Cover Letter for an Agriculture Journal Submission (With Template)

A cover letter for an agriculture journal must state that the work is original, has not been published before, and is not under consideration elsewhere. Keep it to one page, say what the paper contributes and why it fits this journal, and send it in MS Word with the manuscript and the signed authorship responsibility form.

The cover letter is the one agriculture journal document authors write last and think about least, and it is the first thing the editor reads. It will not rescue a weak paper, but a vague one can slow down a good paper.

What it is for

The agriculture journal editor is answering one question when they open it: should this go to reviewers? Your letter should make that easy by covering three things:

• The declarations. Original, unpublished, not under consideration elsewhere. Required.
• What the paper contributes. One or two sentences a non-specialist editor can follow.
• Why this journal. One sentence connecting your subject to its scope.

That is the whole job. Everything else is optional and most of it is padding.

A template you can use

[Date]

The Editor
International Journal of Agriculture and Food Science

Dear Editor,

I am submitting our manuscript, “[Full title]”, for consideration as a [research article / review article / case report / short communication] in the International Journal of Agriculture and Food Science.

[One or two sentences: the problem addressed, what you did, and the main finding. Plain sentences, no abbreviations.]

[One sentence: why this work fits the scope of this journal.]

I confirm on behalf of all authors that this work is original, has not been published previously, and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. All authors have read and approved the manuscript and agree to its submission.

[Optional: We suggest the following reviewers, who have no conflict of interest with this work: Name, affiliation, e-mail; Name, affiliation, e-mail.]

Thank you for considering our submission.

Yours sincerely,
[Corresponding author name]
[Affiliation]
[E-mail, phone]

The paragraph that does the work

The second paragraph is the only part that varies meaningfully between letters, and where most are weak. Compare:

“This paper presents a field investigation into nitrogen management in wheat. The results are discussed and conclusions are drawn.”

“This paper reports a two-season field trial comparing three nitrogen application schedules in irrigated wheat on a sandy loam. A three-way split raised grain yield by 9.6% over the conventional two-way split and apparent nitrogen recovery from 41.3 to 48.7 per cent, which has not previously been reported for this zone.”

The second tells the editor what the paper is, what was done, what was found and why it is new — in two sentences. The first could describe several thousand papers.

Suggesting reviewers

You may name two, with affiliations and contact details. It is optional and the editor decides whether to use them. Suggestions help when your work sits in a narrow area where finding qualified reviewers is genuinely hard.

People who should not be on the list: your supervisor, your co-authors, anyone at your institution, and anyone you have published with recently. A reviewer who cannot be objective is not a reviewer, and naming one tells the editor something about your judgement rather than about your paper.

What to leave out

• The abstract. The editor already has it.
• Claims you cannot support. “This groundbreaking study” is a phrase editors have read ten thousand times.
• Your CV. The paper is being assessed, not you.
• Requests for fast handling. They do not work and they do register.
• A long account of what you fixed since a rejection elsewhere. Unless the editor asked, this is not the place.

Adapting the template to your article type

Naming the type in the first line matters more than it looks. Each category has its own length limit — a research article runs to no more than 15 pages, a review article to no more than 4,500 words, a case report to 2,000 — and an editor who has to work out which you meant is starting on the wrong foot.

Three cover letters that slow papers down

The one that is three lines long

“Please find attached our manuscript for your consideration.” It omits the required declarations, so the editor has to ask for them, and a round of email is added before anything begins.

The one that is three pages long

A full summary of the trial, a literature review and a paragraph about the research station. The editor is reading dozens of these; length does not signal seriousness, it delays the decision.

The one that oversells

“This groundbreaking study will transform nitrogen management across the country.” Reviewers compare that claim against your two-season, single-site data, and the gap costs more credibility than a modest description ever would.

Before you attach it

1. Is the journal name correct? A letter addressed to a different journal is the most damaging thing in this document, and it happens with resubmissions.
2. Are the three declarations there? Original, not published, not under consideration.
3. Is the article type named?
4. Is the title exactly as it appears on the manuscript?
5. Are the corresponding author’s e-mail and phone number in it?
6. Is it in MS Word? Not PDF, and not pasted into the submission form only.

Item 1 is worth checking twice. Editors see it regularly, and it tells them the paper was rejected elsewhere and forwarded without being reread — a poor start for an otherwise good manuscript.

Why this small document is worth the effort

A cover letter cannot make a weak paper publishable, and nobody should pretend otherwise. What it can do is remove friction: the editor gets the declarations they must have, understands in twenty seconds what the paper claims, and can see it belongs in this agriculture journal.

That is the difference between a manuscript moving to review on the day it arrives and one that generates two emails first. Over the life of a paper it is not a large saving, but it is free — and it is the last impression you make before somebody decides whether to send your work to reviewers.

The three files, together

The cover letter is one of three documents that must arrive together: the letter in MS Word, the signed authorship responsibility form, and the complete manuscript with all figures and tables carrying headings. Sample files for all three are on the Instructions to Author page.

Send them together. A manuscript arriving alone does not start a review, and nobody chases you for the missing files — our pre-submission checklist covers the rest.

Frequently Asked Questions

What must a cover letter say?

That the work is original, has not been published before, and is not under consideration elsewhere. Send it in MS Word alongside the manuscript and the signed authorship responsibility form.

How long should a cover letter be?

One page. An editor reads it in under a minute to decide whether the paper goes forward, so length works against you.

Should I suggest reviewers?

You may name two potential reviewers with their affiliations and contact details. It is optional and the editor is not obliged to use them. Suggesting your supervisor or a co-author wastes the opportunity.

Do I need a cover letter if the submission form asks the same questions?

Yes. This journal requires it as one of three documents, and a submission missing any one cannot start.

Should the cover letter repeat the abstract?

No. The editor has the abstract. Use the letter to say what the paper contributes and why it fits this journal.

Who signs the cover letter?

The corresponding author, on behalf of all co-authors.

Related Guides

What the cover letter accompanies:

• How to Publish a Research Paper in an Agriculture Journal
• Manuscript Checklist Before Submitting to an Agriculture Journal
• How Long Does It Take to Publish in an Agriculture Journal?