There is a lot of fierce competition in academia due to the rigorous standards journals uphold for selection and publication. Thus, academics must critically evaluate their research prior to submission to ensure that it is clearly expressed, logically structured, and scientifically accurate.

Many authors opt for academic editing to ensure that their research is pristine before being sent for peer review. But, does it actually improve their chances of publication success?

What does an academic editor do?

The extent of an academic editor’s remit varies from company to company, but generally they all cover the following areas.

Subject-specific changes

It is the job of an academic editor to use their experience in their field to make changes to the content of the author’s research. With their expertise being in the same area as the author, they can make sophisticated changes and ensure that all presented arguments are scientifically sound and accurate.

This helps minimise the number of issues that will surface during the peer review process. Thus, authors can be confident that the content of their research is as credible and comprehensible as possible pre submission.

Structure, consistency, and terminology

Academic editors are also responsible for making sure that the author’s work is well structured. They make structural changes to improve a paper’s flow, as well as ensure that the language of a paper is precise and specific, with minimal room for misinterpretation. They also flag up missing or incorrect information, such as in equation terms and figures and tables.

This means the contents of the paper are communicated much more effectively and also lends a high degree of professionalism and thus credibility to the author’s work. This can significantly increase its impact in the field and draw more attention to their research findings.

Detailed feedback

Arguably the most important contribution an academic editor makes is their comprehensive feedback. Whilst the changes they make are valuable, their detailed comments allow authors to see their research through the eyes of a reviewer.

They thus explain their reasoning behind individual changes as well as provide a comprehensive review of each section of the paper. This contextualises their changes and allows researchers to see what is lacking in your paper and thus learn and improve for the future.

Having an expert review your paper before the peer review process means that you will be able to address any concerns or issues in your paper before submitting it. This means your article will be stronger and more sound when it undergoes evaluation.

Does editing improve your chance of passing peer review?

There are many variables that can affect publication success in academia. If the science itself does not meet the standards of a journal, there is only so much an academic editor can do to improve it.

However, assuming the science is sound, papers are usually vastly improved through the intervention of an academic editor. This can sometimes make all the difference to the decision of the editorial decision makers; poor expression and organisation are common reasons papers are rejected by journals.

Thus, research that has already been scrutinised by an expert, and thus is expressed and organised as well as it can be, has a much lower chance of being rejected by the journal reviewer for the above reasons.

This also reduces the time taken to publish. Without the endless process of edits and returns, an academic edit can help ensure that the author’s publication journey is as smooth as possible.