How to write a cover letter for journal submission

A cover letter is a short, formal letter to the journal's editor that goes with your manuscript. It may be a separate file or a text box in the submission system. Either way, it is usually the first thing the editor reads.

The editor reads it while making the first decision on your paper: should it go out to reviewers, or back to you without review? We explain that first check in peer review explained. A good letter helps the editor answer three questions quickly.

1. What is this paper? The title, the type of article, and what it found, in plain words.
2. Why this journal? How the work fits the journal's aims and scope, and why its readers will care.
3. Is everything in order? The paper is original, it is not under review anywhere else, and all the authors agree to the submission.

Elsevier's advice to authors quotes an editor-in-chief who says that papers which do not fit a journal's aims and scope are a primary reason for desk rejection. A letter cannot rescue a paper that does not fit, but it makes the fit easy to see.

Before Tanvi wrote a word, Dr. Shivakumar opened the journal's guide for authors. "Every journal has its own rules for this letter," he said. "Read them first, and follow them over anything I tell you." Even the big publishers do not agree with each other.

Both publishers end with the same advice: check the individual journal's instructions, because each journal sets its own rules. Look for a section called "cover letter" or "submission checklist". Some journals want specific lines, such as a list of your related papers under consideration elsewhere.

If you are still deciding where to send the paper, read how to choose the right journal first.

Publishers and editing services list much the same core parts, though not every journal wants all of them.

• The editor's name. Use the handling editor's name if the journal lists one, usually on its editorial board page; otherwise "Dear Editor".
• The title and article type. The title exactly as on the manuscript, and whether it is a research article, review, short communication or case report.
• What you studied and found. Two to four sentences in your own words, not copied from the abstract.
• Why it belongs in this journal. Link the work to the journal's scope and to its readers.
• The standard statements. The paper has not been published before, it is not under review at another journal, and all authors have approved it.
• Disclosures the journal asks for. Competing interests, ethics approval or a preprint, for example.
• Contact details. The corresponding author's name, affiliation, email and phone number.

Springer Nature gives two sentences that it says every cover letter to its journals should contain. They suit most journals that want these statements in the letter.

We confirm that this manuscript has not been published elsewhere and is not under consideration by another journal. All authors have approved the manuscript and agree with its submission to [name of the journal].

Editage's guide adds two newer items. If you used a generative AI tool, say to polish your English, check whether the journal wants it disclosed, and name the tool and what it did. If the paper grew out of your thesis, say so and explain how the article differs from it.

Dr. Shivakumar drew four boxes on a sheet of paper. "One page," he said. "Four short paragraphs, and then your name." This shape follows the structure Springer Nature suggests, and it works for most journals.

1. The top.The date, the editor's name and role, and the journal's name. Then "Dear Dr. [surname],".
2. Paragraph 1: what you are submitting.The manuscript title, the article type, and in one or two sentences the problem and the question you asked.
3. Paragraph 2: what you did and found.Your approach in one sentence, the main finding, and why it matters.
4. Paragraph 3: why this journal.How the paper fits the journal's scope, and which of its readers will use it. If you are submitting to a special issue, name it here.
5. Paragraph 4: the statements.Originality, no other submission, every author's approval, competing interests and anything else the journal asks for.
6. The close."Thank you for considering our manuscript." Then the corresponding author's full name, designation, department, institution, email and phone.

Keep it to one page, the limit both Taylor & Francis and Elsevier give, and keep the look plain: block paragraphs, a standard 11 or 12 point font, single spacing. Write "we" if you have co-authors. Keep the tone formal and factual. The letter is a professional introduction, not a request for a favour.

Here is the letter Tanvi wrote the next evening, part by part. The journal and the editor are made up for this example, and the details are simplified, but the shape is the one editors expect.

Notice what the letter does not contain: no copied abstract, no praise for the journal's "esteemed reputation", no claim that the work is groundbreaking. An editor can read it in a minute.

Keep paragraph 2 different from your abstract. The abstract reports the study; the letter tells the editor why it matters to this journal.

Tanvi's first draft had three of these mistakes. Most come from writing the letter in a hurry, at the very end.

The reused letter is the most embarrassing one. Elsevier's advice warns against reusing a letter for a different journal without updating it, and against template letters shared around an institution. An editor who finds another journal's name in your letter learns two things you did not mean to say.

Avoid pleading, too. "Kindly publish at the earliest" or "this paper is needed for my PhD" does not help, because the editor judges the paper, not your deadline. And check every claim in the letter against the paper: if the numbers differ, the editor will wonder which is true.

Some journals invite you to suggest reviewers, or to name people who should not review your paper. Springer Nature's guidance says you can do this in the cover letter, with your reasons; Elsevier asks for it in separate fields of the submission form. If you suggest names, choose experts with no conflict of interest, so not your co-authors, close collaborators or friends, and give their full names, affiliations and institutional emails. Keep any reason for excluding someone short and professional.

A revised manuscript needs a cover letter too, but a different one. The detailed answers to the reviewers go in a separate response letter, which our peer review guide explains. The revision's cover letter is short: thank the editor and reviewers, say you have answered every comment, sum up the main changes, and point to the response document.

After a rejection elsewhere, write a fresh letter for the new journal. Editage notes that you need not mention the earlier rejection unless the journal asks about the paper's history.

• the editor's name and the journal's name are correct
• the title matches the title page exactly
• the summary is in your own words, not the abstract
• every statement the guide for authors asks for is there
• the numbers match the manuscript
• it fits on one page
• a co-author or your guide has read it

Tanvi's new letter took her forty minutes. Dr. Shivakumar changed two words and told her to submit it. Three weeks later the status on the journal's website changed to "under review". The reviewers would still have their say, but the editor had read her letter and sent the paper on.