Tips to Choose the Right Medical Editing Service: What You Should Look For
Blog Highlights
- Medical writing warrants a uniquely designed editing support system focused on subject matter expertise, knowledge of reporting guidelines, familiarity with regulatory standards, and strong language and technical skills.
- Medical editing balances technical accuracy with layman terminology to make medical papers accessible to clinicians, patients, regulatory bodies, and other stakeholders in the healthcare industry.
- Look for services that offer stringent fact checking coupled with target journal formatting compliance through the support of specialized field experts.
Jump to Contents
Medical Editing vs Academic Editing
How to Choose the Best Medical Editing Service
What Should I Check Before Selecting Medical Editing
What is Medical Editing?
Medical editing is a specialized field that involves a rigorous evaluation approach with detailed technical and subject-specific assessments of medical papers to make them submission ready for medical journals. Unlike other academic writing, medical writing is a niche field that caters to a wide range of audience with specialized content formats. So why shouldn’t it require a uniquely focused editing?
Medical Editing vs. Academic Editing
Scientific papers discuss various subjects and are typically based on analytical experiments. On the other hand, medical papers focus only on medical and healthcare related topics, often reporting findings based on doctor-patient interactions, clinical studies, drug interventions and testing, etc. Therefore, the editing approach must differ for the two. Here are a few key differences between editing medical papers and other scientific papers.
| Feature | Medical Editing | Academic Editing |
| Target audience | Clinical professionals, patients, healthcare stakeholders, and regularity bodies like FDA | Researchers, journal editors, peer reviewers, and other scientists and academics |
| Content type | Presents clinical facts, treatment outcomes, regulatory updates | Primarily shares new knowledge based on experimental testing |
| Language and style | Balances accessibility to patients and other stakeholders with technical precision | Objective and data-driven with a focus on ensuring replicability |
| Structure and format | Format varies across documents like case reports, clinical studies, informative leaflets, medical brochures, regulatory dossiers | Often follows the IMRaD format (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion) |
| Type of document | Journal papers, clinical trial protocols, educational materials, patient leaflets, regulatory documents | Journal articles, research and review reports, white papers |
| Required skillset | Medical editors should have good understanding of reporting standards, regulatory guidelines, and pharmacovigilance vocabulary | Scientific editors show competency in data assessments and research methodology evaluations |
| Target publications | Medical journals, healthcare platforms | Mostly academic journals and conference proceedings |
How to Choose the Best Medical Editing Service
The competition to get published is intense. With journals strengthening submission guidelines by adopting stringent rules and regulations, finalizing a medical submission warrants technically precise editing by experts and specialists in the subject area. Here are four key features of a competent medical editing service:
1. Multiple levels of editing support
Medical writers need help at different stages of medical manuscript preparation. The first round of editing is typically an in-depth evaluation involving sound technical checks and thorough language editing. At a more advanced stage, you may only require proofreading and formatting.
See if the editing service lets you opt for the exact level of service you need.
2. Add-on parameters with essential services
The fundamentals of any edit includes
- Comprehensive language checks
- Verification of scientific accuracy
- Compliance with journal formatting requirements
- Tracked changes highlighted in the edited manuscript
- Detailed comments on the modifications made
- Cross-checking accuracy and format of references and citations
But what else do they offer? Is there post-acceptance support? Do they create or format artwork? Can you enhance your research promotion plan with expertly crafted graphical abstracts? Look for these add-on services that give you a holistic support until, and even after, publication.
3. Matching with the right expertise
Of course top editing services have expert editors working for them. But does your manuscript get edited by the right experts?
For example, if your medical paper explores a new technique to diagnose cervical cancer, there is an overlap of two subject areas: gynecology and oncology. Your assigned editor should understand both these fields to give you comprehensive subject-focused feedback. So, ensure that the editing service has a track record of assigning well-chosen editors.
4. Specialized medical formatting
Several formatting styles like APA, MLA, Chicago Manual of Style are available for preparing research papers. Medical papers, however, often need to follow the guidelines set forth by either
- the International Committee of Medical Journals Editor (ICMJE),
- the American Medical Association (AMA) style guide, or
- the selected target journal.
Therefore, the editing service you choose must specifically offer medical formatting to ensure that the manuscript meets required submission guidelines.
Tip for authors: Sometimes, you don’t need journal formatting but the content should be formatted for a specific document type. For instance, a brochure or a leaflet will have a much different format than a research paper. So look for services that offer formatting for the type of document you need and perhaps even support you in designing the finished product.
What Should I Check Before Selecting Medical Editing
- Editor qualifications and expertise
Check the scientific credentials of the editors. This is often present in the “Know Your Expert” or “Meet our Expert Editors” section of a medical editing service website. Check whether the editors have medical degrees, BELS certifications, and are specialists in your subject area.
- Delivery speed vs quality
Rapid turnaround times are always a blessing, especially if you need papers ready under tight deadlines. But what about the quality of the edit? Check whether the medical editing service offers realistic delivery speeds with high-quality edits. How exactly do you check these? Consider the next two points.
- Sample documents
Check the sample documents edited previously. These should give you an idea on how the medical editing service approaches working with medical papers and whether the quality matches industry standards.
- Client testimonials
Another factor that lets you know about quality is real client testimonials. Reach out to your peers and professors to know more about the medical editing services they have used in the past. You may even ask fellow researchers in your network, perhaps on LinkedIn, about their experience collaborating with medical editors.
- Levels of service
The best medical editing for your paper typically depends on the current quality and extent of edit needed for your manuscript. Options like Standard Editing, Advanced Editing, Premium Editing, and Scientific Editing are common in top editing services. See what is uniquely offered in each level of service and choose the one that suits your requirement.
- Pricing plans
With different levels of medical editing, the pricing plans also vary. Most services specify the rate on a per word basis. You may also check whether there are medical editing packages and add-on services that you can avail.
If you are looking for a comprehensive edit and end-to-end support for submitting your medical paper, check out Editage’s medical editing and proofreading service to fast track your manuscript preparation for journal submission.
