Tips for Writing Cover Letters for Peer Reviewed Articles
Writing cover letters for peer review can be difficult. Here are some tips from an experienced scientist with 30+ first-author publications.
Dr. David Shiffman 🦈
Research associate at @ASU @ASUinDC studying sharks and their conservation, science officer @scbmarine, opinions mine. Author and consultant.
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A thing that I hear a lot of early career scientists say is "I hate writing cover letters to go along with the articles I submit for peer review."
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) March 14, 2023
I have 30+ first-author pubs and a lot of experience writing cover letters. Here are some tips. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/OJREBEvvZP -
1) Who do you address the letter to?
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) March 14, 2023
Look at the "editorial board" part of the journal website for the EIC or handling editor, or perhaps your submission portal lets you pick an editor. Address it to them.
Or, "Dear Editorial Board, [JOURNALNAME]" is fine pic.twitter.com/BifTc4fFOU -
2) How do you start the letter?
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) March 14, 2023
I usually do some version of "With this cover letter and attached documents, I hereby submit this manuscript for consideration in [JOURNALNAME] as a [TYPE OF ARTICLE]."
No need to get fancy here. pic.twitter.com/n7b81lQYM7 -
3) Next, very briefly summarize the purpose and key finding(s) of the manuscript.
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) March 14, 2023
"People care about [TOPIC] for [REASONS,] so we did [COOL THING] and found [IMPORTANT THING]. pic.twitter.com/aKmyoJbRAu -
4) Next, you can summarize a few key results in a little more detail.
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) March 14, 2023
"We found [KEY RESULT 1,] which is relevant for [REASONS]."
Repeat 2-5 times depending on your paper. pic.twitter.com/o3Ij49Vagm -
5) Mention why you think the paper is a good fit for the journal.
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) March 14, 2023
"[JOURNALNAME's] Aims and Scope includes [BROAD TOPIC] which our paper fits into, so we belive that [JOURNALNAME] is a good home for our paper" pic.twitter.com/KKAwtEXIAX -
6) If applicable, which varies by journal, confirm that you meet requirements for submission.
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) March 14, 2023
"We confirm that [REQUIREMENT1] and [REQUIREMENT2] are met, and that our manuscript is ready for your review." pic.twitter.com/ICGnCJGfa1 -
7) Sign off with a
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) March 14, 2023
"Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
[FIRSTAUTHOR NAME,] on behalf of all coauthors" pic.twitter.com/lxPoYftNdU -
I see lots of people saying that writing the cover letter takes them hours and causes stress. It doesn't have to, and I hope this thread helps!
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) March 14, 2023 -
As always, I am happy to answer serious questions asked in good faith.
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) March 14, 2023
As always, "the thing you're saying is a problem for lots of people is not a problem for me" is not as useful of a comment as some people think it is.