It is generally unlikely that an editor would infringe the moral rights of a writer by making alterations to spelling, grammar, style and punctuation (unless, of course, unorthodox spelling, grammar or punctuation are integral to the particular material).

However, substantial changes to structure and wording of a work may infringe moral rights if such changes are made without consultation with the author before the work is published.

Most publishing agreements contain a clause dealing with moral rights and making edits to an author’s work. As an editor, you should be sure that you understand what sort of editing is permissible without the author having to be consulted.

If you are editing articles for magazines or newspapers, it may be “reasonable”, in light of industry practice, to make certain types of changes (for example, for space considerations) which would not be “reasonable” in the context of book publication. However, we recommend that publications draw up policy guidelines to assist their editors in this regard.

In practice, the publisher would usually be liable for any moral rights infringements.