The cover letter acts as a table of facts for the larger document or paper that follows. There are some matters you should avoid, and when you are submitting your research paper to a scholarly journal, here are some things that you should not include or avoid in your cover letter: If you are applying to an academic journal for publication, including a cover letter in your application packet can be quite helpful, not just for you but also for the acquisitions editor. On the other hand, if you want editors to take you seriously and your work to get published, you will need to steer clear of a few frequent errors. Even if you provide all of the necessary information in your cover letter, these problems could make your efforts less effective and cause an editor to lose interest or even become furious, which is the exact opposite of what you wanted to happen. As a result of this, it is essential to call attention to a few of these widespread practises and to emphasise how vital it is to steer clear of them.
It is crucial to mention how unique and significant your study is in your cover letter; the relevance and rigour that the study was undertaken and the larger contribution of the paper. However, it is equally important not to appear arrogant or overvalue your own work. You need to be familiar with the research that has been conducted in your subject area and speak in a balanced manner about your work and the consequences and impact it has had. In addition to this, you need to be truthful about your personal study and how it fits into the larger body of knowledge. In your justification for the manuscript’s publishing fit, be sure to stress the innovative and ground-breaking aspects of your work, a new methodology that may have been adopted, and the unique way of data collection and analysis style, per se. This necessitates a careful balancing act between appearing confident and fully convinced that your work is of great value to your scholarly community while also being realistic and honestly assessing its value in relation to the primary objectives of the journal. For the most part, specifics are more effective than generalisations when describing your original contributions to knowledge in your field, and drawing connections between your work and other papers published by the journal can be an extremely helpful way to demonstrate how your paper fits the journal perfectly and builds on research it has previously published.
If someone does not specifically ask for a lengthy biography along with the cover letter about you and your work, it is not necessary to provide one. An acquisitions editor will, in most cases, be more interested in the manuscript you are providing them than your personal history or the nature of your job in general. On the other hand, in the event that you are successful in having your work published, you might be requested to provide a more extensive biography at a later point of time, and be sure to project research work and on going work of your research. However, you should centre your initial cover letter on the submission that is currently being considered. It may be beneficial to note particular links, such as the fact that your writing reports research from a larger project that has already led to work being published by that journal or publication; however, longer trips into your life story are not necessary and should be avoided. It is difficult to overstate how crucial it is that your cover letter be prepared in a clear and concise manner. Before you send your cover letter and manuscript to the editor of your choosing, you should make sure that your writing is error-free in terms of spelling, grammar, and punctuation. In addition, you should address any other issues that may exist with your writing style. If you want an acquisitions editor to be interested in and confident in your writing sample, which will be read before your manuscript, it is crucial to communicate in a way that is clear, short, and correct.
Your cover letter shouldn’t be too long to finish off what’s been said here. It is true that there is a lot to discuss, but you must be careful to ensure that the most essential aspects are highlighted and that you do not waste the time of an editor. In most cases, the length of a cover letter shouldn’t exceed one page of written text. A well-written cover letter will almost certainly increase the value of your submission. Since the journal editor will first encounter your writing in the cover letter, this is an excellent opportunity to showcase your writing skills. Communicating with the editor in a clear, succinct manner will give the editor a good impression of your submission and your writing skills. A covering letter can either motivate an editor to read your work right away or send it to the slush pile. Keep in mind that a well-written cover letter establishes rapport with the editor and the team, increasing the likelihood of a positive response. If your business card doesn’t make a good first impression, you won’t be able to sell someone on you or your goods. The cover letter is, too.
Remember to make the following gestures before delivering the research paper or article to the editor:
1. The covering letter is required while communicating the job.
2. Concentrate on the study’s or paper’s relevance and rigour.
3. Inform the reader about the paper’s innovative approach or data analysis.
4. The paper’s contribution; and how it benefits the community or a specific sector if it addresses a specific sector.
5. Define then scope and boundary that the study explored.
