Quantifying the work of copy editors

Abstract

Copy editors typically work on word-processor files, which track changes made to the text. They also query the authors through comments in the text. At present there is no automated way to quantify the copy editing, and the amount of work is typically assessed by word count of the original document or the time spent by the copy editor. These are poor substitutes, and do not really measure what has been done to the manuscript. This article proposes some approaches to quantifying a range of corrections made by copy editors