Below is a list of common items I edit. I provide different levels of editing depending on your needs. The most common preference is a light-medium copyedit, which includes mechanical editing and language 

editing (listed below). I recommend this type of editing for most authors.

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For authors needing more than a light-medium edit, you have the option of a more heavy copyedit that could also include content editing, correlating parts, editing references, and aligning manuscripts with a journal's author guidelines. See below for a description of what is included in each of these options.

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Please let me know if you prefer a light-medium or heavy copyedit. And if you need a heavy copyedit, please specify what categories you need edited. Please see my Price & Payment page for details about cost. A heavy copyedit takes longer, so cost increases.

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Also note, that I do proofread documents, but this is a very light edit that is typically applied to a manuscript that has been through multiple revisions and copyediting. Proofreading involves the most minimal changes, correcting any possible typos and punctuation errors that may remain in a text before being approved for publication.

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MECHANICAL EDITING
This includes following guidelines of a style manual for these items: 

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• Punctuation 

• Spelling 

• Capitalization 

• Hyphenation

• Page numbers, headers and footers

• Italicization, underscoring, and boldfaced type

• Abbreviations, including acronyms and initialisms

• Quotations

• Tables, figures and graphs

• Presentation of numbers and statistics

• International System of Units

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LANGUAGE EDITING

This involves aligning the language of your manuscript with conventional and idiomatic English. This includes checking the following elements:

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• Grammar

• Word choice, including technical nomenclature

• Style, including making texts more clear, concise, correct, consistent, coherent, and compelling

• Tone, involves ensuring that the word choice is appropriate for your audience and type of manuscript you are writing

• Rhetorical conventions and organizational structures of scientific manuscripts 

• Textual and formatting conventions, including font size and type, margins, and spacing, and other typography issues

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CONTENT EDITING

In a medium copyedit, I do a limited amount of content editing and fact-checking unless the author requests more in-depth fact-checking. At a minimum, if I see irregularities or questionable facts and content, I will query the author about these items. I can also do a more systematic editing of content and fact-checking as well as annotation of text, as found in editing of manuscripts in a medical legal regulatory review, if an author requests this. This may include the following:

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• Fact-checking by consulting primary reference sources or by referencing the related literature 

• Verifying that your summary of findings of other studies is consistent with the article you are summarizing 

• Checking numbers that do not add up or missing data

• Pointing out issues in reporting statistical data

• Check for verbatim text from the reference source

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CORRELATING PARTS

Correlating parts involves verifying that sections of a manuscript logically and consistently connect. Some items I check include:​

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• Verifying that your summary of findings of other studies is consistent with the source article you are citing 

• Verifying that numerical data presented in the text is consistent throughout the manuscript, including the tables, figures, abstract, introduction, methods, results, and discussion 

• Checking for consistency between in-text references to tables and figures and correctly labeling these items

• Check for consistency in typeface formatting of levels of titles, headings, and subheadings

• Checking description in captions and labeling against content presented in tables and figures

• Verifying that all items presented in tables are presented consistently and use the same terminology or units of measure throughout the table

• Verifying consistency of in-text citations and footnotes against references

• Cross-checking table of contents with sections of the manuscript

• Verifying that all text and numerical data are consistently formatted throughout all tables and figures

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EDITING REFERENCES

• Align references with a particular style such as, AMA-11, Chicago, APA, CSE: Scientific Style and Format

• Check order and formatting style of authors, titles, publication dates, publisher, etc.

• Verify that links are active and correct; add a doi when applicable

• Verify that references are current, relevant, and high quality 

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ALIGNING WITH A JOURNAL'S GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS

• Align your article with a journal's formatting and style preferences

• Confirm that references are consistent with journal's guidelines

• Confirm that word count for abstract and other sections of an article are within a journal's word limit

• Verify that tables and figures are aligned with journal guidelines and specifications