Institute of Professional Editors Limited

There have been a number of requests for clarification about the terms AE, AAE and DE. The following explains the background to the scheme and attempts to answer these questions.

Background

The IPEd accreditation scheme is the result of some 10 years of planning and consultation, initially by the Accreditation Working Group (2001-2004) and then by the Accreditation Board (from 2005). A national vote put to all society members in 2007 endorsed two levels of accreditation, earned through assessment:

• Accredited Editor, or AE

• Advanced Accredited Editor, or AAE.  

To enable any assessment to occur, one needs examiners and markers. The Accreditation Working Group's Final Report (2004) included the following recommendation: ‘in consultation with each state and territory, to set up an interim pool of assessors comprising distinguished editors acceptable to their peers'.

Each society was asked to nominate individuals who met the criteria of ‘a distinguished editor': career editors who were endorsed by their societies, who were accomplished and respected by their peers, who were ethical, and who were active supporters of editing standards. The nominees had to have the unanimous approval of their committee, and also had to accept the role (several declined).

The 26 editors thus nominated formed the Assessors Forum and have been entrusted with the role of accreditation assessment.

Because they are ineligible to apply for accreditation, they have been granted the honorary rank of ‘Distinguished Editor', or ‘DE'.

This process was described in CredAbility 1, May 2007, and is on the IPEd website at http://www.iped-editors.org/node/59. All of the assessors' profiles are on the IPEd website at http://www.iped-editors.org/node/81 (CredAbility 3, July 2007).

The first exam, held in October 2008, saw a total of 112 editors across the country achieve AE status. The second level-Advanced Accredited Editor-is now being developed. IPEd anticipates that this will be introduced in 2010 or 2011.

Accredited Editor, or AE

To achieve Accredited Editor status, candidates must sit a three-hour editing exam based on Australian Standards for Editing Practice. Those who are successful earn the right to use the postnominal ‘AE' (Accredited Editor) and receive a certificate stating their accredited status. Accreditation is valid for five years, after which accredited editors may apply for re-accreditation by providing evidence of their continuing involvement in the industry and their participation in professional development activities (through vocational training, conference attendance, presentation of papers, and so on). A modest renewal application fee will apply.

Advanced Accredited Editor, or AAE

It is expected that at some point in 2010 or 2011, Accredited Editors will have the right to apply for the more senior level of accreditation, Advanced Accredited Editor, or AAE. The mechanism for granting advanced accreditation is being developed by the Assessors Forum, in consultation with the Accreditation Board. A scheme will be put forward for discussion as soon as it is ready, possibly at the fourth National Editors Conference in Adelaide in October 2009.

Distinguished Editor, or DE

While at present all members of the Assessors Forum are Distinguished Editors, the stated intention of the accreditation scheme is for more editors to be asked to join the Assessors Forum as the accreditation scheme develops, drawn from the ranks of those who have achieved Advanced Accreditation. The aim is to ensure that the profession as a whole regulates itself, and that accreditation is not controlled by a small and possibly unrepresentative group.

The efforts of the assessors since their appointment have been focused on helping develop the database of exam questions, providing advice to the exam development team on exam content, and marking the 2008 exams.

However, the Assessors Forum has on its 2009 agenda the matter of determining how it functions in future, i.e. whether this initial pool of assessors is the only group granted DE rank, because they are the only ones ineligible to sit for accreditation. All future assessors will by definition be accredited to AAE level, and could perhaps be appointed for a fixed term (2, 3 or 5 years, say) and carry a different honorary title. This is all up for discussion this year, and recommendations will be put to the Accreditation Board for review. Members will have the opportunity to put their views.

There has been some suggestion that those granted DE status have a competitive advantage over AEs. The reality is that these people, many of them Honorary Life Members of their societies, are not generally competing with other freelancers for work: they have full-time work in tertiary institutions or industry, or have an established client base if they are freelancing; others are either retired or close to it. They have no vested interest in being a DE, and have put far more into the accreditation process than they will get back.

Guidelines for postnominals

As these postnominals are new, IPEd suggests that editors ensure that either an explanation or a full spelling is provided when using AE, AAE or DE. It may also be necessary to explain IPEd.

For example, ‘Jane Doe, AE (Accredited Editor, Institute of Professional Editors Limited)', or ‘Jane Doe is an Accredited Editor (AE)'.

Qualifications should be listed in this order:

• national and Royal honours (AO, AM, AC, KCMG etc)
• degrees, diplomas
• fellowships then memberships (including AE, AAE and DE).