You’ve analysed your data and written your journal article. But you still haven’t submitted it. Deep down, you’re worried that it might not be quite finished. You’ve read it so many times that you can’t see the wood for the trees. Perhaps there is some fear of rejection as well.

You’re not alone. Having worked as an editor for 20 years, I understand the doubts that plague even the most confident writers. It’s why the profession of editing exists — to help you, the author.

Every journal article has a story to tell. But sometimes that story is obscured because unnecessary data have been included, the argument is not logical or the writing is not clear. These are issues that I can identify and fix in your manuscript through my academic editing services.

I may be biased, but I think that every document can be improved by professional editing.

My aim is to ensure that your story is clear and that the writing is a pleasure to read, no matter how technical the content. I do this by:

• organising the document so that it flows logically
• choosing the most appropriate words so that each sentence is easy to understand
• applying an editorial style so that there is consistency throughout the document
• eliminating grammatical and typographical errors.

Once I receive the draft journal article from you, I read the journal’s instructions to authors. I note word limits, approved headings and referencing styles, to ensure that your manuscript conforms to the requirements.

I then take a high-level look at the flow of the story to check if it is logical.

If there are any aspects of the argument that are unclear, or if there are any problems with the way the analysis has been presented, I will contact you to discuss how this will be fixed.

Once we are happy with the content, I go through each paragraph, sentence by sentence, to ensure that the prose is clear, concise and compelling.

As a final step, I do the following standard copyediting tasks:

• ensure editorial consistency (spelling, capitalisation, abbreviations, hyphenation, etc)
• fix any grammatical errors (incorrect word choice, punctuation errors, etc)
• check cross references to tables and figures
• check that acronyms/abbreviations/initialisms are defined appropriately
• make changes to the text so that it is clear, correct and concise.

I edit in Microsoft Word and use the Tracked Changes function, so that you can review everything that I have done. When I have finished this first round of editing, I send the document back to you.

Your task is then to go through my changes and accept/reject them as you see fit. It is your document so the final decisions rest with you. I may also have raised some editorial queries that you will need to respond to, usually because the meaning of a sentence is unclear and I am seeking clarification.

Once you’ve been through the document, you send it back to me and I finalise the manuscript and do a final proofread.

When I return the finished document to you I also send my invoice.

The cost for academic editing is A$50–100 per 1000 words (plus GST for Australian residents). The cost depends not only on the word count but also the quality of the draft. For this reason, I prepare a customised quote and a short sample edit, so that you can see how academic editing can improve your writing.