The Editing and Publishing Research Group includes scholars from across the United States who are involved in editing, publishing, writing, and linguistics research. Areas of expertise include book publishing, freelance editing, history of publishing, professional writing, second-language writing, and technical editing.
The group is currently focused on establishing BYU’s Faculty Publishing Service (FPS) as a site that can generate data for research projects. Possible projects include these:
- History of the FPS
- The FPS as a digital humanities lab
- Effects of editing pedagogies on editors’ comments
- Effects of genre and/or register on editors’ comments
- Authors’ perceptions of edits
- The rationale for editors’ edits
- Editors’ use of style guides
- Editors’ perceptions of linguistic usage problems
- Perfectionism in editors, including its prevalence in and effects on editors
- The written language freelance editors use when talking with potential clients
- The rhetorical role of editors in the publishing process
- Tradition vs. practicality in editorial decisions, or The Heavy Hand of History in Editing
- Editing decisions when working with non-native English writing
- Voice, tone, and style in editors’ comments to authors
- Effects of editor and author experience on editor’s comments
The group is currently developing materials to secure IRB approval for some of these projects. The group will convene on BYU campus in July 2022 to continue planning these projects. The projects will be carried out between the fall of 2022 and the winter of 2024. The group will convene a second time on BYU campus during the summer of 2024 to present and receive feedback on the completed research, to make final plans for submitting the studies for peer review, and to plan future research.
Faculty interested in joining this group should contact Matt Baker(Department of Linguistics).