Copy editing: Can we afford it?

The principle that manuscripts dealing with technical matters should be prepared for press by persons who can comprehend their meaning seems today logical and, indeed, essential. But for many years this function, if it were performed at all, took place in the printing plant. The change came about partly as the result of the separation of publishing from printing, and partly because the wages of type compositors increased to the degree that publishers could no longer afford to pay penalties for bad copy, or for the authors´ alterations which were incurred if the manuscript was not edited for press. But now the wages of copy editors, like those of typesetters, have increased, even if not in the same proportion, and the expense of manuscript preparation seems to absorb an ever larger part of the journal budget.