If you have used a computer to write your manuscript, we urge you to submit the disk when you send in the hard copy version. (See the guide Preparing Your Manuscript, Section I, for disk submission requirements.) Your disk will be evaluated by the typesetter for use of the keystrokes. Factors determining its use are the amount of attention needed to bring the disk into final form (e.g, heavy input of copyediting changes), your consistency in formatting the disk, and the content of your book (e.g., tabular, math, or chemistry may not be usable). Even if your disk is used, the copyeditor most likely will NOT be editing on screen and will be working with the hard copy printout. Therefore, you will need to follow the instructions given in this guide when checking the copyedited manuscript. In addition, you still need to proofread in the galley or page proof stage. In using the disk, material can be dropped and errors introduced in the course of transferring your keystrokes to the compositor's typesetting system. Therefore, you will need to read the proof and check for continuity, completeness, correct formatting, and so on, as specified in this guide.

Accurate proofreading and clear marking of corrections are indispensable requisites to the production of a quality book. Proofreading is solely your responsibility in the proof stage. No one else will proofread the typeset text. Please read this section carefully.

Your book can either be set directly into pages or first into galleys and then into pages. Galleys are the typeset text showing continuous word flow uninterrupted by illustrations, tables, footnotes, or figure captions. Tables, footnotes, and captions are set together in their own sections at the end of the text galleys. Page numbers do not yet exist at the galley stage. Page proofs, however, contain all figures and their captions, tables, footnotes, and other text elements as they will appear in final page form. Running heads (brief headings at the top of each page) and page numbers also appear.

The decision to set a book into galleys first rather than pages is based on an assessment of the complexity of the content, the likelihood of extensive alterations during the first proof stage, as well as the demands of the schedule. The majority of titles are set directly into pages, omitting the galley stage. Below are instructions for checking each stage as well as general guidelines that pertain to both.