Cover letter for a journal submission

Where required, the submitted manuscript must be accompanied by a cover letter stating that neither the manuscript nor any significant part of it is under consideration for publication elsewhere, or has appeared elsewhere in a manner that could be construed as a prior or duplicate publication of the same, or very similar, work. Should there be a possibility of doubt concerning such prior publications, the title page and abstract of such material should be included with the submitted manuscript. When appropriate, the cover letter should contain disclosures of any potential conflict of interest arising from associations with commercial or corporate interest in connection with the work submitted.

A cover letter should include:

• Title of manuscript
  
• Complete author listing
  
• A word count for the manuscript (refer to journal web sites for guidelines on limits.)
  
• An indication that the manuscript has been read and approved by all authors.
  
• An indication that all persons listed as authors have contributed to preparing the manuscript and that no person or persons other than the authors listed have contributed significantly to its preparation. (The intent of this requirement is to forestall the participation of outside parties ("ghost writers") who may stand to benefit by attempting to influence the content of a study or its results.)
• When appropriate, a specification of the subspecialty section for which the submission is intended (e.g., Cardiovascular, Ambulatory, Critical Care, etc Signature of corresponding author.
  
• Electronic signatures are acceptable.
  

Authorship and Copyright at Submission
Some journals require authors to transfer copyright of articles accepted for publication. Check individual journal web sites for information on this requirement.

Sample Cover Letter

RE: (title of manuscript), by (all authors in order listed on title page)

Word Count: (number of words in text of manuscript)

Dear (name of editor):

On behalf of my co-authors, I am submitting the enclosed material for possible publication in (name of journal). It has not been submitted for publication nor has it been published in whole or in part elsewhere. I attest to the fact that all authors listed on the title page have read the manuscript, attest to the validity and legitimacy of the data and its interpretation, and agree to its submission to (name of journal).

Possible conflicts of interest, sources of financial support, corporate involvement, patent holdings, etc. for each author are disclosed on the attached Checklist or in an accompanying letter. Copyright transfer and the signatures of all authors will be requested prior to publication of accepted manuscripts.

Signature, Date

--lwwonline