Getting Started with the Faculty Publishing Service
Our Purpose
The Faculty Publishing Service benefits not only you but also our editing interns. Typically, our student interns edit your project and then experienced editors review the work, make additional changes if needed, and provide feedback to the interns.
In the end, you receive professional-quality work and our students receive mentoring that prepares them for publication positions after they graduate.
Our Capabilities
We assist BYU faculty and staff with a variety of publication and production tasks, including the following:
- Copy editing
- Substantive editing
- Fact checking
- Formatting
- Proofreading
- Transcription
- Indexing
- Cover and page design
- Typesetting and page layout
- Image editing
- Creation of print-ready files
We can also help with other publication-related tasks—just let us know what you need!
Types of Work Accepted
You may submit any projects related to your professional work, including journal articles, books, edited volumes with content written by outside contributors, reports, grant proposals, and CFS materials. There’s no limit to the number of projects you’re allowed to submit in a calendar year.
Requesting a Service
When you’re ready for our assistance, please fill out the form at https://byu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eDqbKW7lEErPXXn. Within two business days, you’ll receive a confirmation email from the managing editor.
Establishing a Deadline
After we review your manuscript, we’ll give you an estimate of the time required.
We accept projects on a first-come, first-served basis, and our turnaround time for your project depends on our current project load. In general, please plan on 3–4 weeks for article editing, 2–4 months for book editing, 2–4 weeks for typesetting, and 2–4 weeks for book proofreading and indexing.
We sometimes have space in our schedule for rush jobs, so don’t hesitate to ask if we can fit in your project! We’ll try to accommodate your schedule.
Receiving the Completed Project
Once our team has finished the project, we will send you an email with the completed file attached. Files that we’ve edited will show our revision in track changes. The files may also contain comments with suggestions.
At that point, it’s time for you to go through the finished manuscript, accepting and rejecting the tracked changes. Although we are extremely careful in our edits, occasionally our suggestions may not fit your personal style or intended meaning; in these instances, please reject the changes.
Ultimately, the finished work is the responsibility of the author.
Service Fee
Our current fee is $40/hour, which is below the average fee that a freelance editor charges. If you are a faculty or staff member in Engineering, Humanities, FHSS, Religious Education, the Marriott School, or the HBLL, your unit has already agreed to pay for your use of our service. Otherwise, you can use funds in your research account or ask your department for funds to cover the cost.
Levels of Editing
Proofreading
We focus on correcting minor typographical and mechanical errors. Proofreading generally occurs in a PDF file.
- We check for errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and consistency.
- We address any issues with the layout and formatting.
Copy Editing
We focus on correcting grammar, spelling, syntax, capitalization, punctuation, hyphenation, and overall correctness and consistency. Copy editing generally occurs in Microsoft Word.
- We limit edits to those recommended by specific authoritative sources (e.g., a dictionary, style manual, or usage manual).
- We revise for consistency in terms and names, spelling, capitalization, abbreviations, and numbers. We also edit for parallel structure.
- We apply a specific publication style (e.g., APA, Chicago) to the text and references.
- We cross-check references, tables, figures, and other features for consistency with callouts in the text.
- Upon request, we tighten up wordy text and smooth awkward and unclear phrasing.
- Upon request, we make organizational suggestions in comments.
Substantive Editing
We focus on shaping the structure, language, and presentation to best serve the readers and the author’s intended purpose.
- We eliminate repetition.
- We rework sentences for better flow and readability (no significant rewriting or restructuring).
- We suggest rewrites in limited segments of text to improve the flow of information and readability.
- We reorganize paragraphs or entire sections to clearly develop an argument, or we make organizational suggestions in comments.
- We revise text formatting to improve the visual presentation.
Contact
If you have questions about the FPS, please contact the managing editor, Savannah Lunt, at savannah.lunt@byu.edu.