A Quick Look Back:In the beginning, authors wrote and edited their own or a colleague’s text.

In the Renaissance, scribes and editors worked to correct only punctuation, grammar and spelling, but did not alter the original wording. The printing revolution necessitated a greater division of labor. Authorship, copy editing, and final editing became secularized departments in response to the growing volume of printed text. As the value of editing evolved, the copy editor could question the author's assumptions. Publishing houses have different protocols for the duties of the copy editor. The ideal copy editing keeps the text as clean, interesting and economical as possible while serving the best interests of the reader. Between the years of 2003 and 2008, copy editors were laid-off more than any other publishing department due to downsizing. Merrill Perlman, a retired chief of copy desks at The New York Times, stated that copy editors were absolutely vital because a sloppy publication undermines credibility. Copy editors are quality control professionals, making sure the text is accurate and understandable. Condensed from “The History of Copy Editing”

The MTC copyediting team agrees with Perlman that sloppy publications equal less credible publications and strive to assist our publishing customers with the neatest publications possible.

Over the years a number of large scholarly publishers developed and published their own styles. Several of these have become accepted references for many other book and journal programs. Copy editors working with MTC rely on a number of these recognized style manuals including, but not limited to: