Editage Academic and Research Glossary

Abstract

A brief synopsis of a research article, conference presentation, or poster, presented before the main text to help the reader quickly ascertain the paper’s purpose.

Academic editing

The process of preparing an academic or research manuscript for publication in a journal, by correcting the mistakes, improving the flow of the text, and offering suggestions to the author.

Acceptance rate

In journal publishing, the number of manuscripts accepted for publication compared to the total number of manuscripts submitted to the journal in one year.

ACS (American Chemical Society)

One of the primary professional organizations for chemists and related occupations, based in the United States.

ACS Style Guide

A set of guidelines developed by the American Chemical Society for writing documents related to chemistry, including a standard citation style for chemistry.

Advanced editing

An editing service offered by Editage to its researcher clients, in which editors review and correct the grammar, language, punctuation, style, formatting, and consistency within a document intended for publication.

AGU (American Geophysical Union)

A global nonprofit organization of geophysicists, whose primary focus is the organization and dissemination of scientific information in geophysics.

AGU Editorial Style Guide for Authors

An editorial and reference style guide for authors in geophysics, compiled by the American Geophysical Union.

AIP (American Institute of Physics)

A not-for-profit membership corporation created to promote the advancement and diffusion of the knowledge of physics and its application to human welfare.

AIP Style Manual

The style guide of the American Institute of Physics, containing editorial guidelines for authors who submit papers to an AIP journal.

AMA (American Medical Association)

An association of physicians and medical students in the United States.

AMA Manual of Style

A style guide for editors and authors publishing in medicine internationally, put together by the editors of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association).

AMWA (American Medical Writers Association)

An international professional association for medical communicators, writers, and editors, focused on improving the quality of medical writing and editing.

Annual report

A comprehensive report created to provide shareholders and other interested parties with information about a company’s activities and financial performance in the preceding year.

AP Stylebook or The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law

A style manual published by the Associated Press (AP), offering guidelines on editorial and stylistic issues concerning news writing and reporting.

APA (American Psychological Association)

The world’s largest association of psychologists, focused on advancing the creation, communication, and application of psychological knowledge

APA Style

A set of editorial and stylistic guidelines on writing and publishing in the social and behavioral sciences, as detailed in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

Artwork preparation

A high-value graphics service offered by Editage, wherein graphics experts edit and prepare academic/scientific illustrations to ensure that the final artwork meets the specifications of the target journal.

ASA (American Sociological Association)

A non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology

ASA Style

A widely accepted format for writing university research papers and preparing manuscripts, published by the American Sociological Association and detailed in the ASA Style Guide.

BELS

Board of Editors in the Life Sciences—a professional international organization that evaluates the proficiency of editors in the life sciences and awards credentials to those who demonstrate their editorial proficiency in a certification exam conducted by the Board.

BELS certification

A certification awarded to individuals who demonstrate excellence in editing and an understanding of the ethical principles of publishing—assessed through a certification exam conducted by BELS.

BELS-certified editor

An editor who has been certified by BELS as having excellent editing skills and an understanding of the ethical principles of publishing in the life sciences.

Book manuscript

An unpublished, draft version of a book that is intended for publication.

Case report

A detailed medical report of the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient, published in a medical journal.

Case study

A descriptive, exploratory, or explanatory analysis of a person, group, or event within the social sciences and life sciences; in the medical sciences, sometimes used interchangeably with case report.

Center of Excellence

A specialized subject-area team at Editage, comprising editors with professional and academic expertise in one or more closely related disciplines, focused on delivering editorial output that matches the style and standards of publication in a given discipline.

Citation

A reference to a published or unpublished source, typically denoted through an alphanumeric expression (e.g., Jones 84) embedded in the body of an academic text, for the purpose of acknowledging the relevance of the works of others concerning the topic being discussed.

Citation metrics

Statistics collected on the number of times a research article has been cited by other research articles.

CMS or The Chicago Manual of Style

The style guide published by the University of Chicago Press, widely used by social science and history journals and dealing with writing, citation styles, and various aspects of editorial practice.

Conference paper

The text of an individual speech or paper that is presented by a speaker at an academic conference.

Conference proceedings

The entire collection of academic papers presented at an academic conference. See also Symposium proceedings.

CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials)

Various initiatives—but in particular the CONSORT Statement—developed to alleviate the problems arising from inadequate reporting of randomized controlled trials, developed by the CONSORT Group, as part of a broader effort to improve the reporting of different types of health research.

COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics)

A nonprofit organization whose mission is to define best practices in the ethics of scholarly publishing and to assist editors, publishers, etc., to achieve this. See also Publication ethics

Corresponding author

The author who (in addition to contributing to the technical content of the paper) is responsible for submitting the paper to the journal for publication, managing all communication and correspondence regarding the paper, and handling revisions and re-submissions.

CSE (Council of Science Editors)

A United States-based nonprofit global organization comprising editorial professionals dedicated to the responsible and effective communication of science and focused on creating a supportive network for editorial career development and identifying and implementing high-quality editorial practices.

Dissertation

A written discourse involving a synthesis of thoughts (and perhaps some new insights) on existing research on a subject, typically prepared while pursuing a university degree (sometimes used interchangeably with Thesis).

Editage Quality Guarantee

Quality assurance by Editage, guaranteeing that in all documents edited by its editors, the quality of English will meet the standards required by the international publishing industry.

EditageOnlineTM

A proprietary secure online system for clients to manage their personalized account with Editage—submit new orders, track and download assignments, ask questions, offer feedback, manage payments and invoices, and more.

Editing

The process of correcting and revising a document in terms of language, grammar, and presentation, to make it fit for its final purpose.

Editing certificate

A certificate issued by an editor or editing company, certifying that a particular document or manuscript has been edited to ensure correct grammar and language; typically sent by an author to a journal or publisher to prove that the manuscript has been checked by a professional editor.

Editor’s report

An assessment written by Editage editors for their clients, summarizing the strengths and weaknesses of the manuscript.

EMWA (European Medical Writers Association)

A not-for-profit organization that represents, supports, and trains medical communicators in Europe.

Formatting guide or Formatting guidelines

A set of guidelines prepared by a scholarly or scientific journal, describing how authors should prepare their manuscripts for submission with regard to aspects such as heading styles, references, titles, tables, figures, etc.

GPP2 (Good Publication Practices)

A set of (revised) guidelines published in the British Medical Journal that offers comprehensive guidance on several ethical issues, including roles of authors, sponsors, and other contributors; establishing a publication steering committee; role of professional medical writers; and recommendations for publication planning and documentation.

Grant application

A proposal or an application written and submitted to receive a grant (a non-repayable fund) for a specific project from a government body or an organization, foundation, or trust.

h-index

An index that aims to measure the research productivity and impact of a scientist or scholar, based on the set of the scientist’s or scholar’s most cited papers and the number of citations that they have received in other publications.

ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors)

A group of general medical journal editors whose participants meet annually and fund their work on the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (formerly known as the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts).

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)

A professional not-for-profit association of engineers headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence and publishes over 100 peer-reviewed journals in the fields of electrical and electronics engineering and computer science.

Impact factor

A measure that attempts to represent the relative importance of a journal within a field based on the average number of citations to recent articles published in the journal; journals with higher impact factors are deemed to be more important than those with lower ones.

IMRAD

An acronym for Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion—the widely recommended manuscript structure for original research articles in scientific journals.

Journal article

A scholarly or scientific research paper published in a journal within a specific field of study.

Journal formatting service

A service offered by Editage to researchers and authors of scholarly papers, wherein editors and journal formatting specialists style a document to meet the requirements of a specific journal’s style or formatting guide.

Journal selection

An Editage service that helps researchers select the right journal for submission, based on a number of key factors (scope of the journal, impact factor, type of manuscript, target readership, etc.).

Journal submission

An Editage service, wherein publication specialists assist researchers through the entire journal submission process—from formatting the manuscript and writing the cover letter to submitting the manuscript and tracking its progress.

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Literature review

An account or discussion of what has been published in scholarly journals on a given topic, including substantive findings and theoretical and methodological contributions to the topic; sometimes includes a new interpretation of old material or combines new with old interpretations.

Marketing brochure

A small document or pamphlet, which describes and promotes a company’s products or services.

MLA Style Manual

The style manual of the Modern Language Association of America, which offers guidance on writing scholarly texts, documenting research sources, submitting manuscripts to publishers, and dealing with legal issues surrounding publication.

Newsletter (offline and online)

A regularly distributed publication, published by societies, associations, and businesses, to provide information of interest to members, customers, or employees; may be delivered via post or distributed electronically via email.

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Peer review

The process by which a journal gets scholarly work (e.g., a manuscript or a research proposal) evaluated by experts from the same field in order to ensure that the work meets the necessary standards before it is published or accepted by the journal.

Peer reviewer

An expert in a given field, who is qualified, competent, and able to perform an impartial peer review of a given manuscript.

Per-word pricing

The pricing system adopted by Editage, whereby the final price is calculated based on the actual number of words in a document (no minimum number of words required, no flat fees for a range of words).

Plagiarism

The act of copying the words, thoughts, or ideas of another author and using it in one’s own work, without citing or crediting the original author.

Post-acceptance support

An Editage service, whereby researchers are assisted with revision-related correspondence, re-formatting, etc., after their manuscript has been accepted for publication.

Post-submission support

Editage helps you with either responses to reviewer comments or resubmission.Editage helps you with either responses to reviewer comments or resubmission.

Poster presentation or Poster session

A presentation of research information by an individual or representatives of research teams at an academic, scientific, or professional conference.

Premium editing

An editing service offered by Editage to its researcher clients, in which editors review and correct more than just grammar, language, and style, focusing also on aspects such as structure, flow, logic, and tone, to ensure a well-crafted, effective document.

Proofreading

An editing service offered by Editage to its researcher clients, in which editors review and correct errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and consistency.

Publication bias

A phenomenon in scholarly literature, in which studies with positive (as opposed to negative or neutral) results have a better chance of being published, are published earlier, and are published in journals with higher impact factors.

Publication ethics or Publishing ethics

A set of principles and practices that are followed to ensure that the publication of scholarly research is conducted with integrity and without any misconduct.

Publication support

A range of services offered by Editage to its researcher customers, with the aim of helping them understand journal publication processes, adopt good publication practices, and maximize their chances of publication.

Publication support pack or Publication pack

A set of publication support services offered by Editage, designed to offer researchers high-end personalized assistance, great value, and maximum savings.

PuMa

A dynamic virtual tool by Editage that helps authors of biomedicine search a database of over 20,000 journals to find suitable journals for their paper.

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Re-editing support

An after-sales support service by Editage, whereby clients who wish to make changes to an edited paper, can do so and then avail of discounted prices on the second round of editing; available as a free service under Premium Editing.

Referee comments or Reviewer comments

Opinions, advisory comments, and suggestions offered by peer reviewers to the author(s) of the manuscript under review.

Reference list or References

In scholarly writing, a list presented at the end of a research/academic manuscript, detailing the sources (books, papers, presentations, letters, etc.) cited within the document so as to enable the reader to locate and verify the sources used.

Rejection rate

In journal publishing, the number of manuscripts rejected compared to the total number of manuscripts submitted to the journal in one year.

Research article or Research paper

A scholarly or scientific paper written to compile the findings of a study and published in a journal within a specific academic discipline.

Research question

The central question (or hypothesis) that a researcher seeks to address, which will then define the specific objectives that the study will address.

Resubmission

The process of submitting a manuscript to the same journal for the second time after it has been revised as per the instructions of the journal or the journal’s peer reviewers, or of submitting a manuscript to a different journal after it has been rejected by the first journal.

Resubmission support

A service offered by Editage to its researcher clients, whereby publication specialists help the client successfully complete all the necessaryresubmission procedures and resubmit a manuscript.

Retraction

A journal’s disavowal of a paper that has it has published in one of its earlier issues, typically done when the findings in the paper are no longer considered trustworthy due to scientific misconduct or error, when the paper is found to have plagiarized previously published work, or when the paper is found to have violated ethical guidelines.

Salami publication or Salami slicing

A discredited process in which data gathered via one study is separately reported (wholly or in part) in multiple publications; considered questionable as it may lead to the same data being counted multiple times as apparently independent results in aggregate studies.

Scientific editing

The process by which an editor with expertise in the relevant scientific discipline prepares a scientific manuscript for publication in a journal, by correcting the mistakes, improving the flow of the text, and offering suggestions to the author.

Service guarantee

Delivery assurance by Editage, guaranteeing that all editing assignments will be delivered at the date and time stipulated at the time of job confirmation.

Symposium

A conference where researchers from a specific field meet to present and discuss their work.

Symposium proceedings

The entire collection of academic papers presented at an academic symposium.

Target journal

The journal in which a researcher aims to publish his/her manuscript.

Thesis

A written discourse typically involving original perspectives or research on a specific subject, typically prepared while pursuing a university degree (sometimes used interchangeably with Dissertation).

Translation

The process of converting words from one language to another.

Turabian

A style guide for writing and formatting research papers, published by the University of Chicago Press and also known as A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.

User manual

A technical document or instruction manual, written to assist people using a particular machine or system.

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Web content

Information viewed by visitors to websites, including text, images, sounds, videos, and animations.

Word count

Information viewed by visitors to websites, including text, images, sounds, videos, and animation

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