Dr Hester Higton | Academic editor

I am an editor specialising in academic publications of various kinds. I work both with publishers and directly for authors. I edit a wide range of journals and books for a number of major academic presses. I also work extensively with individual academics who are preparing material for publication. As an academic author myself, I know what publishers are looking for and will help you to tune your writing to the perfect pitch.

I edit a lot of writing by multilingual authors, including those who have less experience writing in English, and enjoy helping them to find the idiomatic turns of phrase that make their writing flow naturally.

For details of the subjects that I cover, see the list below. I mainly work in the humanities, but I do take on some clients writing on other subjects. I do not work on student dissertations or essays.

I also edit materials for museums, drawing on my experience as a former museum researcher and the curator of a university museum. I am happy to help with the production of new display materials, tweaking policy documents or streamlining websites and other online materials.

Subjects

I am happy to work in all of these subjects, but my core areas are highlighted in bold.

• Architectural history
• Art history
• Cinema/film
• Classics
• Ecclesiastical law
• History (general, British, church, early modern, history of science, Renaissance, social)
• Museum guides
• Museum studies
• Music (general, choral, classical, early, history, opera, theory, vocal studies)
• Religious studies/theology (general, academic, Christianity, liturgy, theology)

Services

• Copyediting
• Developmental editing
• Editing for multilingual authors
• Rewriting
• Copywriting
• Research

Experience

I have nearly twenty years' experience as a copyeditor and have worked with various major academic presses as well as numerous individual authors. Previously I worked as both an academic and a museum curator.

For the CIEP, I am a tutor for some of the e-learning courses, and I run virtual learning courses on Introduction to Copyediting and on Efficient Editing.

Qualifications and awards

• Licentiateship Award in Editorial Skills, City and Guilds Institute, 2013
• Advanced Professional Member of the CIEP (formerly SfEP) since 2009
• PhD in History of Science

Recent clients

• Bloomsbury
• Brepols
• Brill
• British Museum
• Cambridge University Press
• Edinburgh University Press
• The Royal Society
• Yale University Press
• Numerous academic authors from around the world

Testimonials

Hester's approach to her work is intelligent and sensitive. Authors are always grateful for the improvements she makes to their text. And she sets the highest standards of competency and reliability, so we as publishers are happy too.

Sally Salvesen, Yale University Press

Hester Higton plays an invaluable part in the production of the Ecclesiastical Law Journal. She combines the keenest attention to linguistic and typographical detail with academic rigour and extensive experience.

Will Adam, Editor, Ecclesiastical Law Journal

Hester has been my copyeditor for a year now, and everything I send her way is beautifully and carefully edited, with the utmost attention to detail, and a sensitive and humane approach to writing and authors. I have been working with different editors for over three years now, but Hester has been exceptional. It is a pleasure to work with her and I trust her with all my projects. I can only highly recommend her impeccable work.

Jan Burzlaff, historian

Working with Hester Higton on my manuscript has been a delight. Hester works with admirable speed and thoroughness, and her suggestions have invariably improved my manuscript. She takes a very collegial and sympathetic approach to her work, and I cannot recommend her highly enough.

Jonathan Davies, classicist

Thank you very much, Hester, for your painstaking and diligent work. In my eyes the article has been much improved and clarified. My impression is also that you were very respectful of the text, so that it still feels it's 'my' text, although so much work from you has gone into it. I'd say managing to do this is a precious quality of a polisher/editor. It has been a pleasure to work with you.

Samuel Gessner, historian of astronomy

Hester Higton as copy editor has worked on the text with sharp insights and meticulous attention to detail which have made a significant contribution to the volume.

Caroline Bowden, author, The Chronicles of Nazareth (The English Convent), Bruges, 1629–1793 (Boydell & Brewer, 2017)

If all my copyeditors were as good and organised as you are I would have a much easier job! AKA thanks for everything!

Journals Production Editor, major university press

• Editor

• Art history
• Non-fiction
• Architecture
• Art & culture
• Classics
• History
• Humanities
• Music
• Religion & theology

• Editorial training