Accreditation exam 2018

The next accreditation exam will be held on Saturday 19 May 2018. Registration is now closed.

The accreditation scheme

IPEd’s forerunner, the Council of Australian Societies of Editors, set up the Accreditation Working Group in 2001 to research assessment schemes.

IPEd established the Accreditation Board in 2005 to act on the working group’s recommendations.

The board has held responsibility for developing and implementing the scheme since then, and introduced the first exam in October 2008. Subsequent exams were held in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2016. The first five exams were paper-based, although there has always been pressure to be able to sit the exams online. Options for electronic presentation of the exam were outlined by the Accreditation Board in a 2011 discussion paper, Exam delivery options, and again in the paper Examining the options for a sustainable accreditation scheme, delivered at the 2013 national conference.

The current accreditation scheme has two elements:

• the accreditation exam
• renewal of accreditation

An advanced award is planned for the future to recognise those editors with superior skills. And an extension of accreditation to recognise different genres is under consideration.

The benefits of accreditation for editors

Accreditation helps you gain recognition for your skills as an editor. Editors who pass the accreditation exam are certified by the IPEd Accreditation Board and can use the postnominal AE (for ‘accredited editor’).

Prospective employers and clients are starting to recognise that ‘AE’ is a reliable indicator of competence.

An immediate benefit of accreditation is the validation of your competence by your peers. Being able to call yourself an accredited editor means you have passed a peer review that certifies your competence in applying the standards set out in Australian standards for editing practice.

By applying for accreditation, you are supporting the drive for high standards of competence in the editing profession and demonstrating a commitment to your own professional development. The more editors who are accredited, the more successful we will be in raising the profile of professional editors.

List of accredited editors

Accreditation exam

The three-hour accreditation exam is administered by IPEd’s Accreditation Board and is designed to measure an editor’s competence against the benchmark of the Australian standards for editing practice.

The accreditation exam is open to anyone, subject to payment of the fee. However, it is recommended that candidates have at least three years’ full-time editing experience or equivalent.

Exams are usually held every one to two years and administered concurrently in some or all of the following locations: Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Locations and frequency may vary according to demand.

Renewal of accreditation

Accreditation is valid for five years from the date of issue of your accreditation certificate, after which you must apply to the Accreditation Board for renewal for another five-year period.

Accredited editors will not need to sit another exam, but will be asked to provide evidence of continuing employment as an editor, and of continuing professional development, such as membership of a society of editors, attendance at editing courses and workshops.

For more details, see Renewal of accreditation.

Distinguished editors

Twenty-six distinguished editors were appointed to form the Assessors Forum (2008–09) who were entrusted with the role of accreditation assessment in the first two years of the program. They were nominated by the societies of editors and had to be career editors who were:

• endorsed by their societies
• unanimously approved by their society’s committee
• accomplished and respected by their peers
• ethical
• active supporters of editing standards.

Because they are ineligible to apply for accreditation, members of this group were granted the honorary rank of distinguished editor, or DE.

List of distinguished editors