Notes for copyeditors
There is a difference between editing and copyediting.
The editor, whose name will appear on the volume, has academic responsibility for the volume, i.e. is responsible for every word that occurs in it. This includes ensuring that the authors' contributions are of publication standard, are well presented and are written in good English, that the submitted manuscript (hard copy and electronic) adheres to PL's guidelines, and that the chapters are consistent with each other. See the Notes for editors.
The copyeditor's task is to correct mistakes, check consistency in technical matters (e.g., hyphenation use, -ise versus -ize) and clarify ambiguities. It is not the copyeditor's job to rewrite the author's prose. If something is unclear or ambiguous, then take it up with the author or editor, as appropriate. The author or editor is responsible for providing a revision, not the copyeditor. If there are general problems with an author's writing (e.g. it is uncorrected non-native English), then stop copyediting and show the work and the problem to one of PL's Managing Editors or to the Editorial Board member who has responsibility for this manuscript.
A guide to copyediting for PL, very kindly written by Lila San Roque, is available as a PDF file.
If you are copyediting an edited volume which contains contributions from a number of authors, then communication should in the first instance be with the editor, as it is s/he who is responsible to PL for the academic quality of the manuscript. If an editor asks you to communicate directly with a contributing author, then copy your correspondence to the editor.