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Editing a manuscript and buying a pair of socks
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Today, a client said to me that I paid for your editing service and you failed me. He used the example of buying a pair of socks. I was speechless...
Ok, editing a manuscript costs much more than buying a pair of socks. We all know that. But, what else do they differ?
About once or twice a year, a client or two would complain to me that the journal editor didn't think "the edited paper" was good enough to be accepted. Trouble for me, because I need to find out why so. (Note: I edited about 70 papers last year, so I still consider myself a good English editor even with one or two complaints each year.)
Quite often, I find "new text" was added to the paper after my editing. Once or twice, I feel every sentence is perfect, but the paper is on a topic that I don't know well so I cannot defend my editing. That is why I do not like to edit papers outside of my training (meteorology and physical oceanography--still a lot of topics in these fields may read like Greek to me).
I can edit each sentence, but I may not make the reviewers understand a paragraph. Because, it is the author's job to explain what the research is about. I try to make it read more like native English, but I cannot explain something that is not there...
Oh, it's so frustrating when someone thinks editing a manuscript is like buying a pair of socks.
Revision, revision, revision. That is the key to good writing.
I have no magic ward to edit a manuscript (only) once and ensure it will be accepted. I would love to put a sticker on it, EDITED BY ZUOJUN YU, if that would help. (I am not joking, some of my clients did put my name in their replies to show that it should not have language problem.)
So, please do not contact me, if you are trying to buy a pair of socks...
Related Blog:
编辑手稿和定做礼服
http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=306792&do=blog&id=455368
https://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-306792-454802.html
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