Academic Support Policy

Last updated: [DATE — set when you publish]

This policy sets out how Scholar For You supports researchers, what we will and will not do, and where the boundaries lie. We publish it openly because we think you should be able to read it before you contact us — not after.

1. Our position

Scholar For You provides research mentorship, methodological guidance, analytical assistance, technical implementation support and editorial support. Ownership of the research, all academic decisions, and the final submission remain with the scholar.

Everything below follows from that sentence.

The simplest test we apply to our own work is this: you must be able to explain and defend every part of your research. If something we did would leave you unable to answer a question about your own thesis in a viva, we have done it wrong.

2. Why this matters to you, not just to us

You will present this research. You will defend it in a viva, a seminar or a peer-review response. Your name is on it, and your degree or your publication record depends on it.

A service that hands you work you cannot account for is not helping you — it is creating a problem that surfaces at the worst possible moment, in front of the people whose opinion matters most. We are not willing to do that to a scholar, and you should not accept it from any provider.

3. What we do

We work alongside you on:

Research design and planning — narrowing a topic into a researchable question, identifying the gap, framing objectives and hypotheses, structuring a proposal or synopsis.

Methodology — selecting and justifying a research design, sampling strategy and size, developing or adapting instruments, planning for validity and reliability.

Literature and synthesis — search strategy, screening and inclusion logic, thematic organisation, PRISMA protocols and flow diagrams, bibliometric and science mapping.

Analysis — choosing the analysis your design and data support, checking assumptions, running it in SPSS, AMOS, R, Python, NVivo or comparable tools, and preparing tables and figures.

Interpretation — reading your output correctly, linking findings to your objectives and literature, discussing limitations honestly, framing contribution and implications.

Technical implementation — implementing models, simulations and experiments in Python or MATLAB, with documented, readable code.

Manuscript development — structure and argument review, clarity and language editing, journal formatting and reference styling, and methodical responses to reviewer comments.

In every case the work is done with you, and explained to you, so the reasoning becomes yours.

4. What we do not do

We do not:

• Write your thesis, dissertation, research paper or any part of it for you to submit as your own unaided work
• Act as a ghostwriter, or allow our name to be absent from work that was substantially produced by us rather than by you
• Complete assignments, coursework, examinations or any assessed task on your behalf
• Sit examinations, vivas or presentations in your place, or coach you to misrepresent work as your own
• Sell, resell or provide access to plagiarism-detection, paraphrasing or text-rewriting subscriptions
• Offer any service intended to evade similarity checking, authorship verification or institutional detection systems
• Fabricate, alter, exclude or select data to produce a preferred result
• Invent sources, citations, participants or findings
• Promise a specific statistical outcome
• Promise publication, journal acceptance, indexing, a grade, or a degree

If you are looking for any of the above, we are not the right provider, and we will tell you so rather than take your money.

5. Analysis reflects your data

We run the analysis your research design and your dataset actually support. We check assumptions, we document the method, and we explain what the output means.

We do not adjust, shape or select findings to produce a preferred result.

Sometimes the analysis will not support your hypothesis. That is a normal, legitimate and publishable research outcome, and we will help you interpret and present it honestly. A finding that contradicts your expectation is a real result; a finding that has been engineered is not a result at all.

6. Publication and examination outcomes

We can help you improve the quality of what you submit — a defensible method, a correctly executed analysis, a clear argument, appropriate formatting and a methodical reviewer response.

We cannot control, and do not promise:

• Whether a journal accepts your manuscript
• How long peer review takes, or what reviewers ask for
• Indexing status of any journal
• The outcome of a viva, an examination or a progress review
• Any grade, mark or degree classification

These decisions rest with your journal, your supervisor, your examiners and your institution — as they should. Any provider who guarantees them is either not telling you the truth or not going through genuine peer review.

7. Use of software and AI tools

We use established research software openly — SPSS, AMOS, R, Stata, NVivo, ATLAS.ti, Python, MATLAB, VOSviewer, Biblioshiny and reference managers. Every tool and step we use is documented so you can reproduce it.

On generative AI:

• We do not use generative AI to produce research content, argument or written material that is passed to you as your own scholarship.
• We do not offer, and will not assist with, any attempt to disguise AI-generated text or evade AI-detection systems.
• Where any tool assists with a routine, mechanical task, we will tell you, so that you can make any disclosure your institution or journal requires.

Disclosure requirements differ between universities and publishers. You remain responsible for meeting the ones that apply to you, and we will give you the information you need to do so.

8. Your responsibilities

As the scholar, you:

• Remain the author and owner of your research
• Make the academic decisions — we set out the options and trade-offs; the direction is yours
• Provide your own data, or collect it yourself in line with your ethics approval
• Review and understand every piece of work before it becomes part of your submission
• Ensure the support you use complies with your own institution's regulations, which vary and take precedence over anything in this policy
• Make any disclosure of assistance your institution or journal requires
• Submit the work yourself

If you are unsure whether a particular kind of support is permitted where you study, ask your supervisor or your research office before engaging us. We would far rather you check first.

9. Our responsibilities

We will:

• Tell you honestly whether we can help, and decline work we are not equipped to do well
• Agree the scope in writing before anything begins — what will be done, what you will receive, what remains your responsibility, and the timeline
• Explain our reasoning, not just deliver an output
• Document every method, tool and step so your work is reproducible
• Handle your files and data responsibly (see section 10)
• Tell you when something in your research does not hold up, even when that is not what you want to hear

10. Research data and files

• Access to your files is limited to the expert assigned to your work and your coordinator.
• A non-disclosure agreement is available on request.
• Participant data is de-identified where appropriate.
• Files are retained only for the agreed period of the engagement.
• If your institution or ethics committee imposes specific data-handling conditions, tell us and we will work within them.

We do not share your research, your data or your identity with any third party for academic purposes, and we do not reuse your work with any other client.

11. When we decline work

We will turn down a request when:

• It asks us to produce work for you to submit as your own unaided effort
• It asks us to influence, manufacture or select findings
• It falls outside our genuine expertise
• It would breach a regulation of your institution that we are aware of
• The timeline would force us to compromise the quality or the method

Declining is not a failure of service. It is the service.

12. If your institution asks about our involvement

If your university, supervisor or journal asks you to describe the assistance you received, tell them accurately. We will support you in doing so.

At your request, we will provide a written summary of the nature of the support we provided — the methodological guidance, analysis or editorial work involved — so you can disclose it precisely. We have nothing to conceal about how we work, which is the point of publishing this policy.

13. Questions

If anything here is unclear, or you want to check whether a specific requirement falls inside these boundaries, ask us before you engage us.