Renewal of accreditation assures clients and employers that accredited editors have maintained the requisite level of skills and knowledge.
Renewal requirements
Renewal of accreditation is a process that assures clients and employers that accredited editors have maintained the requisite level of skills and knowledge as outlined in the IPEd Standards for editing practice.
Requirements for maintaining accreditation
When an AE’s accreditation is due to expire (five years from the date they passed the accreditation exam or last renewed their accreditation), they must apply to the Accreditation Board to renew their accreditation. The AE must be a financial member of IPEd or an approved affiliate organisation (e.g. Canberra Society of Editors, CIEP, Editors Canada) and demonstrate that, since gaining or last renewing their accreditation, they have:
- been actively involved in the editing profession, and
- undertaken relevant professional development activities to maintain and extend their editing skills.
Staying actively involved in the editing profession
AEs will meet this requirement if they have worked as a professional editor, or in a role that requires professional editing skills, in the previous five years. In their renewal application, AEs will be asked to provide:
- details about their employment as an editor or their freelance editing business (or both) over the previous five years
- examples of five editing projects in which they’ve been involved over the previous five years, and their role in each project.
AEs whose circumstances do not allow them to demonstrate these requirements can present an alternative case. For example, an editor working in government who is unable by law to share details about their role or their projects can provide a statement from their manager about their editing work.
Undertaking professional development activities
AEs will meet this requirement if they can demonstrate they have undertaken at least one (1) professional development activity in at least three (3) of the following areas in the previous five years:
- university or TAFE courses relevant to editing
- IPEd workshops, seminars, speaker presentations or other training sessions (excluding conferences)
- other professional society or organisation training
- mentoring of other editors
- conferences relevant to editing
- contributions to relevant professional organisations
- other relevant activities such as reading professional materials or participating in professional networks.
For example, an AE will meet this requirement if they have attended one webinar on an editing-related topic, participated in a mentorship and volunteered on their IPEd branch committee, as long as those three activities occurred during the five years since their accreditation was granted or last renewed.
Activities that an AE has undertaken during a previous renewal period do not count towards the next renewal application. For example, an AE accredited in 2014 whose accreditation was renewed in August 2019 cannot include attending the May 2019 IPEd conference in their 2024 application to renew their accreditation.
Making an alternative case for renewal
If the requirements to renew accreditation don’t apply to an AE’s individual circumstances they can make an alternative case. The AE must still demonstrate they are actively involved in the editing profession. An example might be a senior editor taking time out from practical editing work to research and write a book related to editing.
Preparing for renewal
From the time they are first accredited, AEs should maintain their professional editing skills through editing work and professional development in more than one area.
AEs should also keep records of:
- key editing projects they work on, including contact details for their managers or clients, and
- professional development activities they undertake.
These records should include relevant evidence to support their claims. Examples of suitable evidence include statements from employers/clients, emails, receipts, invoices, testimonials, academic records/transcripts, conference papers, lists of delegates, meeting minutes and screenshots showing participation in online forums.