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 but as a rule of thumb, at least a weekly contribution is expected.

Editorial process

Every edit on Radiopaedia is listed on the all edits page and its status as being reviewed is indicated by an up arrow, sideways arrow, or down arrow:

• up vote: near perfect

  • articles: no or minor editing required; fits within the style guide; correct spelling, grammar and punctuation; correctly referenced

  • cases: patient confidentiality and privacy maintained; correct diagnosis; correct spelling, grammar and punctuation

  • not to be used for minor edits (e.g. fixing a spelling mistake)

• neutral: approve

  • ​generally happy with the contribution, but there are some minor style guide issues (e.g. spelling, punctuation, style, capitalization) that prevent it from being "near perfect"

• down vote: everything else

  • for every down vote the user should be contacted, canned responses are available and/or write your own, explaining the reason and coaching them so that the user’s next edit is perfect

The three little numbers to the right of a user’s name on the edits lists are their “karma score”, which indicates the net number of positive vs negative reviews for A (article edits), C (case edits), and M (MCQ edits). A karma score of >+10 is required for edits to become automatically publicly published for any of the three categories. When the karma score in one of A, C, or M is ≤+10 it is in red, and when it is +11 or more it turns a light grey.

A karma score can only be seen by editors. Normal logged-in contributors cannot see it.

Common style guide errors

The style guide that has been developed at Radiopaedia 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 capitalized

  • including spaces before a comma / full stop (period) and double spacing after a full stop

  • capitalizing 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 review

• there is no need to change to/from UK or American spelling, this happens automatically

• 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 messaging a senior or managing editor