Note: This is not a book review, because I am an expert quoted in the book. Even if I were not quoted, though, I would still think Editing Research to be a well-written, important resource for those who need to know more about editing for authors of scholarly manuscripts.
Valerie Matarese, a biomedical writer and editor, has written Editing Research: The Author Editing Approach to Providing Effective Support to Writers of Research Papers. If you do scholarly editing and work with authors (called author editing) who are non-native English speakers—or if you’d like to move into this specialty—this is the book you want.
Matarese interviewed 8 experienced authors’ editors, including me, about many aspects of this editorial niche. Because there hasn’t been much documentation of this specialty, Matarese’s research is both valuable and immensely helpful to practitioners of authors’ editing and to those in other areas of publishing, such as journal publishers, journal editors-in-chief, journal staff members, and peer reviewers who aren’t familiar with what these practitioners do.
The following organizations and discussion lists for editorial professionals are quoted and/or profiled in the book:
- American Medical Writers Association (AMWA); www.amwa.org
- Board of Editors in the Life Sciences (BELS); www.bels.org
- Copyediting-L (CE-L); www.copyediting-l.info
- Council of Science Editors (CSE); www.councilscienceeditors.org
- Editors’ Association of Canada (EAC); www.editors.ca
- European Medical Writers Association (EMWA); www.emwa.org
- European Association of Science Editors (EASE); www.ease.org.uk
- Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA); www.the-efa.org
- Institute of Professional Editors Limited (IPEd); http://iped-editors.org
- Mediterranean Editors and Translators (MET); www.metmeetings.org
- Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP); www.sfep.org.uk
- Society for Technical Communication (STC); http://stc.org
- Society of English Native-Speaking Editors (SENSE); www.sense-online.nl
Here is the table of contents:
Chapter 1: Aims and Challenges of Writing for Publication in Today’s Global Research Environment
The Research Publishing Landscape
The State of Scholarly Writing
The Internationalization of Scholarly Writing
Writing in Isolation
Less Support from Publishers
Chapter 2: Editing in the Sciences and Other Scholarly Disciplines
Editing Defined
The First Publishers and Editors
Levels of Editing
A Temporal Classification of Editing
Chapter 3: Authors’ Editors: Partners in Communication at the Service of Researchers and Editors
The First Authors' Editors
Development of Author Editing for Research
Do We Call Ourselves Authors' Editors?
Chapter 4: Authors’ Editors in Action: A Qualitative Research Foray
Research Design
Expert Informants
Bibliographic Research and Integration with Qualitative Research Findings
Chapter 5: View from the Academy: The Delicate Position of Editing Services among Needs and Concerns
Researchers’ Motivations to Seek Editing
Researchers’ Vocalization of the Editing Request
Alternative Academic Views of Editors and Editing
Chapter 6: Editing Research Articles and Other Genres for Publication in Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Journals
Substantive Editing of Research Papers
Author Editing Requires Dialog with Authors
Added Value for Researcher–Authors
Better Science Communication, Less Research Waste, and Safeguarded Investments
What Author Editing Is Not
Acknowledgments and Editing Certificates
The Impact of Editing
Chapter 7: Becoming and Being an Authors’ Editor
Career Path to Author Editing
Networks for Collegiate Exchange and Training Opportunities
Certificates of Achievement and Certification of Skills
Educational Background
Field Specialization
Multilingualism and Multiculturalism
Rapport with Clients
Versatility
Conclusions
Chapter 8: The Editing Setting
Autonomous Editing (Freelance Editors)
Research Center Editing (In-house Editors)
Service Provider Editing (Editors Working through an Intermediary)
The Business of Author Editing
Chapter 9: Editing Scholarly Genres for Other Media: Common Goals but Unique Issues
Grant Applications
Lay Summaries
Press Releases
Web Content and Other Digital Media
Theses and Dissertations
Chapter 10: Synthesis and Projection
What We Have Learned So Far
What We Have Yet to Learn
Advice to Authors’ Editors
Advice to Research Administrators
The Future of Author Editing
Appendices
Appendix 1: Membership Associations of Particular Relevance to Authors’ Editors
Appendix 2: Peer-Reviewed Journals of Relevance to Author Editing
Editing Research: The Author Editing Approach to Providing Effective Support to Writers of Research Papers, by Valerie Matarese. Publisher: Information Today, Inc. Available in paperback (ISBN: 978-1-57387-531-8; US$49.50; preorder price: $34.65); Kindle version coming soon. 244 pages.
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