Hiring someone to edit your manuscript can be expensive. How are you supposed to pay for this on a graduate student salary?!
Something I recommend as a first attempt for those who can’t pay full price for editing services is to run your work through a free AI platform, like ChatGPT, before sending it to a human editor like me.
Of course, if you try this, you’ll have to make sure that the meaning is correct; this is always your responsibility ultimately. But I think using a free software can cut out a lot of the labor time that I would have to charge hourly for.
If you’re being asked directly by an editor to get your manuscript edited by a native English speaker, I recommend going straight to me. You would not want to change anything unnecessarily after it has gone through peer review.
But if you haven’t submitted it yet, why not try this and see how it works?
I can understand that this might make you nervous. If so, you can try out full-service editing with me first for a few papers, and then give this a try once you see the kind of changes I typically make to your work.
And don’t forget, my mission is to offer affordable editing services to everyone who needs them. See if you qualify for a reduced rate for my services.