Phase IV: Technical Editing

Summary

Once near-final (usually after a third or fourth draft), articles are sent to a technical editor (TE) for fact-checking. The editors should alert the technical editor once the draft is sent to the EAL, but it is often helpful for them to start working on the article earlier if the editors anticipate that there will not be substantial changes to the content. Authors are responsible for documenting their sources and providing access to any that are hard to access (can be through photographs or screenshots).

Total time: 1-2 weeks

Suggested deadline: TEs should be given one week for their first pass.

Editor action items: Make a clean copy of the document to send to the TE; work with the authors to make sure the TE has access to all relevant sources; alert copy and proof team that they should expect a copy soon.

What else you need to know:

As soon as the EAL receives a draft of the document for review, email the assigned Technical Editor so that they know fact-checking needs to be done soon and can set aside time/gather any sources.

The Technical editor (TE) gets a clean copy of the document to work with. If they are working with hard to find sources, the author may need to provide screen caps or photos of pages cited. The TE may ask for rewording or changes for accuracy that the author will need to respond to. TEs will typically send back a draft within a week with suggested rewording or changes for accuracy that the author will need to respond to.

When fact-checking is complete, keep the document with all comments from the TE and send a copy of this draft to the author ("keep comments and suggestions") to respond to any questions or comments. If the fact checker's edits are minor (e.g., changing a date, slightly changing wording), you do not need to send it backc to the author.

If you have trouble reaching or hearing back from your assigned TE in a timely manner--or if your author is pushing back on making factual changes--email the Technical Editing lead and Managing Editor immediately.