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Elsevier adds value by offering language editing services
By Marie Sheehan, Manager Editorial Communications, S&T Journal Publishing, Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Marie Sheehan

Elsevier earns high marks from authors, editors and reviewers because we constantly strive to improve services we provide to support them. Language editing services is an area in which we’re currently enhancing and expanding the range of support we provide.

We support authors pre-submission

Recently we have improved our Authors’ Resource Center, an online information resource that outlines the importance of reasonable English language quality in a paper and what an author needs to take care of before submission. The Authors’ Resource Center features a page addressing language editing and quality as well as a guide to publication, a submission checklist and an editing checklist.

Further, to support authors pre-submission, we have negotiated with a number of language editing companies to provide their services to our authors at competitive rates. Information on these companies is available on the Authors’ Resource Center.

Researchers considering submitting papers need to know that each Elsevier-published journal has its own guide for authors. To find these guides, see specific journal homepages on www.elsevier.com.

We provide technical screening

Reviewers tell us they are too frequently asked to review manuscripts of an insufficient quality from a purely technical viewpoint, that is, containing poor use of language, incomplete, inconsistent or outdated references, an uninformative abstract or poor-quality illustrations, or not adhering to specific journals’ guides for authors. On the basis of reviewers’ feedback and to reduce reviewers’ workload, we have decided to take more active measures to ensure that all manuscripts that are sent out for peer review adhere to a set of minimum technical standards.

Hence, we have instituted a new program whereby submitted manuscripts are initially screened, purely on the basis of English language quality and technical standards, to evaluate their suitability for the formal peer-review process. Manuscripts that do not meet this set of minimum technical standards are returned to the submitting authors with a checklist of missing or insufficient items. After attending to any technical insufficiencies, the authors may resubmit their manuscripts.

This technical screening has ... substantially reduced the number of technically substandard papers received by reviewers.

So far, this technical screening has not only provided useful feedback to authors, but has also substantially reduced the number of technically substandard papers received by reviewers. After an initial pilot with a number of journals, this program is proving to be very successful and welcomed by editors, reviewers and authors alike.

Since the inception of this program in 2004, our team has screened over 95,000 manuscripts from almost 200 journals. We are currently handling between 10,000 and 12,000 manuscripts per month and are expanding the technical screening program to more journals.

Find details on Elsevier’s language editing services, as well as other support for authors,
on the Authors’ Resource Center at www.elsevier.com/authors.

Regarding this new program, Peter Thrower, the editor-in-chief of the journal Carbon, wrote in 2007: "Another change ... is where submissions are screened before being transmitted to the Editor in Chief. … The process has now been in operation for one month and as many as 90% of submissions are being rejected at this screening stage. Authors are allowed to resubmit their papers after they have attended to the comments given to them, and this often requires the assistance of native English speakers and/or professional editors and translators. Authors are wasting so much of their time by submitting manuscripts that are not correctly prepared. This could be avoided if only authors would read and follow the Guide for Authors. We are grateful to Elsevier for their willingness to provide this service."

We provide language editing

An increasingly common problem our journal editors encounter is manuscripts which are of high scientific merit, but which due to poor language quality are unfortunately rejected in the peer-review process. In an attempt to alleviate this problem, in 2006 we began offering to a number of our editors the option of having a limited number of manuscripts language-edited at our cost.

One editor commented: “The turnaround time was excellent and the language-edited manuscript arrived on Christmas Day, 4 days after I sent it. The language editor did a good job…. I need to now return it to the authors to implement the suggestions and changes and I believe the new version will be much better received by reviewers who often complain about struggling with poor English expression.”

Another editor phoned to tell us how thrilled he is with the service. Language editing has taken a tremendous amount of his (and his team's) time, and he feels our service has helped and will help his journal greatly.

We provide copy editing

After each paper is accepted, our copy editors prepare a proof, which may incorporate final edits and changes made according to the standards listed at www.elsevier.com/copyediting.

The main objective of our copy editing is to ensure that text is clear and correct with regard to spelling, grammar and syntax. It is not intended that text be rewritten in any other way.

We provide other support

We value our relationships with authors, editors and reviewers, and we’re dedicated to providing them with valuable and value-adding services. Besides services centering on language, we also provide the Elsevier Editorial System (EES), an online tool facilitating submission, reviewing and tracking of manuscripts as well as customer support available 24/7.

What customers think of Elsevier’s services

As you may already know, we regularly survey authors, editors and reviewers to monitor their opinions in regard to the levels of support they receive. Findings recently identified suggest that the majority of editors*, authors** and reviewers*** are satisfied.

• 90% of authors (based upon 42,102 responses to a 2007 survey) are very satisfied with their journals overall.
• 92% of authors (based upon 42,102 responses to a 2007 survey) find journal instructions to authors clear and helpful.
• 63% of reviewers (based upon 29,506 responses to a 2007 survey) find the English language quality in articles to be of a reasonable standard.

If you have questions about language services provided by Elsevier, please write to AuthorSupport@elsevier.com.

* The Editor Feedback Program monitors Elsevier’s performance from the perspective of the editor. Once a year we ask all our editors how we are doing via an online survey. The first reporting of the Editor Feedback Program took place in February 2006.

** The Author Feedback Program tracks aspects of support an author receives during Elsevier’s publication of her or his article, from submission, through review and to final publication. The majority of Elsevier-published journals are included in the program.

*** The Reviewer Feedback Program, similar to the Author Feedback Program, continuously tracks opinions of reviewers: their overall satisfaction; willingness to review again for specific journals; and thoughts on the reputation of specific journals, support received and quality of articles.