Cactus Communications Scientific Writer 2 salaries in India (Updated 2025)

Likes

Very organised, on-time payments, knowledgeable/skilled co-workers and leads, good pay scale, transparent and well-structured entrance tests

Dislikes

1. The papers we are required to edit are written by people with very limited knowledge of English, making it hard to understand what they were trying to say 2. Available jobs are listed only when a manager assigns the job to a few people. This makes it difficult for new freelancers to get work regularly

Likes

Flexible work hour

Dislikes

... the cut, they have developed a system in which one cannot attain the elusive 3.6 QI rating, and thus there are salary cuts, to such an extent that one gets less than half the amount one had signed up for. Quite the business strategy. You are bonded labour on their payroll. And guess what, they have the freedom to deduct costs due to lost client from your own salary. They do not give any additional pay benefits such as payment for internet charges, electricity costs and infrastructure costs. In short, a for profit organisation with the most conniving minds in their workforce.

Likes

-Flexible working hours -Remote work -Non-toxic environment -Approachable managers

Dislikes

-Low pay -Low work volumes -No promotions/appraisals -No new opportunities to explore -Monotonous nature of work -Isolated working condition (not enough team activities, appreciations/acknowledgements)

Likes

Paid on time

Dislikes

Run away, you are more valuable than this. If that's not enough, keep reading. The pay appears decent but is WAY below minimum wage, explained here: Most jobs only pay 30% of the word count. Their rationale is that a round of editing has already been done. However, you are expected to edit the whole document. Here is a TYPICAL example: A 5000 word document would make you believe that you would make $100 at the $20/1000 word rate. BUT, most jobs of this nature would actually only pay you $30 (30%), even though you are doing $100 worth of work, at least. Furthermore: For each document you edit, you need to provide 1-2 additional documents UNPAID, that often take as long as the edit itself: 1. A letter from the editor (LFTE) - you summarize everything, highlight all the changes you made, you make a recommendations on figures, submission readiness etc. 2. A cover letter. For journal submissions, you write a letter to the journal itself, basically doing the job of the client, summarizing the work, highlighting the importance, etc. IT GETS WORSE: The $20/1000 word rate is only if you hit 60,000 words, which is actually 200,000 words since only ~30% of the document counts. If you don't hit this milestone, you make less $. And to top if off: If you find 1000 mistakes during an edit and happen to miss 2 because your brain was about to explode and you have been realizing that you have a PhD and are working at $5/hour, they will provide you with a rating of < 3/4 (by their definition, bad). The reviewers get paid to find your mistakes, so it is in their best interest to give you a poor rating so they stay relevant. They start you off with 4/4 ratings to make you feel like it's an ok job.