Why should you get your paper professionally edited?

September 2021

Most people think of editing as just placing a comma or a full stop in the text. If only it were that simple. Our job would be so much easier.

Editing can be a comprehensive domain related edit, or proof reading at its basic level, or somewhere in between.

It is only recently that editing and editors have come into the limelight. This is largely due to the pressure to publish in academic institutions. For those who are non-native English speakers (ESL), writing can be tough. Formal writing, especially research papers, can seem like a daunting exercise. When such authors submit their papers to journals, they are told to get their papers professionally copyedited.

It is only when it comes to getting published or not, that the importance of editing is highlighted.

Most editors are an invisible taskforce. Very rarely do they get any credit for the work they have done. Having said that, art of art’s sake is the maxim to live by. When a paper that we have edited gets published, it is our achievement too. We feel it is important to work with authors while editing their papers.

In the next post, we will look at how to work with authors and what to keep in mind while doing so.