Strange diet to prepare for publication (4)
I believe the answer is:
edit
'prepare for publication' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'strange diet' is the wordplay.
'strange' indicates an anagram.
'diet' anagrammed gives 'EDIT'.
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for edit that I've seen before include "Revise - expurgate" , "This is an act of cleaning" , "Check text for publication" , "Censor" , "Make textual changes" .)