Download Definitions of Editorial Skills. There's a cadence to every piece, and reading it aloud is the only way to make sure the words flow soundly through the entire piece. This includes responding to complaints from authors who feel that their papers were handled inappropriately. It had been a real roller-coaster ride. It is also laborious and relentless. Editors enjoy the excitement of seeing new research before it is published, and of shaping their disciplines via their decisions, both on which special issues to commission and on which manuscripts to accept (experimental design is the single most important factor you look at – all other things can be fixed). We also work closely with publishing staff at Elsevier. Still, there are many more reasons to do it. Can also involve coordinating long-term projects, such as major websites. Exerting the opportunity to silence your rivals or promote your friends is one potential reward for the many hours the role takes up (far more than could possibly be merited by the prestige of one extra line on your CV). I spend too much time mopping the tears of frustrated peer reviewers when they’ve lost their work to a crash. In fact, they often won't. It includes: Note that "copy editing" is often loosely used to include stylistic editing, structural editing, fact checking, or proofreading. I had been the associate editor of the journal’s genomics and bioinformatics section for seven years, so I felt like I knew how things worked. Also known as citation checking or reference checking. In all cases, the editor should strive to make all changes without altering intended meaning or introducing errors. It’s an efficient, companionable structure that works very well. Knowing that you made your point is the most important step to editing your own work. This meant that we could extend our remit into the wider realms of the subject as it grew with the rise of interest in text and image manipulation, hypertext and, most significantly, the internet – and also contribute to that growth by our efforts. One author cheerfully compares our submission system to those “intelligent nature” videos where a crow pulls matchsticks in sequence from Perspex tubes until a peanut drops out. I do elementary editing on most accepted papers, although the copy-editing grunt work is done by my colleague, Michael James, whose attention to detail is beyond praise. Good editing can transform a mediocre piece of content into something great. Sometimes that is because the topic lacks novelty or is not suitable for our journal. Editing your own work is an exercise that will improve your relationship with both clients and editors. The most important thing is to ensure that the review system is as efficient and honest as possible. You also need to command the respect and trust of your professional colleagues – particularly when rejecting papers from a senior researcher. But while they do, editing is a stimulating task and has benefits for both authors and readers that other forms of academic communication may struggle to emulate. There’s always something to learn about the role, from day-to-day management to long-term strategy. I’ve had an opportunity to interact with all the leading researchers in my field, both as authors and as referees. If you like what you're reading online, why not take advantage of our subscription and get unlimited access to all of Times Higher Education's content? Being a journal editor definitely has its rewards. MSP best practices: Server maintenance checklist, Guide to becoming a digital transformation champion, Comment and share: 10+ ways to improve your writing by self-editing. 8. When our part of the editorial process is complete, the finalised text moves seamlessly into production. But it is an incredible learning experience, and I am very proud to have contributed so much to the broader membrane community. In about half the cases, my verdict is negative. She was editor of Literary and Linguistic Computing (now known as Digital Scholarship in the Humanities). Ignore mistakes and read for comprehension. If necessary, getting all approvals throughout the process. In fact, you might start out with one and end with one. But that did not exempt me from the even more hateful task of dealing with authors who still insisted that the reviewers didn’t know what they were talking about and that their paper was, in fact, the finest scholarship of the decade. Editing to ensure correctness, accuracy, consistency, and completeness. I, as general editor, terminated it in 2015 because the workload involved had become unsustainable. The Review of English Studies, published since 1925, is a big operation. Depending on the piece, you'll probably want to replace passive verbs with active ones. We would like to speed up the process, but this can happen only if more of our fellow scientists are willing to perform peer reviews, and are able to do so in a timely manner. Fortunately, you can improve your self-editing skills to cut down on mistakes and improve the quality of what you write. The best way to ensure that is to get involved. The key is to stay on top of the process, making sure that extra referees are drafted in quickly whenever needed. The pre-loaded letter templates are gloriously maladroit, and all of them have to be replaced (top tip: in the rejection templates, avoid the word “reject”). Australian Studies was first published by the British Australian Studies Association in 1988, the year that marked the bicentenary of the white settlement/invasion of Australia. And people who don’t respond to requests for full details of their references. After all, we occasionally mispronounce words, use the wrong tense, or stop to reclaim a thought while talking. I had a “weight-off-my-shoulders” experience that was extraordinarily, and physically, intense. But, apart from the futility of such behaviour – Morgan went on to win the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the chromosomal theory of inheritance – it is simply unethical. Each paragraph or section should stand on its own. There are manuscripts to assign, authors to soothe, contradictory reviews to resolve and editors at the publisher to placate when your delivery of proofs lags behind their print schedule (proofing on Christmas Day is one thing I don’t miss). Correct typos, spelling, grammar, and punctuation. But don't depend on these features because they don't catch everything. Some researchers say these seemingly extraordinary abilities may just reflect the fact that many people with autism have a different skill set than their typical peers do. While this dramatically speeds the editorial process, it also obliges me to explain my decision to the authors. A good referee’s report should, in two to six pages, summarise the manuscript’s contribution to knowledge, set out its strengths and weaknesses and end with a publication recommendation, detailing any required substantive corrections in full. During the first edit, resist the urge to change everything. Editing involves carefully reviewing material before it is published and suggesting or making changes to correct or improve it. If you feel strongly about a change, make a note in the margin. It includes: Comparing the content of a translated text to its source text to ensure the translation is faithful to the original. In fact, the generosity of peer reviewers with their time and expertise is one of the most gratifying things about journal editorship. But editing a small journal in a small field means that you inevitably know many of the authors who are submitting, making the difficult task of rejection even harder. All rights reserved. It includes checking for: Note that proofreading is checking a work after editing; it is not a substitute for editing. The practice will pay off: By helping others, you'll improve your skills as a writer and an editor. I occasionally solicit other articles, often after hearing something interesting from a conference or seminar speaker. It may include: Also known as desktop publishing or production design. After editing your work, make sure it truly honors your point. It's a difficult phenomenon to beat. Being on an editorial board is also good for the CV. Obviously, he equated innovation with use of novel approaches, not with new insights. You can even direct that evolution by commissioning special issues, reviews and editorials, highlighting new trends. Make use of technology and run a spelling and grammar check. Still, some authors wait only a week before getting in touch to ask us why their review is not finished. Marilyn Deegan is professor of digital humanities and honorary research fellow at King’s College London. Writing for journals myself, I know that there is nothing more depressing than waiting for four months and then getting a one-line rejection. It includes: Assessing the content and organization of a work, and commenting in depth on such factors as characterization, dialogue, setting, plot, structure, subject relevance, believability, research required, and potential legal issues. If possible, volunteer to help others edit their writing. Sui Huang is a professor at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle. The first time you read through a piece, read it as a reader. It may include: It may also include fulfilling contractual obligations, such as requesting complimentary copies for contributors or sample pages for approval, updating clients' rights management databases, and submitting final permissions logs and paperwork. It allowed me and various assistant and reviews editors to seek out submissions by attending conferences, writing to scholars working on interesting topics and suggesting special sections and special issues on emerging topics. Research Fellow - School of Education and Social Sciences, Research Assistant/Research Fellow - Division of Biosciences, Receive World University Rankings news first, Get job alerts, shortlist jobs and save job searches, Participate in reader discussions and post comments, Unlimited access to news, views, insights & reviews. We have a large community, but the competence and commitment of its members is variable when it comes to reviewing. How to edit a book in 5 steps. Only rarely are passive verbs the best use, but it does happen. I’ve been able to read about exciting new research results before the data were even published. The journal (now known as Digital Scholarship in the Humanities) was one of the first and most important in digital humanities, and my editorship corresponded with an enormous period of growth in what had previously been a niche subject. 9. Still, editing is a big job – the journal receives about 1,500 submissions a year. In the early days, the field was so small that finding enough submissions to fill four issues a year could be difficult. Len Shackleton is professor of economics at the University of Buckingham and editor of Economic Affairs. And don’t be surprised if you spend more time editing than writing. Every sentence and every paragraph should support the overall thesis. See if your subjects and verbs agree. It may work with the world’s best economists – although perhaps not, as many are notorious prima donnas – but, in general, the increased stress levels are not justified by the mediocre outcome. Our rejection rate is quite high: between 75 and 80 per cent. My experience has been that editing is far more rewarding than many other scholarly tasks. I do so in spite of a 'workload model' that does not recognise it adequately. I end up doing editorial work at all times of the day and night, both when I am home and when I am travelling: I easily put in 10 or more hours a week. Note: This article is also available as a PDF download. Andrew Zydney is distinguished professor of chemical engineering at Pennsylvania State University and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Membrane Science. The most important rule to successful self-editing is often the hardest to apply: Put it aside for a few hours or even a few days. I deal with large numbers of emails from authors, many relating to our high-tech submission, permissions and proofing systems. I spend at least a day a week on editing. How you approach this step is up to you, but the trick is to read the paragraphs or sections out of order. And I felt free to do my own research again, after years of playing midwife to that of others. Rewrite run-on sentences by deleting extraneous words and phrases. Evaluating proposals or manuscripts to ensure their fit with the publisher's mandate, guidelines, and other titles, as well as their commercial potential. Although your major skills are usually not included in a separate section (being listen instead in your bulleted list of duties and activities with your research or professional work), you may include these in a separate section to list skills such as specific knowledge of computing programs or language ability. Despite the downsides, I would recommend journal editorship to anyone. It is a great honour to be responsible for a publication that has been around for more than three decades and is widely read in my field. We can stay on top of the workflow wherever we are in the world (my predecessor once processed several submissions from a bunker in a war zone), and we never have to file a thing. The complete review cycle for a submission takes an average of three to four months, with most of that time waiting for external reviewers to send their verdicts. I advise strongly against special issues of invited papers, even if you fob them off on to a guest editor. The downsides? I currently handle the review process for more than 500 papers a year: more than 10 a week. Bateson was a person of such integrity that his verdict likely had no sinister motivation. The same noun/verb construct is boring if used repeatedly. Your first instincts are usually correct. To that end, here's how to edit a book in 5 steps. Examining material after layout or in its final format to correct errors in textual and visual elements. That way, you can check your changes. The core skills are also covered in more detail in Editors Canada's Professional Editorial Standards. Some provide reviews with so little detail that they are almost useless. And you don’t receive any pay for your troubles – or even any time in lieu. Even if you decide to get a pro editor or beta reader, it never hurts to take a crack at self-editing first. Recent research conducted with Fortune 500 CEOs by Stanford Research Institute International and the Carnegie Melon Foundation found that 75 percent of long-term job success depends on people skills (aka soft skills) while only 25 percent depended on technical knowledge (aka hard skills.) Knowing your weaknesses will make it easier to correct your work thoroughly. It was one of those offers you couldn’t refuse – as was the invitation, five years later, to step up to editor-in-chief. 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