Editing for Excellence

We offer specialized English-language editing services for international scholars.

Our services range from line-editing to structural and conceptual advice. Our team consists of professors who have extensive, successful track-records of publishing in distinguished journals and presses in the humanities and social sciences. We have significant experience in academic writing and editing and will guide you through the process from manuscript to acceptance.

We invite you to browse our page for more information about our services or to contact us directly at jfdiehl47@gmail.com .

Our Services

We offer a range of services at competitive prices. For a quote, please e-mail us with a brief description of the project, and we will respond within forty-eight hours.

Manuscript Editing

  • Line editing, copyediting, and stylistic revision

  • Structural and conceptual advice

PhD Dissertation, BA and MA Thesis Editing

  • Revising for clarity, grammar, and flow

  • Formatting per university/journal guidelines

Grant Proposal Review

  • Language refinement and the development of strong argumentation

  • Feedback aligned with funding-body expectations

Academic English Coaching

  • Individual consultations and editorial mentoring

  • Workshops for departments and writing groups

Journal Response-Letter Editing

  • Assistance with revisions and peer reviewer reports

Our mission

Linguistic access has become an area of concern among international scholars. As English dominates academic publication, non-native speakers are frequently disadvantaged when publishing in top international venues. This leads to disproportionate acceptance rates in such journals, resulting in linguistic injustice, as well as a deprivation of global perspectives. The result of this is a hitherto-unmet need for high-caliber academic editing. While generative AI tools proliferate, such approaches are wholly inadequate. Academic editing requires a deep understanding of the nuances of scholarly discourse and appreciation for the challenges facing marginalized academics.

Who we are

Pioneer Editing Consultants is founded by Professor Joanne F. Diehl (PhD, Yale University, 1974), Emerita Professor of English at the University of California. She is assisted by her daughter, Dr Catharine Diehl (Phd, Humboldt University, Berlin, 2017; PhD, Princeton University, 2012), Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Leiden University.

Joanne F. Diehl

Brief Curriculum Vitae

Employment:

  • 2011-present: Independent academic writer, editor, and proofreader. Jobs include editorial services for international academics. Tasks: preparing manuscripts for publication in major journals in the Humanities

  • 2015: Teacher and course designer, seminar in contemporary poetry, Berkeley Senior Center

  • 2001-present: Professor Emerita, University of California, Davis

  • 2007-2011: Advisory Editor, Publications of the Modern Language Association: in-house editor responsible for final publication decisions.

  • 1994-2011: The University of California, Davis, Professor

  • 1992-1994: Member of the Fulbright Committee. Tasks included reading and evaluating all applications for scholars seeking funding for research stays abroad.  

  • 1988-1994: Bowdoin College, Henry Hill Pierce Professor Of English, 1993-1994;           Departmental Chair

Education:

  • Ph.D, Yale University Department of American Studies, Dissertation: Another Way To See: Dickinson and Her English Romantic Precursors; Advisor: Harold Bloom, 1974

  • B.A. Mount Holyoke College (English, elected to Phi Beta Kappa: 1965-1968)

Books:

  • On Louise Glück: Change What You See, Editor and Contributor  (The University of Michigan Press, 2005)

  • Elizabeth Bishop and Marianne Moore: The Psychodynamics of Literary Creativity (Princeton University Press, 1993)

  • Women Poets and The American Sublime (Indiana University Press, 1990)

  • Dickinson and The Romantic Imagination (Princeton University Press, 1981)

Selected Articles:

  • Toward A Theory Of Ekphrasis: The Female Tradition, In The Frame: Women's Ekphrastic Poetry From Marianne Moore To Susan Wheeler, Edited by Jane Hedley, Nick Halpern, and Willard Spiegelman (The Univeristy Of Delaware Press, 2009)

  • Selfish Desires: Dickinson's Poetic Ego and The Rites Of Subjectivity, Women's Studies: An Inter-Disciplinary Journal, 2002)

  • The Poetics Of Analysis: Klein, Bollas and the Theory of The Text, The Vitality of Objects: Exploring The Work of Christopher Bollas, Edited by Joseph Scalia (Continuum, London, 2002)

  • Aggression and Reparation: Bishop and The Matter-Of-Fact, Poetry And the Sense of Panic: Critical Essays On Elizabeth Bishop And John Ashbery, Edited by Lionel Kelley (Costerus New Series 124, Rodopi, Amsterdam-Atlanta, GA. 2000)

  • Re-Reading The Letter: Hawthorne, The Fetish, and The Family Romance, New   Literary History: A Journal of Theory and Interpretation, Volume XlX, 1987-1988), re-printed in Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism: Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Edited by Ross C. Murfin (Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, Boston, 1991)

  • Dickinson And The Romantic Imagination: Selected Critical Views: Emily Dickinson, Edited by Harold Bloom (Chelsea House Publishers, 1985)

  • At Home With Loss: Elizabeth Bishop and The American Sublime, Coming To Light: Women Poets In The Twentieth Century, Edited by Diane Wood Middlebrook and Marilyn Yalom (The University of Michigan Press,  Ann Arbor, 1985)

  • “Ransom In A Voice”: Language as Defense in Dickinson's Poetry, Feminist Critics Read Emily Dickinson, Edited with an Introduction by Suzaanne Juhasz (Indiana University Press, Bloomington)

  • Emerson, Dickinson, and the Abyss, ELH (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977) “Come Slowly—Eden”: An Exploration of Women Poets and Their Muse, Signs: Journal of Women In Culture and Society (The University of Chicago Press, Spring 1978),  re-published in Feminist Literary Theory and Criticism, Edited by Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar (W.W. Norton & Company, New York and London, 2007)