Ms Judith Barrett | Academic editor

About

• Versatile editor and proofreader
• 17 years’ experience spanning academic publishing, charities, higher education, and membership organisations
• Available for short- or long-term projects.

Media

• Academic journal articles and books (humanities and social sciences)
• Blogs
• Books (academic, fiction, non fiction)
• Reports
• Web pages

Clients

• Academics and PhD students - e.g. at Clark University, MA; Goldsmiths, University of London; Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex; Leverhulme Trust; London School of Economics and Political Science 
• Charities - e.g. Saferworld, Save the Children, St John Ambulance, Unicef
• Membership organisations - e.g. Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, Preschool Learning Alliance
• Publishers - Cambridge University Press, Polity Press, Routledge, Verso

Qualifications and training

• Non-fiction Developmental Editing (CIEP, 2024)
• Efficient Editing: Strategies and Tactics (CIEP, 2021)
• Introduction to Macros for Editing (SfEP, 2020)
• Word for Editing (SfEP, 2020)
• Copy-editing (SfEP, 2019)
• Proofreading (SfEP, 2019)
• Mini-conference on Fiction Editing (SfEP, 2019)
• Subediting (DALI at London College of Printing, 2002)
• MA in Applied Linguistics (University of Lancaster, 1990) 
• BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (University of Oxford, 1984)

Testimonials

Judith Barrett was the copy-editor for a book I recently co-edited: The Routledge Handbook on the Philosophy and Science of Punishment (Routledge, 2020).  She was superb, meticulous, always punctual, absolutely on top of every detail. A pleasure to work with, she constantly facilitated the work of the editors. A number of the contributors were not entirely comfortable in English, and it was in her work on those essays that her remarkable abilities were most obvious. She has a gift for taking copy that is garbled or awkward or ambiguous and transforming it into clear readable prose, and invariably remaining true to the author's intent. The quality of the finished book owes an enormous debt to the dedication and skill of Judith Barrett.
Bruce N. Waller, Professor of Philosophy, Youngstown State University, Ohio, USA

Philosophers! Your writing is convoluted, even if you think it not! Judith was tasked with copy-editing the chapters of twenty of the top philosophers in our specialist field of philosophy of perception for my co-edited volume: Molyneux's Question and the History of Philosophy (Routledge 2020). Praise and thanks for her added clarity and distinction-making was unanimous, and our gratefulness as co-editors is unparalleled. Our volume, now published, is something that more closely represents our ideas, thanks to Judith’s careful comments and suggestions.
Assistant Professor Brian Glenney, Norwich University, Vermont, USA

Working with Judith is absolutely fantastic! She has an elegant and intelligent editorial style, making subtle and respectful interventions that make a real difference to the text. Her insightful edits to my journal articles have greatly contributed to the clarity of my arguments. She has also copy-edited a large number of chapters in a volume I edited for a major publishing house and her work has been impeccable. She did a lot of light-touch polishing that ensured the narratives were crystal-clear, while, at the same time, respecting the authors' distinct voices and styles of writing. Overall, her professionalism and willingness to help are impressive and I could not recommend her highly enough. 
Lilie Chouliaraki, Professor of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

Judith is a superb editor and a deeply thoughtful and skilled expert in her domain of making authors' works so much better than when presented to her often in inchoate formats. She has edited my work many times. I have been amazed at her abilities to execute her editorial skills with aplomb, to make my work stronger, clearer, and better organized. I could not have completed my book Dangerous Designs: Asian Women Fashion the Diaspora Economies without her insightful help and expertise. She has since worked with me on many other projects and time and time again, she has been able to see to the heart of what I wanted to say, disentangled my convoluted sentences and rearranged them to allow my ideas to emerge in crystalline, elegant prose, easily intelligible to a wide, non-academic audience, while retaining my distinctive vocabulary and voice. On top of her superlative editorial skills, she is the most lovely person to work with. I give her my highest recommendation.
Parminder Bhachu, Professor of Sociology, Clark University, Massachusetts, USA

I have worked with Judith on several of our highly academic reports and her copy-editing is always meticulous and reliable. 
Alison Norwood, Publishing Manager at Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK

Judith is the most discerning reader and thoughtful editor I've worked with. She read the early drafts of my books The Art of Listening (Berg 2007) and Out of Whiteness (University of Chicago Press, 2002). In both cases she improved the quality of my writing significantly. She has a keen editorial eye and can also offer constructive and imaginative criticism. 
Les Back, Professor of Sociology, University of Glasgow, UK

Judith is an excellent editor and a pleasure to work with.
Frances Ellery, former Head of Publications, Save the Children, UK

• Editor
• Proofreader

• Anthropology
• English as a second language
• Humanities
• Political science
• Social sciences
• Philosophy