Consulting Services | What are they and how they can help you.
Scientific consulting services are entities that assist researchers by providing advice and numerous other resources. Consultants generally are current or former professional investigators, wishing to impart their knowledge for assisting others in research project design, grant construction/preparation, and writing/editing. Typically, these individuals are remitted by the hour, or via estimates for specific projects.
In particular, consulting services are typically offered as distinct specialties/subspecialties of the life or natural sciences. For example, in biomedical research, consulting services may be offered for cancer biology, pharmacology, metabolic diseases (e.g., diabetes, obesity, etc.), molecular biology, among others. Moreover, even within these subjects manner, are offered for the consulting for research manuscripts, dissertations/theses, and grant funding applications. Thus, while the total number of consulting services offered for any particular science (e.g., life science) is large, these are further categorized into specific specialties, lessening the number of firms that are appropriate for your needs, allowing you to evaluate them individually by cost vs. reputation vs. number of offerings.
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Techology Transfer (STTR) Grants
SBIR and STTR awards, also known as "America’s Seed Fund," are provided by all divisions of the U.S. government, including the Department of Health and Human Services' National Institutes of Health (NIH), representing one of the largest sources of early-stage capital, for technology commercialization, in the United States. Specifically, SBIR awards are divided into phases I (feasibility) and II (prototype development). Phase I awards are currently limited to $252,131 (six-month duration) and phase II awards (two-year duration) to $1,680,879. These funds are awarded, in coordination with the Small Business Administration, to spur the development of novel products in the biotechnology sector. The phase III (commercialization) component must be funded by the small business entity, who must prepare a "commercialization" section in the phase II application. STTRs, by contrast, consist of technology transfer from a research institution (>= 40% of the work) to a for-profit, small business entity (>= 30% of the work). Like SBIRs, STTRs consist of a phase I and phase II component
Why our service?
Here, at Bioscience Advising, one of our primary priorities is dissertation consulting services. While, for obvious reasons, we cannot write these documents, we can assist with planning, formatting, and/or creating an outline. While most graduate degree programs now allow publications as dissertation chapters, the ≥ 3 remaining chapters (e.g., introduction, rationale, conclusions, etc.) typically well exceed 100 pages. Although preparing, editing, and final polishing of this formal summary of your years of research work, seems a monumental task, dissertation consulting services can significantly ease the burden of this endeavor for PhD or Master Degree's candidates. Following initial drafting of the document, it must again be expansively edited multiple times, consisting again of many days (or even, weeks). Most writing experts suggest “taking a break” from editing and revision, asserting the value of "getting a second set of eyes" to look at such documents. For this purpose, dissertation consulting services can be quite valuable, offering many options, based on your budget and extent of editing. For example, many inexpensive “professional editing services” may edit for spelling, punctuation, and basic grammar, but little beyond that. At Bioscience Advising, we have many years experience in dissertation consulting . As such, we can provide you the most extensive editing available for writing these descriptions of your many years of hard work, helping you attain your well-deserved achievement!
Grant Consulting
Grant consulting is another category of advisory services, requiring a high degree of specialization and complex perspective regarding research design and logic. Due to these requirements, and the largely additional time expenditure, grant consulting typically costs around 30% - 50% more than manuscript consulting (see next section). In biomedical research specifically, consulting services are provided almost always for applications to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a branch of the Cabinet-level agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. For most types of funding types (e.g., academic research, small business entities, multicenter, etc.), the NIH accepts applications three times per year (i.e., three "cycles"). Specific funding initiatives for distinct subjects matter are disseminated as Program Announcement Referrals (PARs) or Requests for Funding Applications (RFAs), Alternatively, the NIH accepts investigator-initiated grant applications. Following submission of a grant application (NIH or private), it is assigned to a specific review panel, and evaluated for scientific merit. Overall, this process is complex and quite stressful.
Why our service?
In addition to manuscripts and dissertations, Bioscience Advising also offers comprehensive grant consulting. Having served on a number of different review panels, in addition to preparation/editing numerous such applications, we at Bioscience Advising will assist you in every step of the way, to maximize your chances of success. First, we will determine if your planned research matches specific RFAs or PARs, for NIH grants, or other announcements, by private research funders. If desired, we will prepare and send a "plan-to-submit" letter to specific persons that administrate the research awards (such letters are usually required several months before the grant deadline). Then, we will work with you on your narrative and your "specific aims" section (stating your overall research objectives), your "research design" (or equivalent) section, and organization of the entire compilation. Finally, if desired, electronic submission of the application and its accompanying forms.
Scientific Manuscript Consulting
Scientific manuscript consulting is another area with numerous available offerings, and these can be narrowed down by specific science (life, physical, and social sciences). These are further narrow down by subspecialty (e.g., analytic chemistry, condensed matter physics, etc.). It is a hard truth that even beyond outstanding research, scientific manuscripts must be written with special care to increase their chances of acceptance. Moreover, at present, it has becoming even more difficult publishing scientific manuscripts in high-quality scientific journals. Consequently, even with masterful data, scientific manuscripts must successfully convince all the reviewers of the research’s merit, via effective communication. Thus, you should keep in mind that all your outstanding research and effort must be communicated effectively, to be published in the best possible journal. There is a current opinion that, due to all the current time demands of researchers (combined with our present-day hypercompetitive research climate), scientific writing has recently decreased in quality. Thus, efficacious presentation of your work is essential.
Why our service?
We have been performing scientific manuscript consulting now for many years, following preparing manuscripts for many years in academic research, and we know all the ins and outs of this cumbersome process. If possible, we greatly prefer to confer with you first, to make sure we are "on the same page." All you need to do is provide us a rough draft (for editing), or an outline and set of figures (for writing), and we will work hand-in-hand with you through every step of the process. When you submit the finalized manuscript, it will be professionally presented, such as to best communicate your findings, for the most favorable reception by reviewers!