Copyediting and proofreading are essential for the editing of your work but if you want to publish your research paper in an international journal of repute then you also need to do substantive editing of your document. Substantive editing is more than the copy-editing and proofreading. Both these types of editing work on the grammar and vocabulary part but substantive editing enrich the language, design and the presentation of the content. The purpose of substantive editing is not just limited to grammatical and spelling correction.
In substantive editing, rewriting is possible if the content is not up to the mark. This kind of service is mostly given to the ESL authors who might have brilliant ideas but face shortcomings in writing perfect English. It checks whether the language is used in a proper way or not. Moreover it adds flow and clarity in the document. It also checks the appropriate use of technical terms and avoidance of irrelevant language if any.
The editors here ensure that the language is written as per the standards of the journal. Substantive editing helps in the correct usage of graphics such as diagrams, charts and graphs in the document. Presentation is also an important part of substantive editing. Substantive editing assures proper formatting, layout, table of content, sub-headings and also references.