Roxanne Goldberg
Academic Editing
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* Penholder and reed pen from the gun set of Mahmud I, ca. 1732 (Ottoman), present-day Türkiye, gilded silver, reed tip, emeralds (or beryls), rubies (or spindels), 14.3 x 0.9 cm. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, 51.87. Robert S. Pardo, Istanbul; purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1903; by bequest to the Walters Art Museum, 1931. Public domain.
About me and my services.
Seated man painting or writing, first half of 17th century (Safavid), attributed to present-day Iran, ink and opaque watercolor on paper, 11.2 x 8.6 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1976.183. Adrienne Minassian, New York; sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, purchased with the Fletcher Fund, 1976. Public Domain.
I'm an academic editor with a background in art history (PhD, MIT) and museums working with institutional and individual clients at museums and universities. My services include
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Developmental editing at the manuscript and chapter level. Think of me as a thinking partner, a problem solver, and your most supportive yet critical champion. Authors tend to find my specific suggestions for restructuring and rewriting the most valuable aspect of this feedback.
I am especially experienced in collaborating with editors on multi-authored works to provide targeted feedback to contributors, in addition to line editing for volume coherence and consistency.
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Line editing at the sentence and paragraph level. I address style, grammar, usage, and syntax as well as clarity, narrative flow, and argument logic.
Currently, I am volunteering as a member of the Association of Art Editors (AAE) to review the revised AAE Style Guide (curators and scholars: I want to hear from you about standards in our field!). I am also a co-coordinator of the International Chapter of the Editorial Freelancers Association and co-host of a weekly online writing group for the Historians of Islamic Art Association.
Regardless of the type of editing that your project needs, our work together always begins with an in-depth conversation about your goals for the manuscript.
I adopt the position of your ideal reader and simultaneously aim to be the person, after the author, who is most knowledgeable of the ins and outs of the manuscript.
I genuinely love working with academic authors and promise to approach your writing with the same meticulous care as I do my own.
Costs.
I price on a sliding scale and take into account an author's access to financial resources. For typical editing costs, see the Editorial Freelancers Association rate chart and rate estimator (updated 2026).
If you are unsure whether you can afford editing, I urge you to send me an email. Editing is an essential part of the academic ecosystem, and I feel strongly that scholars with contingent or teaching-intensive appointments or in "alt-ac" roles should have equitable access to high-quality editing.
Kind words.
Roxanne's comments and edits were invaluable. I incorporated most of them into the final drafts of my essays. Her knowledge and professionalism were outstanding. Roxanne is organized, approachable, and a pleasure to work with, and sensitive to deadlines and other time-related pressures
Curator of Islamic art at a major encyclopedic art museum | Developmental edit of essays in an exhibition catalogue
Working with Roxanne was one of the best decisions I made for my book. Every step of the way she was professional, attentive, diligent, and also very thoughtful and creative. Her comments were clear and judicious throughout. I appreciated how well she understood the argument, which in turn enabled her to provide insightful commentary and helpful suggestions for structure and word choice. I felt very much in safe hands from start to finish, which took a great deal of pressure off me. I am delighted with the end result and so was the press.
Associate professor of art history at a public research university | Substantive line edit of a tenure monograph
My clients' books have been published by or are forthcoming from Brill, Double Day/Viking, Edinburgh University Press, Indiana University Press, MIT Press, Penn State University Press, Yale University Press, and more ...
October 2026. Currently . . .
Editing. Developmental edit of a multi-authored museum publication
Writing. Article on Islamic art in university museum collections
Hosting. Editorial Freelancers Association International Chapter Monthly Meetup
Join us online every third Friday of the month at 8:00 UTC
Reading. Sarah Zarrow, Displays of Belonging: Polish Jewish Collecting and Museums, 1891–1941
(Cornell University Press, 2025)
Hamid Ismailov, We Computers: A Ghazal Novel, trans. Shelley Fairweather-Vega
(Yale University Press, 2025)
Seeing. Reinstallation of the Islamic galleries at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon
