substantive editing
Synonyms: developmental editing
The process of reading a text and suggesting changes to improve structure, content, and impact of the text.
Substantive editing occurs earlier in the writing process than copy editing or stylistic editing, and does not concern itself as directly with the correctness of the author's prose (such as spelling, grammar, and punctuation).
Furthmore, unlike copy editing, substantive edits may result in the author adding or deleting large passages of text, resulting in a new draft with significant differences.
Also see: copy editing, stylistic editing, critique.