Crafting an Effective Cover Letter for Paper Submission to Journals

Submitting a research paper to a journal is a crucial step in the academic publishing process.
Alongside the manuscript, a well-crafted cover letter plays a vital role in creating a positive first
impression on the journal editors. A compelling cover letter not only introduces your work but also
provides essential context and highlights key aspects that make your research valuable. To help you
navigate this process seamlessly, consider the following guidelines for creating an effective cover
letter for paper submission.

1. Addressing the Editors: Begin your cover letter by addressing the editors of the journal. Include
their full names, academic titles, and contact information. This demonstrates your professionalism
and ensures that your submission is directed to the right individuals.

2. Concise Introduction: Start with a brief and clear introduction, stating the title of your paper and
its primary focus. Mention the specific journal to which you are submitting your work. A concise
introduction sets the tone for the rest of the letter.

3. Highlighting the Significance:Clearly articulate the significance of your research. Briefly explain
the gap in existing literature that your study addresses and how it contributes to the field. Emphasize
the relevance of your findings and their potential impact on the academic community.

4. Brief Methodology Overview: Provide a brief overview of your research methodology. Highlight
any innovative approaches or methodologies employed in your study. This section should offer a
glimpse into the rigor and validity of your research methods.

5. Key Findings and Contributions: Summarize the key findings of your research and emphasize
the contributions your paper makes to the field. Clearly articulate why your work stands out and how
it adds value to the existing body of knowledge.

6. Citation of Relevant Work: Demonstrate your familiarity with the journal by referencing previous
articles published in it. Explain how your research aligns with the scope and themes of the journal,
showcasing that your work is a suitable fit for their readership.

7. Acknowledgment of Potential Reviewers: Suggest potential reviewers for your manuscript while
remaining respectful of the editorial process. Ensure that your suggested reviewers are experts in the
field and have no conflicts of interest.

8. Closing and Contact Information: Conclude your cover letter with a brief summary of your
paper's significance and express your enthusiasm for consideration. Provide your contact
information, including email and phone number, for any further correspondence.

In conclusion, a well-crafted cover letter is a powerful tool in ensuring that your research paper gets
the attention it deserves. Remember that clarity, professionalism, and relevance are key elements to
include in your cover letter. For personalized assistance in crafting a compelling cover letter, consider
reaching out to the experts at BestResumeHelp.com . Their dedicated team can guide you through
the intricacies of academic writing, enhancing your chances of a successful paper submission to
journals.
When you have a structure that works for you, a new letter can be written quite fast and effectively.
A bad cover letter, on the other hand, may work against you by making a poor first impression, as
explained by Dr. Rachel Baron, our Co-Chief Editor. But that’s not all! The first paragraph of your
cover letter for journal submission must present the title of your manuscript. You will receive cover
letter instructions of what you should include and what you shouldn’t, and a word template cover
letter. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used
specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as
non-necessary cookies. Next, write a short paragraph that explains why your manuscript would be a
good fit for the journal. Take simple, expert-designed courses to walk you through it all, at the
Edanz My Learning Lab. Also mention any special circumstances, including if you’ve had previous
contact with the journal or if the manuscript is a resubmission. Wrong I would appreciate it if you
could point me to any scientists who might be interested in reading and peer-reviewing my
manuscript. However, don’t request any waivers of submission or publication fees and don’t make
any recommendations for or against potential reviewers unless allowed or required by the journal
(see next section). Make no mistake, the cover letter is an argument for why your manuscript should
be published. She has spent considerable time assisting individuals in advancing their careers by
helping them improve their communication skills in diverse cultural and professional settings. The
letter may be as short as three sentences or as long as multiple paragraphs. My article sums up my
experience working with children there. No part of man's nature or his institutions must lie entirely
outside his regard. Maintain the same formality as the rest of the letter. Instead, you should thank the
journal editor for his or her assessment and the reviewers’ time and comments. AsiaEdit takes a
personalised approach to editing. Use them to help you think through the elements that are most
important to include in your letter. His knowledge in this area is extensive, but you may remember
from his comments at the conference that he does not share my approach to management or view my
recent research with a positive eye. The specifics pertinent to your own research, your manuscript
and the journal you are targeting will give you the raw material to emulate these templates. Nature,
for example, states, “Although optional, the cover letter is an excellent opportunity to briefly discuss
the importance of the submitted work and why it is appropriate for the journal.” Whether your target
journal requires a cover letter or you’ve decided to write one nevertheless, it’s worth taking the time
to write an effective and compelling letter. I believe that the findings presented in my case report
may appeal to child psychologists, counsellors, social workers, and educators. They told me about
the emotions they felt while browsing social media platforms. Most students frequently felt upset
and envious of successful influencers. It doesn’t seem convincing—maybe the author isn’t really a
scientist. When it’s not quite clear how your research paper might generate interest based on its title
and content alone (for example, if your paper is too technical for most editors to appreciate), your
cover letter is the one opportunity you will get to convince the editors that your work is worth further
review. If this is the case, then make sure that your letter contains all of the required information and
statements mentioned in the instructions. If the authors are willing to pay for colour-page charges.
Check to determine whether the journal requires any additional information. It seems they just expect
something magical to happen with their manuscript.
Sometimes, the journals will request that certain phrases or statements be included in the cover letter.
A sample cover letter for manuscript submission that gets your work published. The journal’s author
instructions were actually very helpful, and I believe the overall argument of the paper is now clearer
as a result of the rearrangement. The results are robust and applicable worldwide, given the strong
study design (randomised cross-over trial of 1 million patients in 5 continents), and would be
immediately useful for health care professionals who read Journal Name. ? X is a horrendous
affliction affecting half of Y. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the
Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Name of the journal Your article’s title Brief
description of the novelty of the research and emphasis on your major research findings. We request
that Prof X from the University of Y not be invited as a peer reviewer, because the journal uses
double-anonymised review, but we recently sent her a non-anonymised draft of our manuscript for
informal pre-submission review. ? Please under no circumstances whatsoever, don’t send our paper to
Prof X from the University of Y to review because she gave us a really negative review for another
paper in another journal 3 years ago. While it is okay to copy-paste half a sentence or so, put some
effort into writing a few sentences summarising your paper in simple language. A bad cover letter,
on the other hand, may work against you by making a poor first impression, as explained by Dr.
Rachel Baron, our Co-Chief Editor. This is not the impression you want to give editors. Learn about
the letter to the editor, what it entails, and how to structure it. If you have any questions about your
cover letter, write us anytime. Below are some strategies for helping you determine the expectations
for journal article publication letters. To be on the safe side, follow these steps: Step 1: Go to the
journal’s website and look for information on the editorial board. Create a Cover Letter Now About
About Find out more about Zety and its career experts. Some journals have specific criteria for this
letter, so make sure to check the journal website thoroughly. They use cover letters to help them
filter out the most interesting and appropriate submissions first. As promised, I have revised my
presentation and am submitting it for your consideration for the upcoming issue of the Journal of
Innovative Business Studies dedicated to management innovations. Performance and Personalization
These cookies give you access to a customized experience of our products. Don’t use too much
jargon or acronyms; instead use simple, easy and straightforward language. If you’re not sure of their
title, Google them to see if they have a LinkedIn page, ResearchGate page, or works published in the
last couple of years. Ethical approval for experiments involving humans or animals. It should go
beyond requesting the editor to consider your research paper for publication. How to Write a Cover
Letter Learn how to make a cover letter that gets interviews. How a neat abstract can put your
scientific career on the right track. I believe that the findings presented in my case report may appeal
to child psychologists, counsellors, social workers, and educators. I believe that the findings
presented in my case report may appeal to child psychologists, counsellors, social workers, and
educators. Below is a selection of some of the best PhD programs in economics that are offered by
European universities, to help you find the right postgraduate program for you. Specify the theme or
scope of the journal under which you are submitting the manuscript. The cover letter should describe
specifically how your paper will add to not only the knowledge of the field, but also to the
knowledge of the journal's specific audience.
While the title of the article sounds promising, the information provided by the author doesn’t
explain why they chose this particular subject and what they focused on. Maintain the same
formality as the rest of the letter. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. We also use
third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. It can make a
difference between receiving a desk rejection, or the editor starting the peer review process. For
example, “After initially researching X, Y approached us to conduct a follow-up study that examined
Z. Do your best to grab and use this opportunity to the fullest. Performance and Personalization
These cookies give you access to a customized experience of our products. They use cover letters to
help them filter out the most interesting and appropriate submissions first. You may also choose to
reference other important papers in your topic which have been published in the journal you are
applying to. Cover Letter Maker Write a cover letter that convinces employers you’re the best. Boost
your chances of success with a cover letter for internship applications that will put you miles ahead
of your competition. Make sure to also include your contact information, degree, and the academic
institution that backs you up. A well-drafted impressive cover letter may be a key factor in your
manuscript being given serious consideration. Note that the final choice of reviewers rests entirely
with the journal editor, who may or may not accept your suggestions. We have all approved the
manuscript for submission to Growing Our Greenhouse, and I have been chosen as the corresponding
author. Overall, the letter should grab the editor’s attention. Justifying why your paper fits the
journal of your choice: Lastly, you should use the cover letter to explain why you selected the
specific journal, and why you think the journal’s readers will be interested in your paper. One of the
unexpected discoveries we made as we determined which plants and lights produced the best results
was that vitamin C content appeared to increase when the ripening fruit was exposed to LED light.
Title of the paper and corresponding author details: Although mentioning these details seems obvious,
you should ensure that these are included in your cover letter. 2. A short summary of your findings:
In just 3-4 sentences, you should summarize the most important findings of your study. If an
upcoming issue of the journal that you are submitting to has a theme that your paper fits into,
definitely mention this as this will increase the chances of your paper being accepted. Highlight the
novelty of your work by mentioning the major results or findings of your work which provide
insightful conclusions that have not been published so far. It is not currently being considered for
publication elsewhere. If this is the case, then make sure that your letter contains all of the required
information and statements mentioned in the instructions. The originality that should characterise an
excellent cover letter therefore prevents the wholesale use of a universal template without significant
alterations, but the three sample letters that appear below may prove helpful for scholars who are
planning, formatting and drafting a professional cover letter to a journal editor. In fact, there is a
whole subculture of economics memes that bring a lighthearted and comical perspective to the field.
And last but not least, explain how and why your paper fits the journal, and why you selected it.
Also explain how your manuscript matches the aims and scope of the target journal by stating how
the practical or theoretical implications of your study are relevant to the specific readership. ? Our 2-
year trial of Z for X among Y shows that delaying Z administration to bedtime doubles its efficacy.
In many ways, the cover letter can be as important as the paper itself in terms of getting accepted to
a journal. Choose type of cookies to accept Analytics These cookies allow us to analyze our
performance to offer you a better experience of creating resumes and cover letters.
But not just any audience—you need scientists like you to read and review your paper. Hence,
although there are some essential details you need to provide, you can set the tone of the cover letter
and convey how your manuscript is different from the rest in your field. And many supervisors
simply forget to mention this stage of the submission process. When using the template, you can
retain the statements in full, revise them slightly as appropriate to your circumstances, replace them
with any similar wording required by the journal, or delete them if they do not fit your specific
situation. Periods are typically used if the abbreviations include lowercase or mixed-case letters. We
need them to learn more about submissions and to make more informed decisions on whether to send
manuscripts out for peer review. Some journals make it easy for you: They ask you to select an editor
from the journal’s editorial board. If all authors are willing to transfer copyright to the journal if the
manuscript is accepted Some journals ask you to state if your manuscript has been previously
rejected by another journal, in which case past review reports should be enclosed, along with a
point-by-point response. Please let me know of your decision at your earliest convenience. We would
like to have the manuscript considered for publication in Pathobiology. They want to know if your
content fits their criteria, so focus solely on addressing that point. Individual journals may have
specific requirements regarding the cover letter's contents, so please consult the individual journal's
Guide for Authors. But unless the writer is a senior scholar, even a longer letter should be no more
than one page. The letter is only meant to be an introduction and brief overview. It’s best if they
study similar themes or published articles on related topics. My article sums up my experience
working with children there. If no handling editor is named, address your cover letter to the Editor-
in-Chief. Click here for a comprehensive list of what is currently on offer. Omitting any of the key
pieces of information (i.e., article name, article type, journal name) or sounding informal or too pushy
can result in a poor opening. ? Please consider my article for publication in your journal. If written
succinctly, a cover letter can be a tipping point for your manuscript, leading to an outbound peer
review or an outright desk rejection. If you’re not sure of their title, Google them to see if they have
a LinkedIn page, ResearchGate page, or works published in the last couple of years. After gathering
this preliminary data, I have discussed the answers with each participant and further evaluated their
mental health. For example, PLOS requires that authors describe any prior interactions with the
journal in the cover letter, as well as suggest appropriate Academic Editors from the journal's
editorial board to handle the submission. I believe this study can help parents and teachers to
understand why young people have difficult behaviours and can’t focus on studying. Choose type of
cookies to accept Analytics These cookies allow us to analyze our performance to offer you a better
experience of creating resumes and cover letters. These cookies do not store any personal
information. This information is probably available through the journal's online submission system,
but it is proper to provide it in the cover letter, too. Before writing the letter, here are a few key
things to remember with regard to the format of the letter. For example, if many of your target
journal’s readers are interested in the public policy implications of various research studies, you may
wish to discuss how your conclusions can help your peers to develop stronger policies that more
effectively address public concerns. Likewise, you can also request the editor to exclude certain
individuals as referees who you believe may not do justice to reviewing your manuscript owing to
potential conflict of interest.
Make sure to get feedback from different readers, especially if this is one of your first publications.
Avoid humor. As much as we want to grab the editors’ attention, there are too many ways in which
humor can go wrong. Use plain, non-technical language because the editor may not be an expert in
your particular field or topic, and avoid sounding too self-promotional, emotional, informal, or
wordy. Some journals ask that you identify a specific editor for your specialty. Boost your chances
of success with a cover letter for internship applications that will put you miles ahead of your
competition. Even fruit given only LED lighting and deprived of all natural sunlight far exceeded
the vitamin C content of those tomatoes exposed to natural sunlight alone. How to structure a cover
letter to the journal editor Now that you know who to address, or decided to go for a generic
greeting, it is time to start writing. Likewise, you can also request the editor to exclude certain
individuals as referees who you believe may not do justice to reviewing your manuscript owing to
potential conflict of interest. If an upcoming issue of the journal that you are submitting to has a
theme that your paper fits into, definitely mention this as this will increase the chances of your paper
being accepted. For instance, that you are pleased to submit your manuscript to the journal.(Write
down the journal name in full. The letter is only meant to be an introduction and brief overview. By
clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. While it is okay to copy-paste half a
sentence or so, put some effort into writing a few sentences summarising your paper in simple
language. Put yourself a limit, for instance to 1 hour to write the letter, if it is the first time you write
one. And to reach them, you must send your work to scientific journals. All of these added
statements are a very important to consider while writing a cover letter, especially if they are
required by the journal, and contribute to the editors overall view of your manuscript submission.
Five Cover Letter Tips That Can Get Your Manuscript Accepted Faster A manuscript is generally
accompanied by a cover letter when submitted to a journal. If all authors are willing to transfer
copyright to the journal if the manuscript is accepted Some journals ask you to state if your
manuscript has been previously rejected by another journal, in which case past review reports should
be enclosed, along with a point-by-point response. They’re usually not used with abbreviations
containing only uppercase letters. Be sure to review the journal's guidelines to know what
information you should provide. Sometimes they don’t know they’re doing it or they’re just trying
their best. Subscribe and get curated content that will give impetus to your research paper. A good
cover letter can voice your manuscript on behalf of you to the journal editor. Use them to help you
think through the elements that are most important to include in your letter. It is mandatory to
procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Editing Publishing Language
Translation English Grammar and Writing Plagiarism Journals Research Papers Journal Submission
Guidelines Start your publication journey now Ask More Get Started All our editing plans come with
100% confidentiality and quality guarantee. Now get to writing! Not sure how to customize your
cover letter to the journal’s requirements. The letter may be as short as three sentences or as long as
multiple paragraphs. This guide will show you: A cover letter for journal submissions better than 9
out of 10 others. Each individual filled out a self-assessment questionnaire to provide an overview of
their self-esteem and to describe their Instagram habits.
Some journals may also expect you to briefly explain your argument, outline your methodology or
theoretical commitments, discus permissions and funding, and explain how your manuscript fits into
the overall aims of the journal. The former was particularly helpful and I have cited it more than once
in my closing discussion. Like many other authors, you may find yourself wondering what to write
and taking longer than you expected, causing last-minute delays and stress. Include the date of
submission and the journal you are submitting to. Highlighting your original contribution: Make sure
to highlight your key arguments and the originality of your research. You ultimately need to
communicate why your manuscript would be a good fit for a particular journal. A step-by-step guide
on how to write a cover letter for a journal submission. Create my resume now When you’re done,
Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better. 4. Add
Mandatory Declarations to Your Cover Letter for Journal Submission Now, this is a very easy part. If
you have any questions about your cover letter, write us anytime. Pro Tip: Always be upfront about a
potential conflict of interest, especially when your research was financed by a private institution.
Conducting research, performing tests, and working on scientific experiments are a part of your
routine. It should go beyond requesting the editor to consider your research paper for publication.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Next, write a short
paragraph that explains why your manuscript would be a good fit for the journal. All the proper letter
heading materials should be included (the date and the address of the recipient should be at the top
left, under the letterhead). Then, explain why you’ve conducted your research and mention the main
findings. Individual journals may have specific requirements regarding the cover letter's contents, so
please consult the individual journal's Guide for Authors. Check out the Writing Center’s handout on
editing and proofreading and video on proofreading to help with this last stage of writing.
Sometimes, the journals will request that certain phrases or statements be included in the cover letter.
Title of the paper and corresponding author details: Although mentioning these details seems obvious,
you should ensure that these are included in your cover letter. 2. A short summary of your findings:
In just 3-4 sentences, you should summarize the most important findings of your study. Letter 2
below, for instance, might productively say more about the specific lights used and tomato plants
grown and provide numbers and percentages as well. For guidance on formatting citations, please
see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial. Preferred and non-preferred reviewers: Most journals
encourage authors to mention their preferred and non-preferred reviewers because this may help to
expedite the review process. The objective should be to place your findings in the context of the
current literature. It aids in readability to use short paragraphs, so make sure that each paragraph is
only a few sentences long. When receiving your paper, the editor might first screen the letter in
combination with your abstract. If not, they’re still easily fixed with a little help. Not all journals are
asking for a letter to the editor. It is not enough to simply say “Dear Editor” or “To whom it may
concern.” Include the name, title and position of the editor you are addressing. With my best
regards, Sincerely yours, A Researcher, PhD.