Please have one format like as below:

(I have used it nearly 300 times and it worked always in almost all journals

Dated: ……, 2014

Dear Editor

…………………….

I have the pleasure of sending you the manuscript entitled “……………….” authored by …………… to be considered for publication as a research article in your prestigious journal –……………. Paper is containing original research and has not been submitted / published earlier in any journal and is not being considered for publication elsewhere. All authors have seen and approved the manuscript and have contributed significantly for the paper.

Ethical Procedure

• The research meets all applicable standards with regard to the ethics of experimentation and research integrity, and the following is being certified/declared true.

• As an expert scientist and along with co-authors of concerned field, the paper has been submitted with full responsibility, following due ethical procedure, and there is no duplicate publication, fraud, plagiarism, or concerns about animal or human experimentation.

A DISCLOSURE / CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

• None of the authors of this paper has a financial or personal relationship with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper.

• It is to specifically state that “No Competing interests are at stake and there is No Conflict of Interest” with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper.

Corresponding Author :

……………………

Affiliation

E-mail:……….

Phone: ………

As with many things, this is going to be field and journal dependent, but for me (nuclear/particle physics), I've rarely felt it necessary to include a cover letter. I believe I've only done so for cases where I think it's important to make the case that the paper is of sufficient interest to a broad community, e.g. for Science or Nature, or for Physical Review Letters (high-impact results across all of physics) when the topic is something where it may not be obvious to a non-expert why the results are of sufficiently broad interest and high impact. But of course, if it's not easy to get across the impact/importance of the work in the article itself, then it's usually not a good candidate for a short letter in a journal with broad coverage like that.

Every journal has a different way of submission - for example the Journal of Business Ethics - usually asked you to submit online - and you need to have the names of the author(s) outside the article - which will be uploaded separately, then any graphs or figures - then the article...

So, no covering letter is needed... But what Judie suggested might be a good idea.

Regards

Theodora Issa

I think cover letter must take critical while submitting a manuscript in Journal. Cover letter includes title, authors, novelty of paper etc. I dont think so Editor should reject your paper on the basis of cover letter. But according to journal's guidelines important points must mentioned in cover letter.

Thanks Robin, and it always depend on the journals and their guidelines! you are right.

I agree with Theodora Issa. I publish in the field of civil engineering and I never write a cover letter (but my experience is limited to 5 articles published in journals).

Most of the journals provide a list of things which should be specifically mentioned in the cover letter. In such cases, the cover letter becomes important. However, when no specific requirements are specified, a well written cover letter would cause no harm. After all, any thing presented well is taken as a good gesture to begin with. So I feel a well framed cover letter is always good while submitting the manuscript.

The cover letter can look like this:

To the Editorial Board of the Journal of ....

We would like to submit our paper "..." to your journal. This paper aims to.... It shows that... We hope that it will interest your audience, especially....

Best Regards, Authors

--------

So, you can use some parts of your abstract here as this letter should not be very long: 1-2 paragraphs. If you resubmit your paper after reviews, then in your cover letter you should indicate the major changes you made in the paper (but also tell that a detailed list of changes is attached in your replies to the reviewers)

Thanks a lot for your reply

A good thread here. I think that most points are covered well. Cover letters are rarely offered voluntarily except, perhaps, for the reasons that John states. I would like to think that good research 'speaks for itself' without the need for accompaniments. I'm not sure where cover letters came from; it's only a fairly recent phenomenon that I've noticed with each new submission. When I am 'pressed' to submit one online - I'm inclined to submit something like Tiia's response.

Thanks all and thanks Dean, yes, it might be ok to go with Tiia's response - for some of the journals that are still accepting submission through mail/e-mail - but the majority is now moving to the editorial manager.

Not sure what you mean Theodora by the editorial manager - the majority of my submissions are through the likes of ScholarOne or Science Direct (two of the largest and most established submission processes from Wiley and Elsevier). They often 'routinely' request a cover letter before you can submit online for review.

Hello Dean,

EditorialManager is a software that is being used by some journals like JBE and some of Emerald journals - it does not ask for covering letter.

Hope this explains it.

Thanks and regards

Hi Theodora - it does answer it. I've only ever published with Emerald the once - back in 2006 - so not aware of their new software.

Point of view of editor:

-if system asks fpr the cover letter, better to make it not formal, like "please find manuscript fr publication

- if not, I will gladly see cover letter, explaining position of the author about his paper, why journal was chosen, if there is any conflicts of interest, possible reviewers, NOT recommended reviewers and WHY, etc.

- just e-mail and manuscript files make me think, that author do not care about his paper.

Thanks a lot for the active discussion.

Actually, a form of or something similar to Editorial Manager is also used by Springer.

FYI regarding Dean Whitehead's statement: ScholarOne is a Thomson Reuters business. A number of publishers choose ScholarOne, but it was not developed by a publisher.

Asim - many thanks and I stand corrected. That is definitely 'news' to me.

If we go back many years, we see that most of papers are submitted by ordinary mail. and usually we send three or four copies of the paper with a letter by corresponding author stated the work and the responisbility asking for publication. Now adays, most of journals accept the papers online (electronic). So, my openion, the covering letter was a sort of respect and official transfer of paper for editorial board.

Thanks a lot for your comments. In fact I never know watt real is necessary in a cover letter, but I always use the some and the Editors never ask me more information ( related to the cover letter). Usually I put the information that Tiia reported.

Please have one format like as below:

(I have used it nearly 300 times and it worked always in almost all journals

Dated: ……, 2014

Dear Editor

…………………….

I have the pleasure of sending you the manuscript entitled “……………….” authored by …………… to be considered for publication as a research article in your prestigious journal –……………. Paper is containing original research and has not been submitted / published earlier in any journal and is not being considered for publication elsewhere. All authors have seen and approved the manuscript and have contributed significantly for the paper.

Ethical Procedure

• The research meets all applicable standards with regard to the ethics of experimentation and research integrity, and the following is being certified/declared true.

• As an expert scientist and along with co-authors of concerned field, the paper has been submitted with full responsibility, following due ethical procedure, and there is no duplicate publication, fraud, plagiarism, or concerns about animal or human experimentation.

A DISCLOSURE / CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

• None of the authors of this paper has a financial or personal relationship with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper.

• It is to specifically state that “No Competing interests are at stake and there is No Conflict of Interest” with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper.

Corresponding Author :

……………………

Affiliation

E-mail:……….

Phone: ………

Several journals provide a list of things starting from author information till the details of the research work and funding which must be filled up carefully which carries impression in the publication procedure.

From what I have heard from seasoned researchers, cover letter does not seem to be a formality because that is the first formal contact with the editor and deserves enough attention.

I would like to know that if the paper has been based upon some of the hypotheses of a PhD dissertation, does this need to be mentioned in the cover letter, or it is self-obvious when you give your position as a doctoral candidate in the signature area.

I used to write in a simple way like

To 11/23/132013

The Editor in chief

Neuro............

Dear Sir/Madam

I am submitting manuscript entitled.............................................. for publication in your reputed journal. If some ethical statement is there according to journal guidelines (put here.) We hope the manuscript will receive your kind consideration. This simple letter also work very good. As I never got any comments on cover letter.

Regards

Pk..........

thanks everybody for your valuable comments, i learned good tricks and hope to utilize it :-)

I would say, it depends. First impression is the last one though! Why not write a concise yet revealing all the necessary information in two paragraphs such as title of manuscript, ethical considerations, conflict of interest and only submitted to so and so journal.

Cover letter give the first hand information on your research work. Many journals ask for a brief information on the research work done i.e. hypothesis, study design and impact. Therefore, I suggest don't ignore it!

@Talha,

some Springer journals have sample of the cover letter. Which one journal are you targeting?

On the other hand, standard letter is enough, do not forget to mention that research is original, no competing submission, etc.

However, these things are easy to check. If letter is false (part of the text is published already (salami slicing), or your text is under review in another journal (several times I got answers from reviewers, that they just reviewed manuscript for another journal) - editor will just kick you off. I will never agree with Boris, that author has right to present manuscript for several publishers in the same time and make his choice later.

And, please, do not use some examples from above with the words "respected", "reputed". First, this make no impression to the editor (believe me, I am one of these), secondly, at Springer they all are honorable, reputed etc,

A simple format :

Please see attachment.

Yes, cover letter leaves first impression on editor according to me!

Spent so much time and energy on research paper, why not spend an additional quality time (10 minutes) on a good cover letter?

And make sure the SENDER is your professor/corresponding author, makes a huge difference!

Thanks every body, I am agree with the discusion. It is very interesting for us

Greetings,

Does the cover letter need to be written by corresponding author? or can it be done by one of authors in the manuscript?

Thanks

Yes, the corresponding author need to prepare a cover letter upon submission.

Based on my own experience. The cover letter is really important and it matters in the first place for the editor, where it will give him/her a good insight and feeling about your contribution to the research area. However, if the editor does not get any good impression of it, then he/she might reject it directly.

To answer this question "Does the cover letter need to be written by the corresponding author?" in my case, I did write and submit the cover letter on behalf of my corresponding author.

Thank you.

If anyone is interested in writing a cover letter using LaTex, you can have a look at the following GitHub repo:

https://github.com/GKalliatakis/LaTeX-Journal-Assistant

It is one of the crucial component of a submission. It is the first part of any manuscript which make a home for understanding the focus, scope, importance, contribution, authors collaboration and the length of any manuscript to the editors. Thus, a cover letter should focus on these aspects for an ease to the editors. Though, only a cover letter is not a criteria for acceptance or rejection of a manuscript, but it do have very important role in convincing an editor for considering the manuscript for editorial and external reviews. This is my view about a cover letter.

Regards,

Rishikesh

In my limited experience, the cover letter has never made a difference. However, I have not published in any high impact journals. Many of you have made reference to outlining your research within the cover letter, isn't that what an abstract is for? That's the first place I go to get a feel for the paper.

@ James A. McCarty

I agree with you

Cover letters have never made a difference for me (that I know of). I only include the manuscript title, initial or revised submission, single-most important finding, and one line about it's fit in the journal. Editors are busy people...

Since there are different opinions about what it is important, or not, in a cover letter. It's interesting to look to the link below, from Nature Methods, one high impact journal. They give their considerations about writing the cover letter to submit a paper to them.

http://blogs.nature.com/methagora/2013/09/how-to-write-a-cover-letter.html

I agree with Vitor! Submission letters ARE important and often they do make the difference of going to review or being rejected right away. (Not that I'd have physical proof but at least that's what I'd like to believe). Selling is key here!

Should the cover letter go in the email body or in a separate file? I will submit my manuscript to a JCR journal. I appreciate your responses!

Liliane Clark It depends on the process followed by the journal. Most of the times, the well known journals have a dedicated material that need to be uploaded as cover letter. Some others may not require it alongside the submission. In such case you can include it in your email.

Thanks @Grigorios E. Kalliatakis !

Dear,

Every journal has its merit cover letter. But if some journals haven't the unique format, my suggestion and my sample cover letter is attached.

Specifically, cover letters may vary from journal to journal. Generally, they have similar format and same essential parts including your manuscript’s title, journal’s name, contributors’ name, and corresponding author’s address.

In some journals, the cover letter is not a required part. However, I think the best way is to act based on journal guidelines.

Regards,

Ali

no need, in my view

@ Hasan

many journals will reject your manuscript with such a cover letter. May you guess why?

It is good for the marginal and predatory journals only.

المجلات عادة ترفض المقالات التي لا تلتزم بالعيار التي وضعته هي، أو ممكن تقبل تحكيم الورقة البحثية ولكن لا تقوم بنشرها إلا بعد أن تلتزم بما أورده في صفحة الغلاف من شروط.

في اعتقادي في الأصل هذا ليس شرط المجلة بشكل خاص، ولكن هذه شروط تضعها الجهات التي شاركت فيها المجلة، فهي شروط دولية ممكن تسبب في سحب الترخيص من المجلة التي لا تلتزم بالمعايير

Please see prof. Dharma's Cover letter - most rated, at the top of thread. It is good enough to take as example, if no other requirements are imposed by the journal.

The only important thing is that your letter must be written in a polite manner. All other depends on the quality of your paper.

INTERSSTING

Las presentaciones son muy importantes. Considero que si bien es cierto no juega un rol decisivo para aceptar/rechazar el manuscrito, son consideradas como puerta de entrada y como el editor tratará el manuscrito. Una mala presentación, indica que no ha sido cuidadoso con la redacción y con seguir las pautas de la revista, entonces.. la pregunta sería ¿habrá seguido esas pautas con el manuscrito que envía?

The presentations are very important. I believe that while it is true it does not play a decisive role in accepting/rejecting the manuscript, they are considered as a gateway and how the editor will treat the manuscript. A bad presentation indicates that you have not been careful with the writing and following the guidelines of the magazine, then .. the question would be: have you followed those guidelines with the manuscript you send?