Importance of Macro-Editing in Medical Writing

Editing is an important task that is performed by an editor with a good scientific background and good editing skills. Once a manuscript is finalized, it is reviewed for editorial concerns. It includes checking the content or the information in order to ensure that the thoughts or concepts are expressed clearly and in a logical way to form a comprehensive and meaningful information on the whole. Editing requires critical thinking and careful analysis of the information. It is broadly divided into micro- and macro-editing.

Micro-editing deals with the technical aspects and ensures the language and style are correct and consistent. On the other hand, macro-editing ensures transparency, accuracy, and consistency of the information in the document. Following things are generally rectified during macro-editing :

1. Logical flow of story from one paragraph to the next
2. Clarity and completeness of the information
3. Clearly mentioned rationale/purpose of the document
4. Information is oriented towards the target reader
5. Accuracy of data
6. Tables and figures are cited appropriately in the document
7. Supportive references are accurate and mentioned appropriately in the text
8. Conclusions are succinctly summarized
9. Other things that are taken care during editing include sentence structure, repetitiveness of information, language style (tone and voice), parallelism in the statements, paragraph structure, and word and phrases usage with proper meaning depending on the context

The best way for macro-editing is that the writer self-checks the document based on the below-mentioned questions:

• Is the introductory paragraph clear enough to indicate the purpose and provide a broad outline of the content?
• Is every statement relevant to the purpose of the study, with no deviations?
• Does the text flow reasonably from one paragraph to the next paragraph?
• Are the sentence structures and language varied enough, without too much repetition?
• Are the evidences or references given to statements appropriate?
• Is the terminology consistent throughout the text, or if more than one term has been used to refer to something, is it clear that they are one and the same thing?
• Is the language and tone appropriate for the reader?
• Does the information provided in the document meet the readers’ needs?
• Are the conclusions clearly and effectively summarized?
• Is the content in the draft aligned as per the journal or congress guidelines?
• Are the page, text, tables, figures, references, and other information formatted as per the style sheet?

Turacoz Healthcare Solutions (THS) shares the importance of macro-editing in medical writing. Being a medical writing company, Turacoz is involved in publication writing, training solutions, and skill development program. We offer medical writing solutions at par with the latest trends in journal-publication.