Editage is now ISO/IEC 27000:2005 certified. This internationally recognized certification has been awarded to Editage for implementing and maintaining a robust and effective information security management system (ISMS). This means that your data is safe with us, because our systems, processes, and policies ensure confidentiality of client property and client information during all transactions and interactions. Click here to learn more.

Editage has been ISO 9001:2008 certified since 2006. (The earlier version of the standard was ISO 9001:2000.) This means that clients receive consistently high-quality services from Editage on time, every time.

Editage recognizes the need to deliver high-quality services and to guarantee the security of your information at all times. This belief is reflected in our commitment to establishing and maintaining systems and processes that are compliant with the ISO quality and IT security management standards.

The results for the 2011 BELS examination held in Mumbai have been declared. This year, Cactizens have recorded a new high—a pass percentage of 89%! We congratulate the newly certified editors and wish them continued editorial success.

Founded in 1991, BELS is the only internationally recognized certification body for scientific editors. Of the 1000+ BELS-certified editors worldwide, 57 are associated with Cactus, reflecting the company’s continual efforts to build a world-class editing and writing team.

To contribute in a small way toward the relief efforts in Japan, Cactus Communications has donated a total of 5,000,001 Yen through the Japanese Red Cross Society and the Indian Red Cross . The funds were raised by combining

• a percentage of our global sales(4,300,001 Yen contributed through Nikkei Inc. to the Japanese Red Cross Society on Jun 30, 2011),and
• voluntary contributions from Cactizens across the world(700,000 Yen contributed to the Indian Red Cross toward the Tohoku region fund, on Jul 6, 2011; this amount was paid in rupees as we received contributions in various foreign currencies).

While we had initially pledged to contribute 5,000,000 Yen, we added 1 Yen to the total figure, in keeping with the traditional Indian belief that an additional single unit of currency brings prosperity to the recipient.

As we continue to pray that Japan will emerge stronger from this disaster and that prosperity will return to the affected areas, we hope that this small contribution from Cactus Communications will be of some help.

Cactus is the 13th best company to work for in India, from among 471 companies, according to the 2011 survey conducted by the Great Place to Work Institute®. The survey, conducted across 23 sectors and 67,000 employees also placed Cactus at the 2nd position in the Professional Services segment and in the 2nd place among companies that Create and Celebrate Fun at Work.

The Great Place to Work Institute® releases Best Companies to Work For lists across 46 countries every year, based on the results of detailed and research-driven employee surveys. Companies that are on this list receive this recognition because they have created a workplace that balances work and life, keeps employees happy and engaged, and creates an atmosphere of trust.

Anurag Goel, CEO, Cactus Communications, attributed this achievement to Cactus’s dynamic workforce, saying, “It would not have been possible without the combined effort of every one of (them), who work together every day to create a warm, challenging and fun-loving environment.”

Cactus ranked 13th best company to work for

Cactus among the best when it comes to celebrating fun at work

Editage was an exhibitor at the recent 54th Annual Council of Science Editors (CSE) meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. We were represented by Donald Samulack, PhD, and Sandi McIntyre from the U.S. office and by Daniel Rosario and Yukti Bharwani from the head office. The attendees included approximately 350 journal publishers, authors, researchers, and editing organizations. Editage showcased its capabilities in editing and journal/author support.

The theme of the meeting was "Making Science Matter," with many of the guest speakers focusing on science literacy and the role of science editors in our rapidly changing world. In keeping with this theme, Editage presented a poster entitled "Does having a non–English first language hinder competence in manuscript editing?" The poster, which highlighted the fact that many accomplished manuscript editors are equally proficient in their native language and in English, generated a lot of positive buzz and received the "2011 Best Poster" award. Congratulations to Daniel Rosario, Senior Managing Editor, who wrote the poster, and to all those who contributed to its success!

The Red Herring Global Award has been instituted to recognize companies that strive for innovation in every area of their business.

CACTUS was awarded this recognition in a ceremony that took place in Los Angeles on 26th Jan 2011 for its high level of client focus and innovative practices. For more details about the award, please visit http://www.redherring.com/Home/26492

About Red Herring
Red Herring is a global media company uniting the world's best high technology innovators, venture investors, and business decision makers in a variety of forums.

About the Global Awards
The Red Herring editorial team selected the most innovative companies from a pool of 1200 companies from across the world. The nominees were evaluated on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, quality of management, execution of strategy, and integration into their respective industries.

The finalists were required to present their winning strategies at the Red Herring Global forum, which was organized in Los Angeles from 24th to 26th Jan. Donald Samulack , Vice President – Medical Affairs And Strategic Partnerships, made the presentation and accepted the award on behalf of CACTUS.

We are pleased to inform that 13 more of our editors passed the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences (BELS) certificate examination held in Nov 2010. Thus, of the approximately 900 BELS-certified editors worldwide, 49 (more than 5%) are associated with Editage and our related business unit, Cactus Medical.
Founded in 1991, BELS is the most credible international certification body for scientific editors.
Click here to know more about BELS.

Editage was represented by 5 editors and department heads at the 2010 AMWA conference, held in Wisconsin, US, from 10 -13 Nov. With more than 5,000 members worldwide, AMWA is the largest and most recognized organization of writers and editors in the field of medicine and life sciences. It holds an annual conference for its members and others from the field of medical writing and publishing.

Mr. Abhishek Goel, founder of Cactus Communications, was interviewed on NHK World in the program ‘Beyond Borders’ on September 13, 2010. Click here to see the transcript. (The interview will be live only for a week i.e. till September 20, 2010)

Cactus Communications was featured in the Nov-Dec 2009 issue of Smart Manager, India's first world-class management magazine. The article has re-published on rediff.com with the kind permission of The Smart Manager.

In its first ever participation in the survey conducted by the Great Place to Work Institute in association with the Economic Times, Cactus Communications proved a point right away. Cactus was ranked among the Top 100 best companies to work for in India from among the 400–odd companies that participated in the survey. The Great Place to Work Institute conducts similar surveys in more than 40 countries.

The icing on the cake was that across industry verticals, we were ranked as the second best company to work for in India in the “Media and Entertainment” category (click here to know more). This recognition comes closely on the heels of another external recognition from NASSCOM wherein Cactus was ranked among the Exciting and Emerging Companies to work for in India.

Anurag Goel, CEO, Cactus Communications was thrilled as he remarked, "It is satisfying to receive such external validation for our people practices. And is a testimonial to the hard work put in by all Cactizens in making Cactus such a great place to work."

Cactus Communications was featured in the Nov–Dec issue of Smart Manager, India’s first world–class management magazine. The comprehensive seven–page article, authored by Cactus’ CEO Anurag Goel, outlines the origins of Cactus and highlights its uniqueness as an industry unto itself in India. It goes on to elucidate the growth chart of the company, its business profile, its open culture, and finally, how its employees celebrate diversity with one common thread binding them all–love for the English language.

In its endeavor to further augment its brand value in India and to attract young talent, Cactus participated in CARMA, the CSI tech–fest at Thadomal Sahani Engineering College (TSEC). Our branding event Dictiona–saurus was very well received as more than 60 participants turned up to test their linguistic skills.

The event kick started at 12:30 pm with a brief explanation about the event to the participants. This was followed by an introduction of Cactus, its services, and how budding engineers too could become a part of Cactus.

Phase I was an elimination round where every participant was given a questionnaire with 10 questions. The purpose was to select 10 final contestants who could be a part of the final round. Two students who topped the elimination round with scores of 10 on 10 made it to the quiz–Dictiona–saurus–along with other top scorers.

The short-listed participants chose their partners by drawing chits and were put into different teams, namely, Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, and U.S.A.

The various rounds comprised questions on grammar, spellings, synonyms, and idioms and tested the participants on their lateral thinking and editing capabilities. Participants were asked to identify errors in the sentences put up and recommend changes.

Overall, the event was a huge success as it helped us in creating brand awareness and in helping students discover a lucrative career option.

Cactus Communications. was featured in the April issue of Dataquest in an article profiling the NASSCOM Top 15 Exciting Emerging Companies to work for in 2008–09. The article titled, “I like It Here, Do You?”focuses on companies that offer an exciting environment to work, professional challenges, and refreshing values.

The article highlights the factors that tipped the scales in favour of Cactus in the NASSCOM EEC survey and substantiates the fact that Cactus is an equal opportunities player where talent, learning ability, and the right attitude are parameters for growth. The complete article can be read here.

Yukifumi Takeuchi, Fumihiko Yoshida, Shinichi Ikeda
Asahi Shimbun :: Asahi Globe :: Indian Knowledge Outsourcing Power

Note: This is an unofficial and tentative translation.

In Japanese academic fields, there are some instances that exemplify the rapid progress of the outsourcing business of Indian companies.

Cactus Communications, located in the north of Mumbai, is one such company. It receives orders for editing English papers from Japanese researchers. There are about 160 employees at Cactus, specializing in medical/pharmaceutical sciences, chemistry, arts, and so on, to address the various requirements from Japan. Abhishek Goel, Vice president, Cactus Communications, said "Japan is ranked second (790,000 papers) in the world after the U.S. (2,900,000) in terms of the number of English papers presented at academic conferences in the past 10 years."

"However, from the point of view of the number of citations, Japan is ranked 5th after the U.S., U.K., Germany, and France. To fill in this gap, improving the English language level of these papers is the key," he added. Thus far, Cactus has been associated with Kinokuniya Company (bookstore chain) and leading Japanese universities, and it has been editing more than 10,000 English papers every year.

Personally, I asked them to edit my manuscript on international politics (10 pages, A4) for my presentation. It took only six days (including weekend), and it cost me only around ¥20,000.

The original article appeared on 16 February 2009 in a special supplement of the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. The special supplement called Asahi Globe focused on Indian Knowledge Outsourcing Power.

About the authors:

Yukifumi Takeuchi
Born in 1956, Yukifumi is presently a member of the editorial board of Asahi Shimbun and has worked as a Business News Deskman and as a Correspondent in Bangkok and New Delhi.

Fumihiko Yoshida
Born in 1955, Fumihiko is presently an Editorialist and has worked as a Correspondent in Washington D.C. and as a Bureau Chief at Brussels.

Shinichi Ikeda
Born in 1965, Shinichi is presently an Asahi GLOBE Correspondent and has worked as a Political Reporter and Correspondent at Washington D.C.

Cactus has been featured in the Times of India in the article on EEC (Exciting Emerging Companies to work for by NASSCOM)...
Read more

Cactus added another feather in its cap as it was ranked the 12th "Exciting Emerging Company to Work For" in the NASSCOM Exciting Emerging Companies (EEC) survey, which was conducted in September 2008.

Close on the heels of tasting success at the first ever BELS exam in India, this has come as another external recognition for the dynamic and exciting work environment at Cactus. Anurag Goel, CEO, Cactus Communications, exclaimed, "We are very happy with this recognition since we spend a lot of time and energy trying to ensure all of us enjoy work. We hope to be higher up the list the next time around."

NASSCOM is a global trade body with over 1200 members, of which over 250 are global companies from the US, UK, EU, Japan and China. NASSCOM’s member companies are in the business of software development, software services, software products, IT–enabled/BPO services and e–commerce. More information on NASSCOM can be found here.

Editage created history after 35 of its editors passed the exams conducted by the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences (BELS) in November for the first time ever in India. Ever since BELS was founded in 1991, only a little over 700 editors have earned the BELS certification worldwide.

The fact that 35 of the 38 BELS certified editors in India are associated with Editage is a great achievement in itself, and it validates the considerable investment made by Editage in quality and training.

BELS was founded in 1991 to evaluate the proficiency of manuscript editors in the life sciences and to award credentials similar to those obtainable in other professions. Further information on BELS can be found here.

On June 16, 2008, Cactus Communications. officially launched its US subsidiary–Cactus Communications –in Memphis, Tennessee. Heading the subsidiary will be Donald Samulack, PhD, who joined Cactus in May 2008 as VP – Medical Affairs and Strategic Partnerships.

Cactus’ main objective in establishing the subsidiary is to promote its medical writing and academic editing services in a mature market like the US. The said services will be offered via Editage, the scientific communication division of Cactus. Through this move, Editage aims to service clients from the academic and pharmaceutical sectors in North America. Shedding more light on this landmark step, Anurag Goel, CEO, Cactus Communications., says, "Through Cactus US, we aim to grow beyond our traditional markets, which have been in the Far East (Japan and Korea). The US is the base for most large pharmaceutical companies. A foothold here will help us gain a deeper understanding of the medical communications industry and fill any gaps in the services we offer. Further, a physical presence in the US will ensure that our clients have someone to talk to in their own time zone. It will reduce any perceived barriers due to geographical distance."

Shortly after launching its editing service, Editage launched its medical writing service in North America. Editage’s medical writing service caters to the communication needs of pharmaceutical companies contract research organizations (CROs), academic departments, and individuals.

In October 2007, Editage delivered its 20,000th edited manuscript. This milestone comes just 5 years after Editage was established. About two-thirds of the papers edited by Editage are manuscripts.

Speaking on the occasion, Anurag Goel, CEO, said, "It’s a great day for our team. When we started out, it was our vision to be the preferred provider of branded editing solutions and this milestone takes us one big step closer to that. What is especially encouraging is that repeat business has been the big driver behind this growth, reflecting high levels of client satisfaction with our service. It is our continuing endeavor to maintain this high standard of quality through investments in training and feedback for our team as well as our freelancers."

Cactus Communications, Editage’s parent company, established its first subsidiary in Tokyo, Japan. The official date of incorporation was 19 July 2007.

This move represents a significant milestone in Editage’s expansion strategy for Southeast Asia. The establishment of the subsidiary will help Editage strengthen its offline presence in its flagship market and facilitate better client servicing.

Speaking from Tokyo on the occasion, Abhishek Goel, founder and Director – Business Development for Cactus said, “Our subsidiary in Japan represents a further strengthening of our ties with the country and a reinforcement of our commitment to enabling growth through effective communication here. We are delighted to have a physical presence here in Tokyo and we hope, via Cactus Japan, to engage more closely with our clients and become more sensitive and responsive to their needs.”

Contact information for “Cactus–Japan” is below:

Cactus Japan K. K.
AIG Kabutocho Bldg. 3F
5–1 Nihonbashi Kabuto–cho
Chuo–ku, Tokyo 103–0026
Japan

Phone +81–3–5847–7943
Fax +81–3–4496–4557

After establishing a strong presence in the Far East, Editage launched its editing and medical writing services in North America. Via this move, Editage hopes to go a step further in becoming the world’s preferred language services provider.

Editage’s service offering for North America is slightly different from that for the Far East. Khuzem Batawala, Vice President, Marketing for Editage says, “We recognize that authors from the US have different needs from those in non–native English speaking geographies. Although we have not actively marketed our services in North America until now, we have received a significant number of manuscripts from the region; what we’ve done is simply leverage that knowledge to serve this group of authors in a more organized way.”

Young Turks, CNBC (From the CNBC website)

Outsourcing has seen many avatars in India – from services to knowledge and there are some who are cashing in, on the business of languages. Cactus Communications is one such example. A Mumbai based firm that has made its foray into the world of English editing and research–based educational services, under the brand names Editage & i–osmosis, and all this under the vision of one man.

What started off as a freelance vocation for 27–year–old Abhishek Goel, four years ago in Japan, is now a full–fledged business operation, largely focused on the scientific community in Japan and now looking at South–East Asia. The business started as a one–room home–office, now has 110 employees comprising teachers, journalists, doctors and other specialists. Cactus now has a clientele of 3,500 and has recently completed editing its 7,500th research paper. Editage and i–osmosis are now two distinct divisions under the Cactus umbrella.

I came back to India and started this company that does English editing, focused on researches done in Japan and helping researchers publish internationally because Japan has a very vibrant research community, which everyone knows about.

But is this something he always wanted to do? Director of Business Development Cactus Communications, Abhishek Goel told CNBC–TV18, "I went to Japan on a student exchange programme, when I was with AIESEC. There, I wanted to do waste management so I met researchers at Universities in Tokyo and outside. I went back to India and struggled with waste management, as you would know that waste management in India is a dirty business – what with government intervention and the local mafia. "I just didn’t have the skills to deal with that sort of an audience then. So, I thought let me do something else, let me find something else that is exciting enough and that I would like doing. I came back to India and started this company that does English editing, focused on researches done in Japan and helping researchers publish internationally because Japan has a very vibrant research community, which everyone knows about."

But he got the idea for this business, when he saw that there was a gap in the market for this kind of work. He explains, “I met a professor at the University of Tokyo, which is undoubtedly Japan’s largest university. I met him for waste management, at the end of a discussion he said, 'okay you speak English so why don’t you edit my papers for me. I was scared, I said it was not a good idea because I have got a commerce background and your papers are going to be technical and scientific and there is no way I am going to be able to do it and I have stuff to do’."

"But he insisted. He said ’you will learn and you get to foster a bond with me and maybe I will help you sometime in future’. So, I said great, let's start. I came back and was doing this on the side, as I was exploring my waste management course. Gradually,I realized that there is a gap because this was the first meeting I had with the professor and he trusted me with his research papers. So, I said we are going to define his career, whether he gets a Nobel or not."

So, they started out small and kept costs low because he wanted to see if the business had any potential. He explains, "We said whatever we do, we need to do it in a sustainable fashion. We need to be sure, that there is a market before we get aggressive. We have heard horror stories of companies – even larger corporations that had come in to Japan – and had exited because of either a cultural gap, some cultural misunderstanding or because they had underestimated the expenses."

"So, we started doing editing, and a year–and–half into editing, I have met clients here through interactions over e–mail as well as meetings. We realized we should do English education. Everyone has been doing English Education in China. There are some cases, where people are in the business of homework outsourcing in the US and things like that. But we said, let’s do English education in Japan and let’s do it in a way that has not been done before."

"It is an online model and it is focused on written English. English education in Japan, is a very big industry. Everyone focuses on conversational English because that has been the market need for a very long time. It is only in the past few years, that Japan has started to write (English), with the Japanese businesses going more international and Japanese businesses managers working overseas and a lot of foreign people working in Japan. So, they need to write more frequently in English."

It is only in the past few years, that Japan has started to write (English), with the Japanese businesses going more international and Japanese businesses managers working overseas and a lot of foreign people working in Japan. So, they need to write more frequently in English.

In all now, he has three divisions. One, which looks after the English writing market in Japan, the English editing services and the transcription business. So, how does he see revenues coming in, from the three divisions?

"I think Editage – that is our English editing services, is still a flagship division and it is likely to be a flagship division for the next two years. But I see i–osmosis that is our English education division zooming ahead because the demand for English education is much larger. Transcription is going to be a support service, where we do media and business transcription. We have also entered the Korean market. Korea has been a different experience from Japan altogether."

He feels Korea is going to be the next big opportunity, where editing is concerned. He’s ambitious and says, "Our market in Japan is still very large, but in parallel, we intend to go to Korea. It doesn’t hurt us in terms of resources and things like that. We are growing aggressively in Japan, but we are also laying a foundation in Korea."

Another huge market is China, which he’s not going to ignore. But for the time being he feels, i–osmosis – his educational service division – has more potential than editing because the research community in Japan and Korea is larger.

With high flying dreams, Abhishek is now on the verge of opening an office in Tokyo – his prime market. So, while he is not fluent in Japanese, he sure can get by in the Land of the Rising Sun!