These policies relate specifically to Nature Research Editing Service. Please see also our Terms of Servicefor other core principles, for example regarding the confidentiality of your documents.

Our aim is to serve the interests of authors and institutions, not the editorial and publishing interests of Springer Nature journals.

• We openly and clearly declare to potential and current customers that we are part of Springer Nature, and we inform potential customers about our independence from the publishing process.
• We aim to be publisher-neutral in our editing and advice, and especially in our journal recommendations (where applicable). We take steps during the editing process, when giving advice, and when recruiting and training editors to help us achieve this aim.
• Nature Research Editing Service does not measure its success in terms of the publication of edited documents by Springer Nature journals.

We do not involve ourselves in the publishing process.

• We do not guarantee publication of papers or funding of grant applications. We expect journal editors and grant review panels will make these decisions entirely independently of Nature Research Editing Service and other author services providers.
• Draft journal articles and their scientific content are not shared with professional editors who make decisions on research papers at Springer Nature journals.
• Any comments that we make regarding the suitability of specific target journals are explicitly presented as opinion and not as a definitive prediction of the outcome of submission.
• If an author indicates that they mainly want to know whether or not their paper is acceptable to a specific Springer Nature journal, or has any other query for which a Springer Nature journal editor is the most appropriate contact, we will suggest that the author contacts the journal directly.
• We do not suggest peer reviewers.

We do not infringe on authorship.

• When editing documents, wherever possible, we provide our edits and comments in an easily reviewable format. We encourage authors to review our input critically, rather than accepting all of our edits and suggestions without review.
• We never confirm that any document is ready for submission, submit anything to a journal or funding body, or correspond with journal editors or peer reviewers on behalf of authors.
• We do not ghostwrite or completely rewrite large passages of text, and we do not directly introduce ideas that are not already present in the documents submitted to us. Our editing focuses on improving how the existing research is communicated.

General policies

• We do not engage in or encourage practices that contravene relevant ethical guidelines.
• For Scientific Editing, if we suspect unethical practice in a submitted document or correspondence, we will point it out and explain it. If we suspect severe infringement of ethical requirements or laws (particularly unacceptable harm to humans or animals), we act on this where possible.
• We review these policies on a regular basis and keep up-to-date with issues arising in the publication ethics landscape.
• We train editors to follow these policies, we monitor adherence to these policies, and we take action in the event of any failure to follow them.