Guidelines / FAQs for applying for a grant from the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences for the professional proofreading of academic texts for publication

General questions
 

► Who can apply for a proofreading grant?
► What is "professional" proofreading and which services does it include?
► What kinds of publications can be covered by a proofreading grant?
► To which languages does the proofreading grant apply?
► Which expenses can be reimbursed by a the proofreading grant?
► When should I apply?
► Can I apply for more than one proofreading grant simultaneously?
► Can I receive more than one proofreading grant?
► How do I know if the Graduate Academy has received my application?
► When will I be notified of the decision regarding my application?
► What do I have to submit to have the proofreading grant paid out?
► When will I receive my proofreading grant?
► Can I apply for an advance payment of the proofreading expenses?
► What happens to my proofreading grant if I do not have the proofreading done?

 

Questions about the application forms

► What do I need to consider when filling out the application form?
► Do I need to submit any additional documents(e.g. publication lists, CV etc.)?
► What is meant by "external funding" and why am I asked about it?
► Who can issue the evaluation form for my application?

General questions

Who can apply for a proofreading grant?

The proofreading grants are only open to doctoral students who have been officially admitted to the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at Heidelberg University.

The applicant must be the main or first author of the publication.

Eligibility for funding ends at the latest three months after the end of the month in which you take your final oral examination or at the end of the month in which your doctoral studies at Heidelberg University are completed for other reasons (e.g. through publication of your thesis, termination of your doctoral studies in Heidelberg or transfer to another university to pursue doctoral studies).

What is "professional" proofreading and which services does it include?

The proofreading should be carried out by a certified agency or company specializing in the editing of academic texts. Proofreading includes only the correction of spelling, punctuation and grammar.

What kinds of publications can be covered by the a proofreading grant?

You can apply for a grant to cover the professional proofreading of a dissertation (monograph or cumulative dissertation), for the publication of articles in academic journals, for conference papers and for other academic papers.

Note: The funding is awarded in the form of grants. The award of a grant does not establish an employment relationship between Heidelberg University and the recipient. The recipient of the grant may not be obligated to perform any specific academic service or employment activity in connection with the grant.

To which languages does the proofreading grant apply?

A grant can be approved only for foreign-language publications. Proofreading of German publications is not subsidized.

Please note: The purpose of the proofreading grant is to fine-tune the language of your publication and thus to reduce any disadvantages you might have as compared to native speakers. For this reason, you can apply for a proofreading grant only if the publication is written in a language that is not your native language.

Which expenses can be reimbursed by the proofreading grant?

The grant will cover up to a maximum of 500 Euro for the professional proofreading of your publication. The final grant amount will be based on the price quote supplied in your application. If the final proofreading costs are more then the price quoted, the difference will not be covered by the grant. If the actual price paid for the proofreading is less than the price quoted, only the actual cost will be reimbursed.

When should I apply?

Applications can be submitted at any time.

The applications will be collected as a group after the deadlines indicated below. The awards notifications will be sent out about 4 to 6 weeks after each deadline.

Deadlines:

Important:

• Generally, grants cannot be approved retroactively for proofreading that has already been carried out. Therefore, we recommend that you take note of the deadlines and plan accordingly. Exceptions are only possible in reasonable cases; please contact the Graduate Academy (ga-docs@uni-heidelberg.de).
• Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Can I apply for more than one proofreading grant simultaneously?

Yes. Please note, however, that you may receive only one proofreading grant per year. If you apply for more than one proofreading grant at the same time, you need to submit a complete and separate application (see » Application procedure and forms).

Can I receive more than one proofreading grant?

Yes. Please note, however, that you may receive only one proofreading grant per year.

How do I know if the Graduate Academy has received my application?

Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to automatically notify each applicant that their application has been received. If you want to check on the status of your application, please send an email to: ga-docs@uni-heidelberg.de

Please note that incomplete applications will not be considered.

When will I be notified of the decision regarding my application?

The awards notifications are sent out after the entire evaluation process is completed; this process takes about 4-6 weeks after each application deadline. It is not possible to inform you about the results of your application before all evaluations are completed.

What do I have to submit to have the proofreading grant paid out?

You must send in the proofreading grant reimbursement form (which is sent out with the approval notice) with the original invoice and your proof of payment. Expenses for which you do not have an invoice cannot be reimbursed.

If you received external funding for the proofreading of this publication, please include a copy of your reimbursement application for the external organization with the Graduate Academy reimbursement  form. In this case, external funding is funding from an external source that you will put toward the cost of proofreading this same publication.

When will I receive my proofreading grant?

If you are awarded a proofreading grant, your approved expenses will be reimbursed after receipt of the necessary documents.  Please note that the documents required for the payment of the publication grant must be submitted to the Graduate Academy no later than one month after the publication.

Can I apply for an advance payment of the proofreading expenses?

Yes. For proofreading expenses of 200 Euro or more you can indicate on the application form (see » Application procedure and forms) that you would like to apply for an advance payment. If the proofreading grant is approved, an advance payment of 80% of the approved grant amount will be paid to you. The reimbursement of your remaining expenses, up to a maximum of 20% of the total amount of the grant, will be paid to you only after you have submitted the necessary documents for reimbursement as listed above.

Please note:

• The advance payment of proofreading expenses is conditional and can be revoked by the Graduate Academy. If you do not submit all of the necessary documents to the Graduate Academy at the latest one month after completing of the proofreading or if you do not carry out the proofreading, you will be required to repay the advance payment to the Graduate Academy immediately.
• If your actual total expenses come to less than the advance payment, you must reimburse the difference to the Graduate Academy.

What happens to my proofreading grant if I do not have the proofreading done?

The proofreading grant is not transferable to another person or to a different publication. Therefore, if you do not follow through with the proofreading, you will automatically forfeit your award.

Questions about the application forms

What do I need to consider when filling out the application form?

Please fill out the application form (see » Application procedure and forms) electronically; do not handwrite your application. In order to ensure that the electronic forms work with all versions of the Adobe software, we strongly recommend that you first download and save the empty application form on your computer and then fill the form out and save it again.

Please use an Apple or Windows operating system to fill out the forms. The forms are not compatible with a Linux system.

Please use only the space provided in the existing fields on the application forms. The evaluators will not be able to read any text that extends beyond the existing limits of the fields.

Please do not change the formatting of the fields on the application forms.

Please send the application documents as separate attachments in your email. You do not need to merge the various documents into one PDF file.

Do I need to submit any additional documents (e.g. publication lists, CV etc.)?

The application procedure and required application documents are indicated in detail here. No additional documents that are not listed on the website such as publication lists, literature lists, or CVs will be sent to the evaluators.

What is meant by "external funding" and why am I asked about it?

“External funding” refers to funds that you have received from an external funding organization for your publication, your doctoral project or for another research project.
The fact that you have been awarded external funding can be of advantage to you in the evaluation process. For example, the receipt of an external grant or fellowship will be treated as a prize or distinction on your part.

If you will receive or have received funding from an external source to cover part of the proofreading costs for your publication, the external funding amount will be decucted from the amount approved for this proofreading grant.

Who can issue the evaluation form for my application?

The evaluation form for your application must be issued and submitted to the Graduate Academy by your doctoral supervisor. Please note that the evaluation is to be treated confidentially by your supervisor and must be sent by your supervisor directly to the Graduate Academy: ga-docs@uni-heidelberg.de
Please be aware that the application deadlines also pertain to the receipt of the evaluation form.