Once the Copyeditor has been selected and an email sent requesting the process begin, the Copyeditor will work directly on the submission marking up the proposed changes according to the journal's Copyediting Instructions. In Step 1, Initial Copyedit, the Copyeditor will copyedit the submission and upload the initial copyedit version, and the edited file will be sent to Step 2, Author Copyedit. The Copyeditor will then send the "Complete" email to the Author, with a cc to the Section Editor, requesting that Step 2 begin. After the Author has reviewed the changes, answered any queries, and uploaded the file in Step 2, the Copyeditor creates a clean and final copyedited version in Step 3, Final Copyedit. This final copyedited version is sent to Layout, where it serves as the Layout Version. Before the Layout Editor begins work preparing Galleys based on this version, the Section Editor may wish to look it over to ensure that it meets the standards and guidelines of the journal.

Editor Queries in copyediting. In the initial copyedit, the Copyeditor may wish to pose Editor Queries (with regard to journal style, for example), which the Copyeditor will refer to in the email sent to the Author and Section Editor on the completion of Step 1. The Section Editor should review the Editor Queries by clicking on the file name in Step 2, and emailing a response to the queries directly to the Copyeditor (by clicking on the email icon under Request). This will avoid uploading a version of the file on top of the Author's responses to the initial copyediting of the Submission.

Copyediting Options. Should the need arise (if, say, the Section Editor is acting as the Copyeditor), the Section Editor can upload a version of the submission to each of the Copyediting stages. Care must be taken not to over-write a version that was uploaded by the Copyeditor or Author.