So… What Does an Academic Editor Do , Anyway?

If you’ve ever stared at a blank page, discouraging reviews, or wonky formatting, you might need an academic editor. But you might wonder: what does an academic editor do ?

I thought about getting involved in academic editing during COVID while I was getting antsy without much collaboration. I enjoy writing, reading, and editing my own and my students’ papers, so I figured editing others’ academic writing might be a good fit for me.

Serendipity brought the idea of academic editing across my path multiple times. I even discussed it with fellow colleagues who were also feeling the burn-out of meeting their institution’s unchanging expectations in the face of a global pandemic.

It was not until a few personal and professional setbacks forced me to accept the fact that life post-COVID would not be the same as it was before.

I knew I needed to find a new mission to bring back a jolt of energy to my day. I enjoyed the basics of my university job, but the community I sought was lacking. When Paulina Cossette‘s “Becoming an Academic Editor” posts crossed my feeds again in October of 2024, I took the plunge to join the BAE community and get started, and here I am freelancing on the side as an editor today.

Maybe you have thought about editing yourself. Maybe you struggle to convey your ideas on paper. Maybe you have wished for just one more set of hands that could focus on the logistics of getting a paper in, so you can focus on the research and results.

Here are the types of things an experienced academic editor can do:

• Manuscript planning, outlining, and milestone coaching
• Editing for clarity, grammar, structure, and style 
  • word choice and order
  • subject-verb and tense agreement
  • consistency in lists and language
  • clarity and flow
  • sentence structure and repetitiveness
• Formatting in Word or LaTeX (APA, ACM, or journal-specific)
  • reference lists
  • in-text citations
  • figures and tables and captions
  • titles, headers, spacing, and fonts
  • sections and/or content required by target venue
• Responding to reviewer feedback
• Preparing theses, dissertations, grant proposals, tenure packets, and more…

Some editors also include significant restructuring of content or revising text beyond the above scope, or offer it as a separate service.

These services can help you offload some of the nitty gritty details to a fresh pair of eyes, who will be looking specifically for these things and who is capable of making the changes correctly, freeing you up to pay attention to the research instead.

Try this: calculate the amount of time you spent preparing your last article or proposal for submission. How much of that time was on writing the narrative, research, or science pieces, and how much was spent on formatting, logistics, editing, and proofreading? If the latter group is taking more than 25% of your time, you are wasting energy!

If you find yourself in need of an editor or coach to get your manuscript across the finish line, contact me to chat about my services 🙂

Typewriter photo by Suzy Hazelwood under CC.