Getting started for new editors

This article is aimed at new editors to assist them in getting started.

The role of editors is to support the senior and managing editors in the day-to-day content review as well as special projects. Everybody has a different amount of time they can volunteer on Radiopaedia.org but as a rule of thumb, at least a weekly contribution is expected.

green thumbs up:
- articles: no or minor editing required; fits within the style guide; correct spelling, grammar and punctuation
- cases: patient confidentiality and privacy maintained; correct diagnosis; correct spelling, grammar and punctuation
red thumbs down: everything else
- for every red thumbs down you should contact the user, you can use the automated inserts or write your own, explaining the reason and coaching them so that the user’s next edit is perfect

The little number next to a user’s name is their “karma score”, which indicates the number of positive vs negative reviews. A karma score of >10 is required for edits to become automatically published.

Common style guide errors

The style guide that has been developed at Radiopaedia.org is one deliberately chosen to ensure clarity, consistency and quality. Below are listed some of the most common errors that should be kept in mind when reviewing article edits and cases:

diagnostic certainty set at "Certain" instead of "Almost certain"
general spelling and punctuation issues
- incorrect case title formatting: only the first word and proper nouns should be capitalised
- including spaces before a comma / full stop and double spacing after a full stop
- capitalising the first letter and terminal punctuation of a bullet point
incorrect headings and/or order (see: standard article structure)
incorrect referencing (see: references)
- including the in-line reference missing or after the punctuation

Practical points

do not moderate your own edits - this defeats the purpose of peer-moderation
bookmark the all edits page so you can easily and quickly access it; one or two reviews a day makes a huge difference
if there is something that you are not sure about then escalate by emailing a senior editor