Enago has been providing editing, translation, and publication services since 2005. They operate globally and have helped researchers produce better publications in over 125 countries. Enago is currently looking for freelance editors in the areas of medical and life sciences, physical sciences and engineering, economics and business management, and arts and social sciences.
These freelance positions won’t be for everyone. Enago contracts highly educated and experienced freelance editors. In this review, I will cover the requirements, application, pay, and schedule.
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Enago Requirements
Enago looks for editors with the following qualities:
- They want people who are proficient in English
- Are good at editing, restructuring, and perfecting articles that have been written by non-native English speakers
- They want editors who have 5 or more years of relevant academic editing or proofreading experience
- They also look for people with extensive subject matter expertise
Here are some other qualities they like to see:
- Master’s, Ph.D., or postdoctoral research experience
- Having certificates or experience in academic editing, publishing, scientific communications or journal article writing
- Experience editing English as a second language manuscripts
- They prefer to see knowledge of academic writing styles (APA, CMS, AMA, CSE, and IEEE)
- They love to see members of noteworthy editing and publishing associations (EFA, EASE, and BELS)
Enago editors are responsible for the following:
- Perfect grammar, punctuation, word choice, and sentence structure
- Proper flow, transition, terminology, coherence, and correctness of the content (this is why they look for subject matter experts)
- Manuscript format that conforms to academic writing conventions (citation style, layout, and headings)
- Ensuring that the authors’ intentions are kept intact even when making extensive revisions
Enago Freelance Editors Needed for these Subjects
- Life Sciences – Within the life sciences area, there are 14 different subjects:
- Agriculture
- Biochemistry
- Bioengineering
- Biosciences
- Botany
- Genetics
- Microbiology
- Neurosciences
- Pathology
- Zoology
- Environmental Biosciences
- Forensic Sciences
- Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Social Biosciences
- Physical Sciences and Engineering – Within the physical sciences and engineering area, there are 12 subjects:
- Astronomy/Astrophysics
- Chemistry
- Computer/Information Sciences
- Earth Sciences
- Energy and power
- Engineering
- Environmental Sciences
- Material Science and Engineering
- Mathematics
- Physics
- Statistics
- Systems Science
- Economics and Business Management – Within economics and business management, there are 3 subjects:
- Business Management
- Economics
- Finance
- Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences – Within the arts, humanities, and social sciences, there are 9 subjects:
- Education
- Humanities
- Law
- Library and Museum Studies
- Media/Communication
- Philosophy
- Psychology
- Recreation and Sports
- Social Sciences
- Medical and Clinical Sciences – within the medical and clinical sciences area, there are 7 subjects:
- Dentistry
- Medicine
- Alternative Medicine
- Health Management
- Nursing
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Rehabilitation Sciences
Enago Application Process
If you want to apply for a freelance editing position for any of the subjects listed above, go here to complete the application.
The Enago website says you can join their freelance team in 3 simple steps:
- Submit the application from the link above
- They’ll send you a sample test, designed to test your skills and expertise in the subject
- If you pass the test, you will receive a contract, a freelance agreement, the Enago terms of service, and any other relevant documentation
Here’s what you’ll be asked in the application form:
- Name and contact info
- Year of birth (not marked as required)
- Country of residence
- Native language
- Education
- Experience
- Years of academic editing experience
- Any publication, journals, or editing companies you’ve worked for
- Subjects you have edited
- List your fees in US Dollars for 1000 words for copyediting and substantive editing
- The number of words you can edit for Enago (words per week)
- How many hours you are available each day (looks like 3 hours is the minimum they are looking for)
- Why are you applying at Enago
- What type of editing are you applying for (copyediting, substantive editing, developments writing/editing, or peer review journals)
- Upload your resume in Microsoft Word
How Much Does Enago Pay?
It sounds like Enago doesn’t pay very well. You can see the feedback below for more comments about pay. I didn’t find any other information about how much they pay, by what means, or how often.
Enago Schedule
On the application, you will select how many hours you can work per day: 3-5 hours, 5-7 hours, or more than 7 hours. You can also choose if you are looking for full or part-time. Obviously, you need to complete your assignments on time. But in general, your schedule should be what you want it to be.
Enago Feedback
They have a ton of editor feedback all over their website. Of course, since they’ve published it, they probably wouldn’t include any negative comments. But there is quite a bit of positive feedback.
Glassdoor reviews are a little less favorable. Here are the pros and cons.
Pros:
- Flexible work you can do from anywhere
- Interesting topics you can learn about
Cons:
- Difficult to advance
- Low rates – someone said they spent 45 minutes proofreading and filling out paperwork for a project, and only received $1.36
- One reviewer said they felt exploited by the way their credentials are displayed on the website to drum up business
- Complaints of lots of useless paperwork
- One claimed to receive $6 to edit 1000 words, and never received a raise
- Someone claimed to miss one comma in a 70,000-word document, and all payment was withheld
- Non-native English speakers conduct audits
- Someone was fired for subpar performance; when asked for the audits, was told they are confidential
Editing for Enago a Scam?
Based on my research, Enago is not a scam. Having said that, I would be cautious based on the Glassdoor reviews. But if this is your thing and you’re qualified for it, here’s where you go to get started.
It seems that you’ll need to meet some serious qualifications at Enago and even if you can, pay seems pretty low. I highly recommend checking out the course at Proofread Anywhere. The course will teach you how to start your own online proofreading side gig, which usually means much higher pay because you take out the middle man! Make sure to join their free webinar to learn more!
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Enago is a scam. People warned me about Enago. They told me about how they had worked there for many months only to be mysteriously ghosted. I saw issues myself when I noticed that many of the in-house editors who were reviewing my work do not speak American English as their native language. I received awkwardly phrased reviews with sentences like this: “Post speaking with the manager, I have decided to reduce your workload.” I am sorry, but that sentence does not make sense in American English.
At first, I did well, receiving good feedback from the in-house editors who are mostly located in India. Then some random in-house editor gave me a couple of bad reviews in a row. He complained that I had left extra spaces after a header. He complained that I had used an apostrophe somewhere instead of a multiplication sign. He claimed that I had omitted commas somewhere, although my expensive Grammarly software did not detect any such thing. Although I had worked for less than minimum wage to fix a manuscript full of extremely awkward sentences, I was being told that my work was inadequate. Because many of the in-house editors do not speak American English as their native language, I am not even sure if they can appreciate the work I was trying to do to fix sentences that sound extremely weird. Instead, they rip you apart over petty formatting issues and punctuation choices that are subjective in nature. After having edited dozens of manuscripts, I never received another assignment after being trashed by this particular in-house editor.
I also feel like they are not providing their clients with what they really need. When you are reviewing a manuscript for publication, what do you care most about? Is anyone going to recommend rejecting a manuscript for publication because a hyphen is used instead of an en dash? Probably not. But what if the manuscript is full of awkward sentences that don’t make sense to the ear of an American English speaker? The Enago editing process is designed to fix the former rather than the latter.
Thank you for sharing your experiences, Mike. Sounds like it closely relates to what others are saying in the comments here and on Glassdoor.
Brok
I’ve worked as a part-time freelancer for Enago for the past two years, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. It is not a ticket to getting rich, but it’s a nice way to earn a little money for my farm. I keep careful track of my time, and it works out to about $17/hour, on average (though individual assignments can be much lower or higher, depending on their difficulty). That’s better than minimum wage in my state in the US, and I can decide when I want to work and I can do the job in my pajamas.
While the management team is mostly Indian and not native speakers of English, I have found them easy to work with, friendly, and they have treated me fairly. They even offered me a promotion to a more structured position with guaranteed assignments, which I was not able to accept.
It’s not the best job in the world, and the editor makes <30% of the fee charged by the company to clients, but it's definitely not a scam. I will continue to edit for them.
Thanks for the article!
Thank you for sharing! Glad to hear everything is working out great.
Brok
I can confirm–they offer 60 dollars for about 4-6 hours of work. You get sporadic feedback months after doing the work, where they criticize you for things that were never specified in the instructions. They ignore you when you ask for a raise, even if you have consistently high scores. The management staff are not native English speakers, and have a distorted image of what “high-quality English” is. I tried for months to give positive and collaborative feedback, and never heard back.
Thank you for sharing your experiences Sara. I really appreciate it!
Brok
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Thanks for reading and for the kind words Godfrey!
Let us know if you need anything.
Brok