如何寫投稿信 （How to write a cover letter）

 

投稿信主要是為了幫助編輯快速尋找合適的審稿人。一般要在投稿信中寫明文章的意義、論文的主要內容及創新點等。投稿信要簡潔明了，但是不能直接拷貝摘要部分。要避免使用 “Dear Sir” 之類的稱謂，避免某些女性編輯的反感。

1、投稿信的意義

Cover letter 可以幫助編輯盡快地判斷提交的論文是否處於期刊的范圍（scope），可以更加方便地幫助編輯尋找審稿人。對於某些能上能下的論文，cover letter 可能會決定你的論文是否會被送審。

2、六要

主要是第一點和第二點。

Do give a brief, largely non-technical summary of the method. Explain how it will have an impact and why the method and its applications will be interesting to a broad biological audience.

1）簡要闡述你的方法，解釋為什么你的方法很重要，並且能吸引期刊的受眾（文章的意義）。

Do put the work in context. Briefly explain the novelty and the specific advances over previous work but be realistic about what the method can and cannot achieve.

2) 闡述你的工作有何新穎之處，並指出你的工作和前人相比有何提高的地方（文章的主要內容和優點）。

Do suggest referees. If the editors decide to send the paper for peer review, providing a list of potential referees, their email addresses, and a very short description of their expertise, can help the editor assign referees more rapidly.

3) 推薦審稿人（編輯為了工作方便當然希望你推薦審稿人，可以不推薦）。

Do tell us about any related work from your group under consideration or in press elsewhere. Explain how it relates, and include copies of the related manuscripts with your submission.

4) 提交你的相關工作（一般期刊無此要求）。

Do mention any unusual circumstances. For example, known competition with another group’s paper, co-submission to Nature Methods planned with another group, or co-submission of a related results paper to another NPG journal, etc.

5) 交代可能的異常情況，比如和 XX 課題組是競爭關系，不要送審到他們那里。

Do mention if you have previously discussed the work with an editor.

6）是否以前和期刊的編輯已經討論過（一般有討論過的會直接送到那個編輯手里，一般不用寫）

3、六不要

Don’t simply reiterate that you have submitted a paper to us and/or copy and paste the title and abstract of the paper. The cover letter should be viewed as an opportunity to present useful meta-information about the paper, and not tossed off simply as a submission requirement.

1)不要直接拷貝文章的標題和摘要。

Don’t go on for pages about what the paper is about and summarize all of your results. The editor will always read the paper itself so long cover letters are usually redundant. A one-page cover letter in almost all cases is sufficient.

2) 投稿信要簡潔，一般一頁足以。不要總結你的所有結果。

Don’t use highly technical jargon and acronyms. Explaining the advance in a general manner can go a long way in helping the editors reach a quicker decision; cover letters that are largely unreadable are of no help to the editors.

3) 不要用高度專業的詞匯。記住投稿信是給編輯看以幫助他們更快找到審稿人的。

Don’t overhype or over-interpret. While a description of why the method will advance the field is definitely appreciated, obvious overstatements about the impact or reach of the work do not help and can even reflect poorly on the authors’ judgment of the needs of a field.

4) 不要過度“吹捧”你的方法。過度高估你的工作反而會反映出作者對該領域的判斷不足。

Don’t assume that going on about your scientific reputation or endorsements from others in the field will sway us. This is not pertinent to our editorial decision.

5) 不要在投稿信中寫自己多牛逼。人家編輯判斷的是你文章的價值，而不是你個人的價值。

Don’t address your cover letter to “Dear Sir.” This is antiquated language, not to mention often incorrect, given that two-thirds of Nature Methods’ editors are women. Stick to the gender-neutral “Dear Editor” in cases where you are not addressing a specific editor.

6) 不要用 “Dear Sir”，因為很多編輯都是女的。 可以用中性詞 “Dear Editor”.

說明：本文觀點來自 How to write a cover letter，該文是期刊 Nature Methods 的編輯給作者的建議，想看英文原文請點擊原文鏈接。