Professional Transcription Services

Professional Transcription Services, operating under the brand Research Transcriptions (researchtranscriptions.com) and owned by the parent company Same Day Transcriptions, Inc., is a U.S.-based transcription provider that has been delivering human-powered transcription for over 20 years. The business is structured as a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), holds a SAM registration (Unique Entity ID: Q7MLSY1BRYW6), and positions itself squarely against AI-generated and offshore transcription. The core promise is blunt: no offshore labor, no AI engines, no shortcuts.

Every transcript produced is handled by U.S.-based human transcriptionists. That is not a marketing claim layered on top of an automated workflow, the company explicitly emphasizes that its SOC-2 certification is audited and verified, and that its HIPAA, GDPR, and CJIS compliance postures are not just statements on a web page. For buyers in healthcare, law enforcement, academic research, or government contracting where data handling and chain-of-custody matter, those credentials carry real weight. The SOC-2 report is available upon request, which is the right move, vendors who display the badge but won't share the report are a red flag. This one says it can back it up.

The service spans four clearly defined specializations. Medical research transcription covers interviews, focus groups, and studies involving protected health information (PHI), with transcriptionists trained in medical terminology and disease states. Academic research transcription is designed for IRB-regulated work, grant-funded studies, dissertations, and expert panels, with CITI-certified compliance, meaning the workflows are designed to meet university IRB and ethics board standards, not just general data privacy rules. Marketing research transcription covers market intelligence work: focus groups, depth interviews, and consumer research panels, with advanced scheduling, custom formatting, and the Top Quality Transcription (TQT) guarantee. The fourth specialization is U.S. Veterans Affairs and government-funded research, where the company brings its SDVOSB status and SAM registration to bear, offering an explicit discount to government agencies and a track record of supporting military and first responder research.

Law enforcement is also listed as a specialization, which implies CJIS-compliant workflows, the Criminal Justice Information Services security policy standard required when handling law enforcement recordings. That is a non-trivial credential. Most transcription vendors cannot credibly claim CJIS compliance because it requires specific background checks, access controls, and data handling protocols. Buyers in that vertical should confirm current CJIS compliance status directly and ask what the audit and renewal cycle looks like.

The company reports having delivered 1.3 million transcriptions and served 11,000 professionals, with zero data breaches reported. I would not read too much into self-reported breach data, no breach does not necessarily mean no risk, but combined with the SOC-2 certification and the HIPAA/CJIS posture, the overall security picture is more credible than most transcription vendors at this scale.

From a practical engagement standpoint, the company offers same-day transcription (the parent company name, Same Day Transcriptions, Inc., signals this is a core capability, not just a nice-to-have). Custom formatting is available, which matters for research buyers who need transcripts in a specific format for qualitative analysis tools like NVivo, Atlas.ti, or Dedoose. The company also describes itself as building custom transcription solutions, suggesting it can handle non-standard workflows rather than forcing buyers into a rigid template.

The business operates entirely within the United States, which keeps it in U.S. time zones and eliminates the coordination and compliance risk that comes with offshore delivery. For buyers in federally regulated research or law enforcement contexts, that is often a hard requirement, not a preference.

Pricing is quote-based. There is no published rate card, which is common for specialized transcription services where turnaround time, audio quality, number of speakers, technical terminology, and formatting complexity all affect cost. Buyers should expect to provide audio samples and scope details to get a meaningful quote.

My honest take: this vendor has a clear, specific positioning and the compliance credentials to back it up for its target buyer. If you are running IRB-approved academic research, federally funded studies, medical interviews, law enforcement recordings, or government-sponsored programs, this is exactly the kind of vendor you should be evaluating. The 100% U.S.-based, 100% human model is more expensive than AI-assisted or offshore alternatives, that is the tradeoff, and it is the right tradeoff for these use cases.

What I would verify before signing: ask for the SOC-2 report, not just the badge; confirm current CJIS compliance status and when it was last audited; ask about transcriptionist background check procedures, especially for law enforcement or VA work; ask how they handle audio that is difficult (multiple overlapping speakers, heavy accents, technical jargon in a specialized field); and ask what the remediation process looks like when a transcript does not meet the TQT standard. For academic buyers, confirm that the workflow documentation will satisfy your IRB if they request a data handling review. For government buyers, the SAM registration and SDVOSB status are already verifiable through SAM.gov, which is a good sign, those are not claims anyone can fake.