When the Publisher Backs the Freelance Copyeditor

It's so nice to have backup! We freelance editors don't always get it, so when we do, it's fun to share it:

A new-to-me physician-researcher from China wrote to request my ESL (English as a second language)/EFL (English as a foreign language) editing services, at the recommendation of the editorial manager for a particular English-language U.S. medical journal. I told him I'd be glad to work with him but that because so many of my authors have articles in the editing process right now, the earliest start date that I have available for him is March 31.

He asked whether I could find a way to begin editing earlier than that, because his manuscript is "only" a meta-analysis (rather than reporting his original research results) and so shouldn't take very long. Plus, he said, the journal "asked me to return my revised manuscript as soon as possible."

Before offering to refer him to one of my talented science-editor colleagues—because I've already referred a few projects to them this month—I decided to check on the journal's deadline for revisions. The editorial manager wrote to me:

Tell him we have no deadline for revisions. [Early] April would not be too late, and [...] having you do the English editing is worth the wait.

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