Cover letter for academic journal submission

[adel9216]

Hello,

Do you have any good resources (websites, books, videos, etc.) on how to write a good cover letter for a publication submission to a journal? They're asking for a cover letter, and I have never written one within that context.

Do you have any tips ? It's in the social sciences.

Thank you

[Parasaurolophus]

Most of the time, they're not really asking for anything (it's a holdover from the days of paper submissions). Sometimes, they want you to spend a little time explaining what areas your article touches on and why it's within that particular journal's remit. When in doubt just do that.

If your paper is unusual in any way, then I recommend flagging it for the editor in the cover letter. Forewarned, they're better able to find qualified referees, and they're less likely to hold that unusualness against your paper.

[Puget]

An an initial submission, these are quite short.

As Para notes, you should briefly summarize what the paper is about and why it is a good fit for the aims and scope of the journal. This should be no more than one brief paragraph.

The rest is usually some standard boilerplate-- check the guide to authors for anything specific you need to include there. Usually, you are required to say the paper is not under consideration at another journal. There may be required conflict of interest statement.  For human subjects research it usually includes a statement that procedures were approved by X IRB and participants gave informed consent.

That's it-- keep it short and simple.

[jerseyjay]

I would not over think this.

Most of mine look something like the following:

Dear Editor,

Please find attached an article for consideration for the Journal of Basketweaving Studies, "Don't Put All Your Eggs in One Basket: Baskets and Chicken Farming in Arab Sicily." I am the sole author of this article, it is the product of my own research, and it has not been published and is not under consideration elsewhere. I do not have any conflict of interests. I have removed any indication that I am the author, to facilitate peer review.

Please let me know if you have any questions or if you cannot open the file.

Thanks,
JerseyJay
Assistant Professor of History
Jersey Jay University
Tel: xxx-xxx-xxxx
Email: jjay@cas.jjay.edu

Sometimes I will cut and paste the abstract into the cover letter. If the journal wants anything else, they will usually indicate so in the submission guidelines.

Sometimes they want word count or something like that, although I usually include that in the draft itself.

On occasion, the editor has asked me for possible peer reviewers, but  this I don't put any unless asked.

[Sun_Worshiper]

I only include these if the submission platform requires it. When I do, it looks a lot like what jerseyjay suggests.

[ergative]

I only include these if the submission platform requires it. When I do, it looks a lot like what jerseyjay suggests.

Sometimes I include wordcount or the number of figures, but otherwise same.

[Ancient Fellow]

Dear Adel,

Take this for what it's worth, since I publish in the humanities, not social science, but I've only ever put a one-line bit in an email and never been bitten by it.

That line includes:
where I'm submitting (some people who use their own email are editorial staff at more then one place)
I am the sole-author
It is not under simultaneous review