Cover letters

By HD Silversmith

From WebGURU :: Submit Article to Journal:

Cover Letter

The cover letter should be prepared following the standard format for a business letter. This means you should put your address in the upper corner, followed by the date, the full mailing address for the Editor to whom the letter is addressed should appear below this aligned with the left margin. The letter should open with a formal salutation: "Dear Dr. Editor:" The body of the cover letter should contain the following information:

• the full title of the manuscript you are submitting for publication;
• a statement that your submission is exclusive, i.e., that you are not submitting this paper to another journal (It is not acceptable to submit your manuscript to more than one journal at the same time.);
• a brief statement summarizing the significance of the work and how this is relevant to the mission of the journal; and
• information on whom to contact in case the journal requires any additional information about the manuscript. It will also facilitate the review and publication of your manuscript if you provide the following information in your cover letter: * the name of the associate editor whom you wish to handle your paper (Selecting the editor yourself ensures that the person handling your paper has an appreciation for your science.); and
• the names and contact information (mailing address, e-mail) for any individuals whom you would like the journal to use as reviewers of your manuscript as well as the names of anyone whom you would prefer that the journal not contact for review.

Click here to see a sample cover letter.

These are good general guidelines for any cover letter accompanying the submission of an article to a peer-reviewed journal. 

The sample provided is a tad sterile, in my view, but then, I write from a humanities and arts perspective, and I think there's a little more freedom there to write more compellingly about the article one has enclosed.

Can you tell that writing the cover letter and then sending this puppy out is my task for the morning?