Written by: Monique Oude Luttikhuis
Published: 6 December 2024
For the past twelve years I have been working as a translator and editor of medical and scientific content. Some of the work involved preparing research manuscripts for submission to a scientific journal with the aim of publication. As a former biomedical researcher, that really caught my interest and I decided that I wish to focus more on this type of editing.
With that goal in mind, and to get some more formal training, I took the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) courses ‘Copyediting 2: Headway’ and the ‘Non-Fiction Developmental Editing’. But I knew of one other training course I thought would be a good addition and that was the European Association of Science Editors (EASE) School for Manuscript Editors and Academic Authors. I had to wait quite a few months since the course doesn’t run often. In fact, this was only the second time it ran. Therefore, I was rather excited to register and do it last September – it was a good way to get back to work after the summer holidays.
The EASE training course
This course was ‘designed to help researchers, academics, technical writers and copy editors who edit technical documents to make them more acceptable to journal editors and publishers, less likely to be desk-rejected, and once accepted, be published ahead of other manuscripts’. The training was held over the course of four weeks. Each three-hour session addressed two topics that covered the publication process, presentation of the manuscript and data, and effective writing skills.
The course was presented by Yateendra Joshi, a copyeditor and trainer with over 30 years’ experience. Two of the topics were presented by guest speakers who shared their in-depth knowledge. The 33 attendees came from all over the world, from four continents to be precise, and had various backgrounds: manuscript editors, authors, researchers, author editors, journal office staff, copyeditors and proofreaders.
What I learnt
1. What are the steps in the publication process
I knew from experience that there are multiple steps involved in getting your research published: choosing a journal, preparing an article manuscript, submitting it to an appropriate journal, peer review and responding to peer review and, ultimately, publication. However, my time as a researcher had been quite a long time ago and things have changed. So, I could do with a reminder of how it all works. And I was not disappointed.
All steps involved were discussed in depth. Consequently, I now have a much better understanding of the route to publication. I think it is helpful to be aware of what happens before and after submission because it clarifies where manuscript preparation fits into the process. It reminded me of my teacher training, when I had to do something similar. I was training to teach children aged 7 to 11 and we had to spend time in schools with children aged 5 to 7 and in schools with children aged 11 to 14 to find out where the children came from and where they were moving onto.
2. How to prepare a manuscript for submission
Manuscript editors can help with correcting spelling, punctuation and grammar, ensuring good sentence structure so that the author’s message can be understood by the reader, and formatting the manuscript so that it complies with the journal’s instructions for authors.
There may be many reasons for manuscripts not being accepted for publication: some related to the study itself or the manuscript not falling within the scope of the chosen journal, and others related to language errors or not adhering to the journal’s instructions for authors. I wish to help researchers with the latter and, in doing so, improve the chances of their manuscript not being rejected at first sight and, therefore, being considered for peer review. Spelling, punctuation and grammar must be perfect – or near perfect. As editors we know how to spell or if we are unsure, we can consult a dictionary. We also know how to use punctuation and grammar correctly. But there is so much more to creating a well-presented text. Do we know what to do with numbers in a manuscript? In which situations is it appropriate to use percentages? And what about levels of precision? Is there a space between the percentage sign and the number? Or between the number and the unit? What units to use? And are we using the correct multiplication sign? No, not the letter x. All this may sound rather dull, but it wasn’t. The explanations of the finer points were interspersed with engaging anecdotes. As a bit of a perfectionist, it was music to my ears. I was very happy to have all the above questions – and many more like those – answered.
It didn’t stop there. Citations and references were also discussed in detail, as were the different reference styles. Again, multiple examples showed the many ways in which citations and references can be formatted. That’s why it is so important to look at the instructions for authors for the particular journal you wish to publish in and its recent issue. They all seem to have their own preferences, for example, in author-year citations, a comma before the year or not and in numbered citations, the number in italics or roman. There were too many options to mention. I found out though that I truly enjoy looking at texts to that level of detail.
3. How to prepare tables and charts
Many academic articles include tables with numerical data. But do we know what makes a good table? What headings should be used? Should numbers be left-aligned, centre-aligned or right-aligned? And what to do with cells that have no data? I never knew there was so much to designing a clear and informative table. Many examples were shown to illustrate what makes a good table and why some tables are just too difficult to interpret.
We can ask the same question about charts. What makes a good chart? How do you know which chart is right for your data? As a tutor of maths, biology and chemistry I am familiar with the common types of chart and I know which one to use when: line graphs, box plots, bar charts, histograms, pie charts, kite diagrams and scatter graphs. But there are many more. Here I was introduced to some new charts – at least new to me. For example, I had never seen violin plots, heat maps and Coxcomb charts before. Thanks to the examples shown and the detailed explanations, I now understand much better which chart to use for what type of data and I have an insight into the large variety of tools available for creating any type of chart. Although I do not need to know how to produce tables and charts, I want to know what they are telling me.
4. How to improve effective writing skills
I know that to be a good editor, it is essential to also be a good writer. Effective writing is a skill and, therefore, it can be learnt and, of course, improved. To write effectively you must write in such a way that your readers understand what you are trying to tell them. The writing needs to be clear, concise and accurate. The course offered much advice on how to tackle writing in a systematic way and how to become an effective writer, and that it is normal for a good piece of writing to have gone through many drafts.
It was pointed out that writing skills can also be improved by extensive reading, in particular books by good writers. That’s certainly not a chore. I was especially excited about the Very Short Introductions series by Oxford University Press and the shortlist for the Royal Society Science Book Prize. These have introduced me to a lot of books I would otherwise not have read.
What I liked and why
I enjoyed the course immensely; the breadth and depth of information that was presented was extraordinary. Almost too much to grasp first time around. If anything hadn’t fallen into place, we could watch the recordings that were made available to all attendees.
What I found particularly helpful is that the trainer, Yateendra Joshi, showed so many examples. He explained very carefully how some things didn’t work, which made it much easier to understand the points he was trying to make. And if you still had questions, you could ask either during the session or by emailing him – I frequently did and always received a helpful answer within a few hours. Or you could try to find the answer yourself, since every session concluded with a long list of recommended reading.
After taking the course, many aspects of the editing and writing process have become much clearer. And I have this extensive list of helpful sources that I can turn to.
I hope this post has given you an impression of what the course has to offer. If you have any questions about the course or anything you think I may be able to help you with, feel free to
|
Blog post by: Monique Oude Luttikhuis Website: tuitionandtranslationservicesspalding.com LinkedIn: monique-oude-luttikhuis |
