Cover Letter for an Agriculture and Nutrition Journal Submission

A cover letter for an agriculture and nutrition journal is one page that states what the paper is, why it fits this journal, and confirms that the work is original and not under consideration elsewhere. It is required here as one of the three submission files, and a sample can be downloaded from the instructions page. Most take twenty minutes and are worth more than that.

What It Is For

The agriculture and nutrition journal editor reading it has your title, your abstract and a queue of other submissions. The cover letter answers the question the abstract does not: why should this manuscript go out for review at this journal rather than being returned?

It also carries the declarations. A nutrition journal needs a written statement that the work is original, unpublished and not simultaneously submitted somewhere else, and the cover letter is where that lives.

The Six Things It Must Contain

Addressed to the editor by title, with the journal named correctly.
The manuscript title and type — original article, review, case report or short communication.
Two or three sentences on what the study found — the finding, not the topic.
Why it fits this journal — one sentence tying it to the scope or to related work published there.
The declarations — original, not published, not under consideration elsewhere, all authors have approved the submission, conflicts of interest declared.
Corresponding author details — name, affiliation, postal address, email and phone.

What to Leave Out

Your abstract, pasted. The editor has it already
The whole methods section. Two sentences on findings is the budget
Claims of importance — “this pioneering work” and “first of its kind” invite a reviewer to disprove them
Requests for speed — you may mention a genuine deadline once; do not ask for a fast track
Complaints about another journal that rejected the paper
Anything you cannot support, including an indexing or metric claim about your own institution

A Cover Letter That Works

Dear Editor-in-Chief,

I am submitting the enclosed original research article, “Iron and zinc content of biofortified pearl millet under two irrigation regimes”, for consideration by the International Journal of Agriculture and Nutrition.

The study compared three biofortified pearl millet varieties under rainfed and one supplementary irrigation over two seasons. Grain iron fell by 11 to 14 per cent under supplementary irrigation in all three varieties, while yield rose by 18 per cent — a trade-off that has been reported for zinc but not, to our knowledge, quantified for iron in pearl millet under Indian rainfed conditions.

The work fits the scope of the journal, which publishes on crop physiology and on the nutritional quality of food crops, and it follows from studies of biofortification published in recent issues.

I confirm that the manuscript is original, has not been published elsewhere and is not under consideration by any other journal. All authors have read and approved the submission and declare no conflict of interest. The authorship responsibility form is enclosed.

Yours sincerely,
[Name, designation, department, institution, postal address, email, phone]

Around 200 words. It names the finding with numbers, says why it belongs in this agriculture and nutrition journal, and makes every declaration required. An editor can act on it without opening the manuscript first, which is the entire purpose. An editor can decide from it whether to send the paper out.

The Same Letter, Badly Written

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am sending herewith my research paper for publication in your esteemed journal. The paper is on pearl millet. It is a very important topic in the present scenario and I hope you will find it suitable for publication in your reputed journal at the earliest. Kindly consider the same and oblige.”

This version names no finding, no journal, no article type and no declaration. It could have been sent to any nutrition journal in the world, and the editor knows it, because it was.

Details That Cost Nothing and Signal Care

Name the journal correctly and in full. A letter addressed to a different journal is the single fastest way to be desk-rejected, and it happens constantly
Address the editor by title rather than “Sir/Madam” where the name is published
Say the article type, because word limits differ — a review can run to 4,500 words here, a short communication far less
Give a postal address that will still work in six months; the publication certificate is posted to it
Keep it to one page. A two-page cover letter is read as a warning about the manuscript

The Authorship Responsibility Form Is Not a Formality

The cover letter travels with a signed authorship responsibility form, and the two do different jobs. The letter states that all authors approved the submission; the form is where each of them says so.

Get the signatures before you submit, not after acceptance. Two situations cause real trouble later, and both are avoidable at this stage.

The colleague added out of courtesy. Somebody who provided seed, lent an instrument or commented on a draft is acknowledged, not made an author. Authorship carries accountability for the whole paper, and a name added as a favour becomes a problem if the paper is ever questioned.

The supervisor who has not read it. An author who cannot defend the methods is not in a position to sign, and if a reviewer raises a question that only one person can answer, the others are exposed. The form exists precisely to make everyone confirm they have read what carries their name.

Ordering matters too, and it is far easier to agree before submission than after acceptance. Settle it once, in writing, at the point where nobody yet knows whether the paper will be accepted.

Suggesting and Excluding Reviewers

Where a nutrition journal invites suggestions, the cover letter is the place. Give two or three names with affiliations and email addresses, choosing researchers who work on the same problem and have no connection to you — not co-authors, supervisors, or colleagues in your own department. Editors check.

If you want someone excluded, say so in one line with a brief professional reason. A request to exclude a direct competitor is reasonable and normal; a list of six exclusions is not.

Special Cases Worth a Sentence

Part of a larger study. If the paper draws on a dataset that has produced other publications, say so and cite them. Editors find this out anyway during screening, and finding it stated is very different from finding it hidden.

Previously presented at a conference. Mention it. An abstract in conference proceedings does not usually count as prior publication, but the journal decides that, not you.

Preprint posted. Say where and give the DOI.

A genuine deadline. One sentence: a thesis submission date, a funding report. Do not repeat it in follow-up emails.

A final habit that saves work: keep one cover letter template and rewrite the middle of it for each submission. The declarations and the contact block never change; the two sentences on findings and the one on fit always do. What must never be reused unchanged is the journal name, and the way to guarantee you never send the wrong one is to type it fresh every time rather than editing the previous letter.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a cover letter required for this agriculture and nutrition journal?

Yes. It is one of the three files submitted together, alongside the signed authorship responsibility form and the complete manuscript. A sample cover letter can be downloaded from the instructions to authors page.

How long should a cover letter be?

One page, around 200 to 300 words. Anything longer is usually the abstract pasted in, which the editor already has.

Should I paste my abstract into the cover letter?

No. Give two or three sentences on what you found, with the key numbers, in your own words. The abstract arrives with the manuscript.

Can I ask for fast review because of a thesis deadline?

You can mention the deadline once, and a considerate office will bear it in mind. You cannot ask for the review to be shortened, because that would mean asking two unpaid reviewers to read less carefully.

What if I forget the declaration of originality?

The office will ask for it before the manuscript moves, which costs days. Since the declaration is three lines, writing it in from the start is the cheapest delay to avoid at any nutrition journal.

Do all authors need to be mentioned in the cover letter?

The corresponding author signs it, but it should state that all authors have read and approved the submission. The signed authorship responsibility form carries the formal confirmation.

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Created by Kabir Sethi • 10 Aug 2026