How to write a cover letter for a medical journal submission

What does a journal editor look for in a cover letter?

The cover letter is usually the first thing a handling editor reads, often before opening the manuscript, and it frames the decision to send the paper out for review or return it. The letter has two jobs:

1. Make the case for fit. In two or three sentences: what question you asked, what you found, and why this journal's readers need it now. PLOS Medicine, for example, asks authors to use the cover letter to explain why the manuscript suits the journal and how it could change patient care or public health (author guidelines, as of October 2026).
2. Give the editor the administrative facts. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) lists what should accompany a submission, in the cover letter or the submission form: a full statement about any overlapping submissions or previous reports, any relationships that could be a conflict of interest if not disclosed elsewhere, a statement on authorship, the contact details of the corresponding author, and any concerns raised by institutional or regulatory bodies about the research.

Editors do not need your abstract repeated, a history of your career or praise for their journal. They need a clear claim, a reason it fits, and no surprises later.

What must a cover letter for journal submission include?

Most journals collect some declarations in the submission system, but the cover letter is where you confirm them in plain words. Check the journal's author instructions: if a form already asks for an item, a one-line confirmation in the letter is enough.

Not sure which reporting checklist applies? See which reporting guideline your study needs. For the AI-use line, use the wording in our guide to the AI disclosure statement for medical journals.

How do I write a cover letter for a journal submission, step by step?

1. Read the author instructions first. Note the editor-in-chief's name, the article types and what the journal wants in the letter. PLOS ONE, for example, limits the cover letter to one page and asks you to state the article type, relate the work to prior literature and describe any earlier contact with the journal about the manuscript (as of October 2026).
2. Address the editor by name. "Dear Dr [Surname]" reads better than "Dear Sir/Madam" or "To whom it may concern".
3. Open with the submission itself. Title, article type and journal in the first sentence.
4. State the question and the main result with numbers. One sentence each. Use the same figures as the abstract, with confidence intervals.
5. Explain why this journal. Point to the readership and, if relevant, recent work the journal has published that your paper extends or challenges. Do not overclaim novelty.
6. Add the required statements. Use the table above and keep them short.
7. Close with contact details. The corresponding author's full contact information.
8. Check every number against the manuscript. The letter must match the abstract exactly.

Cover letter for journal submission template

Copy this template and replace each item in [square brackets]. Delete lines that your target journal does not ask for.

[Date]

Dr [Editor's full name]
Editor-in-Chief, [Journal name]

Dear Dr [Editor's surname],

We are pleased to submit our manuscript, "[Full title]", for consideration as a [article type, e.g. Original Research] in [Journal name].

[One sentence on the clinical problem and the gap.] In this [study design] of [number and type of participants] in [setting], we found that [main result with effect estimate and 95% CI]. [One sentence on what this means for practice or research.]

We believe this work will interest [Journal name]'s readers because [specific reason linked to the journal's scope or recent articles].

This manuscript is original, has not been published, and is not under consideration at any other journal. [Related papers from the same study: none / list with citations.] [A preprint is posted at: link / has not been posted.] [Preliminary results were presented as an abstract at: meeting, city, month year / not applicable.]

All authors meet the ICMJE criteria for authorship and have approved the submitted version. [Conflicts of interest: none / summary; full details are in the ICMJE disclosure forms.] [Funding: funder and grant number; the funder had no role in design, analysis or the decision to publish / role.]

The study followed the [reporting guideline] checklist, which is attached. [Ethics approval: committee name and reference number.] [Generative AI use: statement per journal policy / none.]

[If requested: Suggested reviewers: name, affiliation, email, reason. Opposed reviewers: name and reason.]

Thank you for considering our manuscript.

Sincerely,

[Corresponding author name, degrees]
[Department, institution]
[Postal address]
[Email] | [Phone]
on behalf of all authors

Sample cover letter for journal submission (synthetic example)

The example below is synthetic. The study, numbers, people and journal are invented for illustration.

24 October 2026

Dr A. Example
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Example Obstetrics

Dear Dr Example,

We are pleased to submit our manuscript, "Early postpartum blood pressure self-monitoring and readmission for hypertension: a retrospective cohort study", for consideration as an Original Research article in the Journal of Example Obstetrics.

Readmission for postpartum hypertension is common, and evidence on home monitoring after discharge is limited. In this retrospective cohort of 2,140 people with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy at two teaching hospitals, enrolment in a self-monitoring programme was associated with lower 6-week readmission for hypertension (adjusted odds ratio 0.62, 95% CI 0.44 to 0.87). These findings support randomised evaluation of structured home monitoring after discharge.

We believe this work will interest your readers because the journal has published recent work on postpartum care pathways, and our study adds outcome data from a pragmatic hospital programme.

This manuscript is original, has not been published, and is not under consideration at any other journal. No related papers from this study have been published or submitted. A preprint has not been posted. Preliminary results were presented as a poster at an example national meeting in March 2026.

All authors meet the ICMJE criteria for authorship and approved the submitted version. The authors declare no conflicts of interest; ICMJE disclosure forms are uploaded. The study received no external funding. It was approved by the example institutional ethics committee with a waiver of consent. The STROBE checklist is attached. A generative AI tool was used to edit language; the authors reviewed all output and take full responsibility for the content, as described in the Methods.

Thank you for considering our manuscript.

Sincerely,

Dr B. Sample, MD, MPH
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Example University Hospital
b.sample@example.org | +1 000 000 0000
on behalf of all authors

Note the order: claim, numbers, fit, then statements. The odds ratio in the letter must be the same one that appears in the abstract and results table. CliniPaper cross-checks numbers between the cover letter, abstract and tables and flags any mismatch before you submit.

How long should a cover letter for a journal be?

One page is the norm and some journals set it as a limit (PLOS ONE, for example). If yours runs over a page, cut background and keep the statements. If you are submitting a case report, one or two sentences on what is new about the case are enough; see how to write a case report. A resubmission after review is different: it needs a point-by-point response document, not a longer cover letter (see how to respond to reviewer comments).

Common mistakes editors and reviewers flag

• Repeating the abstract instead of explaining why the paper fits this journal.
• Overclaiming: "first", "paradigm-changing" or causal language for an observational study.
• Numbers that differ from the abstract or tables, often because the letter was written from an earlier draft.
• Wrong journal name or editor, left over from a previous submission. Editors notice.
• Missing declarations: no statement about preprints, related papers or prior presentation, which ICMJE expects authors to disclose.
• Suggesting conflicted reviewers, such as recent co-authors or colleagues at your own institution.
• Asking for a fee waiver in the letter. PLOS ONE asks authors not to include fee requests in the cover letter.
• Undisclosed AI help. If you used AI to draft or edit the letter or manuscript, disclose it per the journal's policy. The authors remain responsible for everything submitted.