Submission Cover Letter Tips

Don’t miss the opportunity to speak directly to the journal’s Editor with a tailored submission cover letter. A good cover letter can pique the Editor’s interest and help him or her find the best reviewers for your article.

Here are some tips on writing an effective cover letter:

• Include the article’s title and list of authors but don’t copy and paste other text directly from your article.
• Provide a short summary in 3-5 sentences of your research question and key results of your article without going into too much technical detail.
• Briefly describe why your research results are important to the wider community and why your article is a good fit for this journal.
• If this article is an expanded version of a previously published conference article, be sure to indicate that in the cover letter. Include the full citation to the published conference article and explain how the present submission differs from the conference article.

If your article was previously rejected from another journal, indicate this in the cover letter and explain what changes you made between the rejection and the new submission.6