Step 9: Subediting

Once you have completed your final set of minor corrections, you email your paper back to me (Ellie Phillips) at journalmanager@gmail.com I am the journal's subeditor, and it is my job to ensure that the final version of your paper is as clearly argued and expressed as possible. I also work to ensure that your manuscript is presented in house style. I will work through your piece in some detail, making suggestions and corrections using Microsoft Word’s ‘track changes’ feature. My expertise is not in Planning but in writing, so my work is focused not on changing content but on improving the structure and flow of your argument, and sometimes giving a bit of extra linguistic help (particularly for those impressive individuals who are able to write academic papers in a second, or even a third language!) It can feel very odd to have your work edited, particularly the first time that it happens, but I hope that you will find the process of working with me constructive and helpful.

I will also be looking at your figures, tables and images to check on how they will re-produce - particularly in print. To these ends I may ask you to alter the images/enlarge/make clearer etc. There are some useful guidelines from our publisher on artwork here:

http://journalauthors.tandf.co.uk/preparation/artwork.asp

Once I have finished working on your paper, I will send my corrections back to you for approval. You can work through each of the suggested changes individually, accepting or rejecting it as you see fit. You then email me your finalized, clean copy for submission to the publisher.

It usually takes me two weeks to subedit a file.