Standardization in production of journals: A black and white case?

Standardization in typography, spelling, abbreviations, and citations provides a semblance of uniformity to a journal. Standardization guarantees greater flexibility in the use of copyeditors in an office that publishes several journals. However, journals in different disciplines lend themselves to different formats and styles: a large journal with many articles is more efficiently set in double-column pages of small type, while a journal containing many equations requires a single-column page with generous size type and citation of references in the text by author and date instead of by number. Such deviations from routine standardization keep copyeditors alert. Perhaps the most important area of standardization in a redactory office is in the procedures of checking galley and page proof. There can be no deviation from standard rules of proofreading. Finally, economics in publishing may dictate standardization in the future. Authors may some day be “compositors” when their typescript becomes the camera-ready copy. More standardization, not less, in the original typescript will then be required.