Cover letter

Cover letter for academic papers

The primary role that a cover letter plays in academic paper submission is to convince the editor that the paper is important and solid, and provide suggestions regarding reviewers. A good cover letter becomes critical for high-impact venues with high desk rejection rate.

How to

A potential structure

• Title + one sentence summary of what the paper is about and why that is important.
• The importance of the problem: a summary of the general problem with some citations of landmark papers
• Knowledge gaps and challenges: what have been the critical challenges and why previous studies could not address them.
• Summary of the paper: how & why the present manuscript can address the challenge. The results of the paper and their importance.
• Potential broad impact of the paper: how can this paper change the field/science.
• Reviewer suggestion: explanation about the types of reviewers who are most suitable for review and why certain reviewers may not work well. Can suggest a list of reviewers with why they can be good reviewers given their background and expertise. You can also suggest to “unchoose” reviewers who may not act objectively given various circumstances (e.g., personal conflicts, a fierce competition, etc.)