover letter should communicate for maximum visibility. The manuscript then enters the editor’s inbox with framing that immediately signals why the findings matter.

I charge fixed fees based on scope and complexity. My pricing reflects expertise and editorial insight built over years of training. It’s not based only on word count and time. Since each manuscript is unique, I’ll provide an individual quote after reviewing your inquiry. Most assessments fall within a predictable fee range, and I’ll outline this alongside your quote so you can decide with full information.
All assessments are covered by my Editorial Insight Guarantee: if you feel you haven’t gained a genuine editorial insight into how your manuscript will be read and what it needs, I’ll refund your investment in full.

I do all manuscript work myself, and no assessment is generated by a tool. I use AI to assist parts of my workflow, such as researching relevant literature or background context, but manuscript content is never shared with any AI tool. Each assessment is written by me. What I bring is judgment that AI can’t reliably provide: recognizing where an argument breaks down and how an editor will react to a claim before ever reaching the data.
That kind of judgment develops from years spent inside the editorial process, including work with editorial boards at a scientific journal. Knowing what to flag and what a manuscript needs to say in what order isn’t primarily a language skill. It involves nuance, taste, and editorial instinct.
Every observation in the Strategic Submission Report comes with an explanation, not just what to address, but why it matters for how an editor or reviewer will experience the manuscript. The goal is not only a stronger submission but a sharper editorial eye you can apply to every manuscript that follows.

I handle every manuscript in compliance with GDPR and in full confidentiality. Files are stored on secure, access-controlled servers, and correspondence is protected through encrypted communication. I never share your manuscript or your details with third parties.

Let’s Start Your Pre-Submission Assessment

Your Manuscript Represents Months or Years of Work — Let’s Make Sure It Shows It

Your manuscript represents months or years of work. The science may be there. The question is whether the manuscript shows it as clearly as you think. An independent editorial perspective answers that question — before submission, when it still matters.
Submit your manuscript details by filling out the contact form. I review your inquiry and confirm fit, availability, and investment. You receive the Strategic Submission Report within five business days. No meetings are required; only one form to get started.
Each month, I reserve capacity for a limited number of assessments. If your manuscript is approaching submission, reach out early.

Request a Pre-Submission Assessment

The Editorial Insight Guarantee: If you read the Strategic Submission Report and feel you haven’t gained an editorial insight you did not have before — a clearer understanding of how your manuscript will be read and what it needs — I’ll refund your investment in full. No explanation required.