Copy editing (also copy-editing and copyediting) is the work that an editor does to improve the formatting, style, and accuracy of a manuscript. Copy (as a noun) refers to written or typewritten text for typesetting, printing, or publication. Copy editing is done prior to the work of proofreaders, who handle documents before final publication.

In the United States and Canada, an editor who does this is a copy editor, and an organization’s highest-ranking copy editor, or the supervising editor of a group of copy editors, may be known as the copy chief.

In book publishing in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world that follow UK nomenclature, the term copy editor is used, but in newspaper and magazine publishing, the term is sub-editor, commonly shortened to sub (”to sub” is the verb form). The senior sub-editor on a title is referred to as the chief sub-editor.

There is no universal form for the job or job title; it is often written as one word (copyediting) or with a hyphen (copy-editing); the hyphenated form is especially common in Britain. Similarly, the term copy editor may be spelled either as one word, two words, or as a hyphenated compound term.

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