järeltoimetus

Järeltoimetus (post-editing) is a stage in Estonian publishing and journalism that involves refining a text after the initial draft and primary editorial changes, in order to prepare it for publication. It focuses on language quality, factual accuracy, and consistency with house style. The term describes a set of tasks carried out by editors or copy editors within the editorial desk, before the content is released in print or online.

Common tasks in järeltoimetus include correcting spelling, grammar, punctuation, and typographical errors; improving clarity and flow; ensuring consistent terminology and style; verifying names, dates, numbers, captions, and attributions; checking quotes and source references; and ensuring compliance with legal and ethical standards (for example libel risk and privacy considerations). It may also involve adjusting headlines and ledes to reflect the final content, and preparing headlines and metadata for online publication.

Järeltoimetus is distinct from initial editing performed by authors or from linguistic editing (keeltoimetus) or fact-checking (faktikontroll). It is often the final quality-control step in the newsroom or publishing house workflow, sometimes performed under tight deadlines, especially in newsrooms. In digital publishing, järeltoimetus can also include layout checks, image credits, and SEO-related adjustments, before the material goes live.