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When you’re writing a paper in English on a specialized subject, you’ll certainly need the right editor to make sure your work reaches the required standard. That standard will involve both correct English and an appropriate style for presenting the content in line with the conventions of that particular subject, so the best choice is a native editor with experience in the topic you’re covering.
Finding a true expert in your field probably won’t be necessary though – which is good news if your field is particularly obscure. It does help, however, if your editor has some knowledge of the topic because they’ll be able to follow your arguments more easily, and understand the work that you’re doing. It also helps if your editor has a few years’ experience of editing papers in similar fields as that familiarity will make it easier for the editor to understand the way your paper should be written, and then make sure that your message is conveyed clearly and accurately. The editor should also be familiar with the nuances of the referencing system used in your particular area of study, because it’s important to avoid errors in the citation style that’s required.
What is often more important than the actual subject knowledge, however, is expertise in English, and this is why a native speaker is necessary. The real skill of an editor lies in the ability to make sure that your paper is written clearly and accurately so the educated reader can easily understand your work. There is actually one potential danger in having an expert in the field to edit your paper, and that is that an expert will know exactly what you’re writing about, and will therefore be more capable of reading between the lines and inferring rather than reading your meaning, whereas someone who is not quite so familiar with your topic will only understand your message if it is clearly stated and well-written. A good native editor will be able to tidy up your writing and clarify your content in order to make it comprehensible to any educated reader.
There are two particular things that a professional native editor will do when editing a paper in a difficult specialized subject area. The first is to consult the writer when anything is not clear. The most common problem is that the writer knows the subject very well, but can’t explain the subject perfectly. The editor can ask a few questions to clarify the meaning if the text is not quite clear, and then it is usually easy to find the right words. The second thing a good editor does is to read a little bit about the topic from one or two other sources in order to get a better overview of the subject matter, and some of the specialist vocabulary and terminology. This strategy helps to bridge the gap between the writer, who knows the subject, and the editor, who knows the language. The experienced editor can then make sure that the writer’s work is expressed in the clearest, most accurate, and most readable way.