Copy-Editing Page Deferral Rule
For background, see 20240908151947-Publishing_Vocabulary.
From “Preparing the Text for the Typesetter¨ in Butcher’s Copy-Editing
Try to keep the number of references to specific pages to a manageable number, except in a reference book, as a large number of cross-references can disrupt the flow of the author’s argument, and they must all, of course, be added by the author on the page proofs and checked on the press proofs. If there is a table number, for example, it is not necessary to give a page number as well, if the table is within about twenty folios. If tables, figures, equations, etc., are numbered by chapter there is no need to give the page. As tables and other displayed matter may not appear exactly where they are in the typescript, change ‘table 5 below’ or ‘the following table’ to ‘table 5’.
Essentially, the rule is that a copy-editor should minimize the author’s reliance on pages to source their cross-references as much as possible, by (Butcher 2006, 43):
- Having all references to figures be to the number of the figure if that figure is within a reasonable range of pages to navigate for the reader
- Omitting or removing spatial qualifiers in attempts at reference in order to anticipate potential changes in layout
chapters folio cross-reference cross_reference cross_references reference pages figure equation tables proof proofreader proofreading editing editor copy-editor copy-editing
bibliography
- “Preparing the Text for the Typesetter.” In Butcher’s Copy-Editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-Editors and Proofreaders, 4th ed., 28–68. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2006.