Becoming an academic editor requires a combination of editing skills and knowledge of the academic field. A bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in the relevant field are helpful. Editors must be familiar with the publication’s guidelines, review and correct articles, and assign stories. Attention to detail, scheduling, and curiosity are essential skills.
Academic journals are popular ways to disseminate research data and results for a variety of scientific and medical fields. The editors of these magazines are responsible for choosing the content and making the text as readable as possible for the public. If you want to become an academic editor, you’ll need to balance editing skills with knowledge of your academic field. The results will help professionals better understand their world of work and learn about new information.
To become a scholarly editor, you’ll need a unique combination of educational and professional backgrounds. Your best foundation is a bachelor’s degree in journalism in order to learn the basics of writing, structure, copyediting, and style. Also, it helps to have a second degree or a minor in the academic field you want to edit in. Many academic journals focus on niche science and medicine; therefore, an editor needs to be familiar with the terms and theories in them. It is rare for a recent graduate to take on an editor role; therefore, you will likely spend many years as a writer before rising to the position of editor.
Once you become a scholarly editor, you must learn a variety of daily tasks to help publish a strong journal. You must understand your publication’s scientific or medical publication guidelines to keep content consistent with previous editions. Reviewing and correcting the academic writing of articles is another important part of the job. You should also assign stories or come up with writer suggestions to create enough content for each issue. One job you’ll likely have to put aside is actually writing and researching articles, because most scholarly editors are only focused on improving their writers’ work and making decisions about the magazine’s content.
These jobs are tricky and require a distinct set of skills to do properly if you want to become a scholarly editor. Attention to detail is crucial for checking for spelling, style, and factual errors. You should also be oriented to scheduling, as journals have strict publication deadlines that must be met for printing and distribution. You must also have a strong curiosity for subjects you are unfamiliar with, and you must be willing to conduct independent research on a topic to better edit an article on that topic once you become a scholarly editor.
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