The Scholarly Writing and Publishing Fund

The CFDE offers the Scholarly Writing and Publishing (SWAP) fund, a grant program designed to help faculty seeking professional editorial support for projects in development across a range of serious scholarly works, including book manuscripts, article manuscripts, grantwriting, and digital scholarship.

A limited number of grants from this fund for up to $2500 are available. These grants are intended to support Emory faculty members facing the often-difficult challenges of scholarly writing at any stage of their careers and to provide funds for hiring editorial support or a writing coach.

• View a list of vetted and recommended freelance editors and writing coaches
• View tips for selecting a writing coach or editor on the University of Virginia website.

Eligibility

Eligible applicants include all full-time Emory faculty working on scholarly writing projects, including grant proposals, academic journal articles, or book manuscripts. This includes tenure-track and tenured faculty, as well as non-tenure-track faculty with long-term appointments.

• Excluded from eligibility are adjunct or visiting faculty members, as well as faculty members whose contracts will not be renewed for the following year and faculty members who plan to resign their appointments at the end of the current year.
• No faculty member may receive support from this fund more than once in a three-year period. Unsuccessful applicants may reapply without prejudice.
• The work must be a scholarly work written solely by the faculty member or a scholarly multi-author work of which the faculty member is the primary author. The work may be in any discipline or multi- or interdisciplinary. 

Uses of Grant

Faculty may apply for a grant to work on a scholarly writing project, including grant proposals, academic journal articles, or book manuscripts. Funds may be applied toward the following expenditures:

• Hiring a writing coach to help you focus on time management or writing productivity.
• Hiring an editor for light to moderate editing or developmental editing for a writing project.
• Hiring an editor to help improve grant writing abilities and/or writing skills.
• Hiring an editor or writing coach to work with a group of co-authors on writing as a team.
• Hiring an editor to copy-edit a piece of work.
• Hiring an editor to edit the work of faculty whose first language is not English.

These grants are intended to help with writing and writing-related issues, rather than the technicalities of manuscript preparation (such as indexing, transcriptions, translation, subvention, etc.). They may not be used for summer salary or for hiring a research assistant.

Requirements

Recipients must submit a twelve-month, eighteen-month, and two-year status report detailing their expenditures and progress on their writing project(s).

Applications

Applications are accepted on an open basis until the fund is exhausted, no later than August 1. Applicants will be notified of decisions within fifteen business days of submission.

A complete application, submitted via email, consists of the following:

1. The completed application cover form
2. A letter describing the writing project, outlining your goals for the project for the next twelve months, and addressing the criteria described below (letter not to exceed two single-spaced, typed pages).
3. Your curriculum vita.
4. A letter or email of support from your department or program chair. This letter should both support your application and approve your proposed use of the grant money as appropriate to scholarly work in your discipline.
5. An estimate signed by the writing coach or editor with whom you wish to work detailing the scope and fees for project. View a list of recommended editors and contact information.

Criteria

A competitive proposal must

• Propose a well-thought-out, feasible, and reasonable plan that explains how the grant will be used in as much detail as possible.
• Make a persuasive case for why the grant will help the applicant complete or make significant progress on a writing project.
• Explain why this grant is important to you, the applicant, at this point in your career and how it will further your professional development at Emory.
• Articulate the contribution this project will make to the research mission of the university.
• Include a compelling support statement from your chair that speaks both to the appropriateness of the proposal within your scholarly field and to the possible impact the grant will have on your scholarly productivity.

Please submit all application materials via email to Allison Adams.

Recommended Freelance Editors

A list of freelance editors who offer specialized skill and experience in the area of academic publishing. 

View a list of editors and contact information