"Copy editors," says Dr Bushra Rashid, "play a vital role in the publishing industry because they filter out impurities at the very first stage." With 10 years of experience behind her and—following her certification as a BELS life science editor—many more ahead of her, Bushra has certainly had lots of filtering practice.
For Bushra, the main challenge is getting good copy editors, grooming them, and, of course, retaining them. The key to her success lies in her attitude towards her team: "I prefer to work with human beings, not machines."
Bushra is excited at the new opportunities the fast pace of change in the industry is bringing, such as developmental editing and manuscript review management. In order to prepare herself for future editorial requirements, she decided to work towards the BELS certification, the only certification that is accepted by the Council of Science Editors. After being awarded the certificate in December, Bushra is now tutoring others in her team for the 2011 examination.
Bushra's extensive copyediting experience includes stints at Pearson Higher Education, Thomson Press, and SPi as well as three years at MPS, but she has also found time to be a product scientist, website content developer, university lecturer, and scientific author. This is perhaps unsurprising for someone with a Masters in Biotechnology and a PhD in Biosciences.
In addition to being a scientist, Bushra is also a poet—and enjoys composing couplets in Urdu, the linguistic offspring of the Mughals' Persian, for her two children. And for relaxation, it's Paulo Coelho, Ayn Rand, and Gregory Roberts' Shantaram.
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