■ Publishing services for journals and publishers
The work between
acceptance and publication.
The Article Processing Center carries the editorial and production work that turns accepted manuscripts into published articles — copy-editing, composition, author proofing and delivery — to each title’s own specification.
A journal is judged by what it publishes, not by what it accepts. Everything between the two is production — and production is the part of the process most easily allowed to slip.
Capabilities
Four kinds of work, taken on
separately or as one pipeline.
Editorial production
Copy-editing, style, reference handling and consistency across a whole issue rather than a single paper. Work is carried out to the title’s own style, not to a house standard of ours.
Composition and typesetting
Accepted manuscripts set to the journal’s template and returned as final files ready for release, with figures and tables prepared to the specification the title already uses.
Author proofing
The proof round with the corresponding author, run on our own system: the author marks corrections, the editorial office decides on each one, and what comes back is a clean file with every change accounted for.
Language and translation
Language editing and translation for manuscripts that need work before acceptance or polish after it — available as part of production or as a service an editorial office can refer authors to.
How we hold the standard
Your specification, not ours
House style, template, reference format and section conventions are yours. We work to what the title already does, so an issue we produce is indistinguishable from one produced in house.
Confidentiality as a condition
Unpublished manuscripts are handled under agreement rather than under assurance. Material is seen only by those working on it and is not used for any other purpose.
One point of contact
An editorial office deals with a person who knows the title, not with a queue. Questions about a specific article are answered by someone who has read it.
Engagement
Settled in writing
before anything begins.
Scope, schedule and terms are agreed with the editorial office at the outset and recorded in the agreement between us. Nothing about the arrangement is left to be discovered later.
We look at what the title actually produces
Recent issues, the template, the reference style, the volume and the rhythm of the publication schedule. A proposal written without this is a guess.
A written basis
Scope of work, the standard applied, the schedule and commercial terms are set out and agreed before any manuscript changes hands.
Files arrive as they already are
In whatever form the office produces them. We fit the way the journal works rather than asking the journal to work our way.
Production, and the author round
Editing and composition, then the proof round with the corresponding author where that has been placed with us — with the editorial office deciding on every correction the author asks for.
Delivery
Final files in the formats the title requires, on the agreed schedule, with a record of what was changed along the way.
Next step
Begin with a single issue.
The most useful first step is usually one issue, produced end to end, against the standard the title already holds.