Editing Copy editing (section)

{{Short description|Improving the formatting, style, and accuracy of text}}
{{For|selfref=y|information about copy editing on Wikipedia|Wikipedia:Basic copyediting}}
[[File:Example of copyedited manuscript.jpg|thumb|Example of non-professional copy editing in progress<ref>The document is then published as: {{cite book |author=Phoebe Ayers |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4sm4b8w2 |title="Wikipedia, User-Generated Content, and the Future of Reference Sources" in David A. Tyckoson, John G. Dove (eds). Reimagining Reference in the 21st Century. Purdue UP |date=November 11, 2014 |publisher=Purdue University Press |isbn=9781557536983 |access-date=January 7, 2019}}</ref>]]

'''Copy editing''' (also known as '''copyediting''' and '''manuscript editing''') is the process of revising written material ("[[copy (publishing)|copy]]") to improve quality and readability, as well as ensuring that a text is free of errors in [[grammar]], style, and accuracy.<ref name="What is copy editing">{{cite web |title=What Is Copy Editing? |url=http://www.sfep.org.uk/about/faqs/what-is-copyediting/ |access-date=March 25, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Stainton |first1=Elsie Myers |title=The Fine Art of Copyediting |date=2002 |publisher=Columbia University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wAeT5hN1XfAC |access-date=21 February 2017 |isbn=9780231124782}}</ref> ''[[The Chicago Manual of Style]]'' states<!--wouldn't count on it if users keep changing citations--> that [[manuscript]] editing encompasses "simple mechanical corrections (mechanical editing) through sentence-level interventions (linear editing) to substantial remedial work on literary style and clarity, disorganized passages, baggy prose, muddled tables and figures, and the like (substantive editing)". In the context of print publication, copy editing is done before [[typesetting]] and again before [[proofreading]].<ref name="einsohn2011" />{{rp|pp=1–5|date=April 2016}}<ref name="What is copy editing" /> Outside traditional book and journal publishing, the term "copy editing" is used more broadly, and is sometimes referred to as [[proofreading]]; the term sometimes encompasses additional tasks.

Although copy editors are generally expected to make simple revisions to smooth awkward passages, they do not have a license to rewrite a text line by line, nor do they prepare material on an author's behalf. (Creating original content to be published under another person's name is called "[[ghostwriting]]".) Furthermore, copy editors are expected to query structural and organizational problems, but they are not expected to fix these problems. In addition, copy editors do not normally engage in "[[developmental editing]]", which includes helping an author develop an idea into a publishable manuscript, overhauling a rough draft, identifying gaps in subject coverage, devising strategies for more-effective communication of content, and creating features to enhance the final product and make it more competitive in the marketplace.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Einsohn |first1=Amy |last2=Schwartz |first2=Marilyn |title=The Copyeditor's Handbook |date=2019 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Oakland, California |isbn=978-0-520-28672-6 |pages=5–14 |edition=4 }}</ref>

In the United States and Canada, an editor who does this work is called a '''copy editor'''. An organization's highest-ranking copy editor, or the supervising editor of a group of copy editors, may be known as the "copy chief", "copy desk chief", or "news editor". In the United Kingdom, the term "copy editor" is used, but in newspaper and magazine publishing, the term is '''subeditor''' (or "sub-editor"), commonly shortened to "sub".<ref>Lozano, George A. [https://arxiv.org/abs/1305.2401 Ethics of Using Language Editing Services in an Era of Digital Communication and Heavily Multi-Authored Papers]. Retrieved 24 July 2014.</ref> In the context of the Internet, online ''copy'' refers to the textual content of [[web page]]s. Similar to print, online copy editing is the process of revising and preparing the raw or draft text of web pages for publication.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sparkleweb.org/copy-editing-ux |title=What is Copy Editing? |website=Sparkle Web Digital Services |access-date=2016-05-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528190011/http://www.sparkleweb.org/copy-editing-ux |archive-date=2016-05-28 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Copy editing has three levels: light, medium, and heavy. Depending on the budget and scheduling of the publication, the publisher will let the copy editor know what level of editing to employ. The chosen type of editing will help the copy editor prioritize their efforts.<ref name="einsohn2011" />{{rp|p=12}}