Page 125 - How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, 8th Edition 8th Edition
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Chapter 19
the Publishing Process (How to Deal with Proofs)
Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
—Anonymous
The Proofing Process
The following is a brief description of the process that your manuscript follows after it has been accepted for
publication.
The manuscript usually goes through a copyediting procedure during which spelling and grammatical errors are
corrected. In addition, the copyeditor will standardize all abbreviations, units of measure, punctuation, and spelling in
accord with the "style" of the particular journal in which your manuscript is to be published. The copyeditor may
direct questions to you if any part of your presentation is not clear or if any additional information is needed. These
questions will appear as "author queries" on the margins of the proofs sent to the author. (Some journals send the
copyedited manuscript back to the author for approval before type is set.)
The manuscript is keyboarded or the electronic file on your disk is loaded into a computer system that can
communicate with a typesetting system, which will produce the proofs of your article. The compositor keyboards
codes that indicate the typefaces and page layout and, if you have not submitted an electronic file, will also keyboard
the actual words
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in your manuscript. If you have submitted your work on disk, the compositor may input the corrections and revisions
resulting from the editing. The output of this effort is your set of proofs, which are then returned to you so that you
may check the editorial work that has been done on your article, check for typographical errors, and answer any
questions asked by the copyeditor.
Finally, the compositor will keyboard the corrections that you make on your proofs. This final version will become the
type that you see on the pages of the journal after it is published.
One day, probably quite soon, all authors will submit manuscripts either on computer disks or via direct transmission
over the Internet. The need to rekey the text will then be eliminated. This will also substantially reduce (but not
eliminate) proofreading headaches.
Why Proof Is Sent to Authors
Some authors seem to forget their manuscripts as soon as they are accepted for publication, paying little attention to
the proofs when they arrive and assuming that their papers will magically appear in the journals, without error.
Why is proof sent to authors? Authors are provided with proof of their paper for one primary reason: to check the
accuracy of the type composition. In other words, you should examine the proofs carefully for typographical errors,
especially if the compositor must input from the hardcopy of your edited paper. Even if you submitted your
manuscript on disk and carefully proofread and spellchecked the file before you sent it, errors can remain or can occur
when the editorial changes are input. No matter how perfect your manuscript might be, it is only the printed version in
the journal that counts. If the printed article contains serious errors, all kinds of later problems can develop, not the
least of which may be irreparable damage to your reputation.
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