While submitting an article to the editorial board of a scientific journal, it is necessary to pay special attention to the preparation of mandatory documents. One of the key documents is the cover letter. It helps reviewers to decide whether your research is of value to the scientific community. Today, we will discuss in detail the key stages of writing a cover letter that will increase your chances of successful publication.
How does a cover letter affect publication success?
Cover letter – is a special document that is submitted to the editorial board of a journal along with an article for publication. It includes the most important information about the submitted research, as well as its author.
The role of the cover letter is difficult to overestimate, as the fate of the manuscript depends on how well it is written. If the editorial board is not interested in it, your article may not even be considered.
Writing a cover letter to a journal: step-by-step instructions
As we have already noted earlier, the cover letter should contain only important information, without unnecessary ‘water’. The format of this document is not free, but on the contrary - quite structured. There are a number of aspects that must necessarily mention in it. Below, we will consider them in more detail.
1. Addressing the editor
This is the first stage of writing a cover letter. Here you need to address the editor of the journal. For this, you should use a formal greeting and also mention his or her name if you know it.
In addition, the beginning of the letter should include the name of the journal you are submitting to and the date of submission.
2. Purpose of manuscript submission
In order to interest the editorial board, you should clearly state the purpose of your submission. It is worth using not general phrases that are suitable for every journal, but to specify why the choice fell on this particular edition.
It is not superfluous to emphasise the advantages of the magazine, the features of its activities and authority. For example, you could mention that after analysing the recent publications of the journal, you noticed that it actively discusses innovative approaches to early cancer detection, and your paper complements or develops this discussion.
Also be sure to provide key information about your research: its full title, names of co-authors, type of article, and the reasons that motivated you to conduct it.
3. Everything about your research: its significance and originality
The main focus should be on the detailed description of your research. At this stage, you should describe the main goals of the research work, as well as the results and their significance in a particular discipline. To confirm the value of your findings, indicate their practical application.
In addition, the cover letter should contain information about the originality, relevance and novelty of the research. Emphasise that your article has not been previously published in other journals (this is especially important, as submitting one article simultaneously to several scientific journals is a violation of scientific ethics). We recommend reading our article on the basic principles of publication ethics.
4. Contact information
The final step is to provide contact information. This includes your full name, title, affiliation (e.g. university or organisation name), email address and, if applicable, telephone number.
Make sure the details provided are up-to-date and allow the editorial team to contact you promptly. Also, at the end of the letter, be sure to thank the editor for his or her attention to your work.
Responsible preparation of your cover letter greatly increases your chances of publication. The more precisely and clearly you present the uniqueness of your research, the more likely you are to attract the attention of journal editors.
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