What is academic copyediting?

Academic copyediting aims to correct errors or lapses in grammar, usage and diction, while striving to preserve the author’s individual style or ‘authorial voice’.

What does this service include?

Academic copyediting focuses on highlighting or correcting any text in a scholarly manuscript that is incorrect, unidiomatic, confusing, ambiguous, or inappropriate.

Does this include mechanical editing?

Yes. Mechanical editing is critical. The heart of copyediting – mechanical editing – consists of making a manuscript conform to the publisher’s house style. We ensure consistency in a range of areas, including:

• spelling
• hyphenation
• capitalisation
• punctuation
• use of numerals
• footnotes and endnotes
• acronyms
• italics and bold type
• Treatment of special elements. These can include headings, lists, tables, and images. Images fall into two main categories: figures (including photographs, illustrations, drawings, diagrams, logos, graphs, and maps) and tables.

Do you do cross-checking?

Yes. Following the mechanical editing stage, correlating or cross-checking the different parts of the manuscript is crucial. This includes:

• verifying any cross-references that appear in the text
• checking the numbering of footnotes, endnotes, figures (including photographs, illustrations, drawings, diagrams, logos, graphs and maps) and tables
• specifying the placement of figures and tables
• checking the content of the tables and images against the captions and against the text
• reading the list of tables and images against the captions and comparing the entries in the list to the tables and images themselves
• checking the citations and permissions of tables and images
• reading the table of contents against the headings and sub-headings in the manuscript
• reading the footnotes or endnotes against the bibliography.

Does academic copyediting change my argument or findings?

No. Copyediting should not change an author’s arguments or findings. As copyeditors, we will not attempt to impose our stylistic preferences or prejudices on the author.

Does academic copyediting include fact checking?

As copyeditors, we are generally not responsible for the factual correctness of a scholarly manuscript.

However, we may spot-check some facts that appear in a manuscript to test for possible inaccuracies. We may highlight any issues with the author and ask them to resolve them, especially if these random checks indicate more pervasive errors.

Sometimes, we will ask an author to address serious internal inconsistencies or major organisational problems, or to provide additional elements such as tables, maps, a glossary, or an index.

Do you provide heavy editing or rewriting?

Yes. Sometimes our copyediting reveals previously undetected problems with the manuscript. Independent or self-published academics, or postgraduate students, who may not have benefited from the usual peer-review process in academic publishing, may be keen to address these issues, especially if they are substantive.

If the budget and production schedule allow, an author may ask us to fix these problems by doing some heavy editing, substantial rewriting, or preparing supplementary content. However, these are tasks beyond a copyeditor’s usual remit. Often, we point out any difficulties, provide advice on what content should be added or deleted, and ask the author to resolve them.

Who benefits from academic copyediting?

Academic authors want to ensure their manuscript is well written, free of inaccuracies, infelicities and errors, and has a better chance of publication. This may include researchers or independent scholars preparing refereed journal articles, book chapters, book-length monographs, edited collections of essays, conference papers or research grant applications.

If you would like to know more about how Wise Directions Copyediting can benefit you, please contact us today.