有关SCI论文投稿Cover Letter的那点事

SCI论文投稿Cover Letter的写作和中文投稿有很大的不同，Cover Letter的撰写对于新手而言不知该写什么，而对于老手往往又被忽视，Cover Letter重要吗？可有可无吗？ 下面我将从科学网转载系列有关Cover Letter的帖子，但愿对于新手、老手都有所帮助：
#1 Cover Letter实用指南(zz)

1、 什么是Cover Letter？
指的是投稿信

2、cover letter的内容主要包括那些？
应该简述所投稿件的核心内容、主要发现和意义，拟投期刊，对稿件处理有无特殊要求等（如“not to review” list）。另外，请附上主要作者的中文姓名、通讯地址、电话、传真和e-mail地址。此外有的杂志要求推荐几位审稿人及其联系方式。以及谁已经阅读过该文（当然是牛人）。
我投的那个杂志是要求说明你论文研究的意义，以及与这个杂志的相关性，另外还有的可能要写明你没有一搞多投等。此外临床实验要求写明符合伦理学要求。

3、 如何写cover letter？
各个杂志的具体要求是不一样的，在杂志的guide for authors一般会有要求。如果没有具体的要求，大家可按照通用要求处理。

4、常用模板：
（1）
Cover letter
Dear Mr. **
1. The work described has not been submitted elsewhere for publication, in whole or in part, and all the authors listed have approved the manuscript that is enclosed.

2. I have read and have abided by the statement of ethical standards for manuscripts submitted to Neuroscience.

kind regards.
Your sincerely,
通讯作者

（2）
Dear Dr. 主编name:
We submit our manuscript entitled " 文章title" to 杂志名for publication. 接着简单介绍你文章的主要创新点和意义，不易过多，但要突出新意和关键点。 All authors have seen the manuscript and approved to submit to your journal.
Thank you very much for your attention and consideration.

Sincerely yours,
通讯作者

（3）
Dear Dr. 主编name:
We submit our manuscript entitled " 文章title" to 杂志名for publication. 接着简单介绍你文章的主要创新点和意义，不易过多，但要突出新意和关键点。 All authors have seen the manuscript and approved to submit to your journal.
Thank you very much for your attention and consideration.

Sincerely yours,
通讯作者

（4）
Dr. ***
Editor-in-Chief, ***
(add address) January 22, 2003

Dear Dr. **,

Enclosed herewith please find 3 copies of a MS by: ‘***. *** and ***’ entitled: “**********”, which we would like to submit for publication in the ‘******'.

Looking forward to your decision,
With kind personal regards,
Sincerely yours,

*****
Professor of ***

（5）
Dear Prof. Gil:
This is a manuscript by**and **entitled “.......”. It is submitted to be considered for publication as a “...” in your journal. This paper is new. Neither the entire paper nor any part of its content has been published or has been accepted elsewhere. It is not being submitted to any other journal.
We believe the paper may be of particular interest to the readers of your journal as it ........
Correspondence should be addressed to **at the following address, phone and fax number, and email address:
...
Thanks very much for your attention to our paper.
Sincerely yours,
**

5、 例文：下面例文都来自丁香园战友，在此一并感谢。
（一）
Date: Sep 15, 2003
Dear Editors:

On behalf of my co-authors, I am submitting the enclosed material “ TITLE ” for possible publication in JOURNAL.

We certify that we have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the appropriateness of the experimental design and method, and the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data.

We have reviewed the final version of the manuscript and approve it for publication. To the best of our knowledge and belief, this manuscript has not been published in whole or in part nor is it being considered for publication elsewhere.

Best Regards.

Yours Sincerely,

NAME,ADRESS,EMAIL,FAX

（二）
Dear Dr Regino Perez-Polo：
Enclosed are a manuscript by su jian, yang kun, chen zhihua．Su jian titled“Hypothermia after Acute Ischemic Stroke
”．It is submitted to be considered for publication as a“review" in your journal．This paper is～?Neither the entire paper nor any part of its content has been published or has been accepted elsewhere ．It is not being submitted to any other journal．
We believe the paper may be of particular interest to the readers of your journal.
Correspondence and phone calls about the paper should be directed to Su jian at the following address，phone and fax number，and e-mail address：

Su jian
Institute:,
Adress:
Tel：
Fax:
E-mail：
Thanks very much for your attention to our paper．
Sincerely yours，
Su jian

（三）
Dear Editor,

We would like to submit the enclosed manuscript entitled "GDNF Acutely Modulates Neuronal Excitability and A-type Potassium Channels in Midbrain Dopaminergic Neurons", which we wish to be considered for publication in Nature Neuroscience.

GDNF has long been thought to be a potent neurotrophic factor for the survival of midbrain dopaminergic neurons, which are degenerated in Parkinson’s disease. In this paper, we report an unexpected, acute effect of GDNF on A-type potassium channels, leading to a potentiation of neuronal excitability, in the dopaminergic neurons in culture as well as in adult brain slices. Further, we show that GDNF regulates the K+ channels through a mechanism that involves activation of MAP kinase. Thus, this study has revealed, for the first time, an acute modulation of ion channels by GDNF. Our findings challenge the classic view of GDNF as a long-term survival factor for midbrain dopaminergic neurons, and suggest that the normal function of GDNF is to regulate neuronal excitability, and consequently dopamine release. These results may also have implications in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

Due to a direct competition and conflict of interest, we request that Drs. XXX of Harvard Univ., and YY of Yale Univ. not be considered as reviewers. With thanks for your consideration, I am

Sincerely yours,

（四）
Dear **.
We would like to submit the enclosed manuscript entitled " *** ", which we wish to be considered for publication in **journal.
We believe that two aspects of this manuscript will make it interesting to general readers of **journal. First, ***. Second, ***. Further, ***.
Thank you very much your considering our manuscript for potential publication. I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Best wishes.

（五）
To: SOLA Chief Editor
Division of Geoenvironmental Sciences
University of Tsukuba
Tsukuba 305-8572, JAPAN
E-Mail: sola@sakura.cc.tsukuba.ac.jp
Dear Sirs,
I am sending herewith a copy of the manuscript, which I would like to submit to SOLA, the Electronic Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan.
The paper is entitled:
Energy Spectrum Proportional to the Squared Phase Speed of
Rossby Modes in the General Circulation of the Atmosphere
by H. L. Tanaka, Yasushi Watarai, and Takahiro Kanda.
Copy of the Abstract:
In this study, energy spectrum of the large-scale atmospheric motions is examined in the framework of the 3D normal mode decomposition. The horizontal scale of disturbance is measured by the phase speed of a Rossby mode c. According to the analysis result for the barotropic component of the atmosphere, we obtain a characteristic energy spectrum with distinct slopes for the turbulence and wave regimes separated by the spherical Rhines speed. In order to explain the observational finding that the energy spectrum is proportional to c^2, we put forward a hypothesis based on the criterion of Rossby wave breaking such that the local meridional gradient of potential vorticity becomes negative, dq/dy < 0, somewhere in the domain. With a constant m describing a total mass of the atmosphere for unit area, we have shown that the barotropic energy spectrum of the general circulation E can be represented as E=mc^2.
Corresponding Author:
Dr. Hiroshi L. Tanaka
Division of Geoenvironmental Sciences
University of Tsukuba
Tsukuba 305-8572, JAPAN
Tel: +81-29-853-4502 +81-29-853-4502
Fax: +81-29-853-6879
E-Mail: tanaka@sakura.cc.tsukuba.ac.jp
I hereby certify that this paper consists of original, unpublished work which is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
Desired Editors in Charge:
Kimoto, Masahide University of Tokyo
Mak, Mankin University of Illinois
Five Potential Reviewers:
Name-1, e-mail address-1
Name-2, e-mail address-2
Name-3, e-mail address-3
Name-4, e-mail address-4
Name-5, e-mail address-5
The original manuscript and figures will be transferred, following the instruction by the Editorial Committee when the paper is accepted. I hope your favorable consideration for publication to SOLA.
Sincerely,
Hiroshi L. Tanaka
Attachment: PDF file of the manuscript.

大意失荆州 – 文章递审时coverletter的重要性

萝卜青菜各有所爱。 科研人员也不例外。 正因为这个原因，有些好的研究成果并不一定被每个人欣赏。一般情况下，这是并无大碍。但这在发文章的时候却有可能事关重大，甚至关系到成败。这是因为文章的评审一般由少数（2-3名）同行完成的。编辑参考评审意见做最后的决定。 如果有一个评审人对你的工作没兴趣，或有不利的偏见， 会对总体的评审有较大的影响。

和编辑沟通的最好的方法是把自己研究的重点在coverletter有条理地总结，并清楚地列举其对本领域的贡献。这一点其实应该是常识， 但并非每个作者都完全意识到它的重要性。 我本人也是在最近经历大意失荆州磨难后才真正体会到这一点的。

近几个月我和组员加油赶了十几篇文章出来。 定稿后，思想稍微松懈了。 就在写coverletter上少花了心思 （我的错）。 只是客套几句例行公事。 一篇文章被我们领域的旗舰杂志拒掉。因为其中一个审稿人完全没有认真读我们的文章。 说没新意，和我们之前的一篇文章没甚麽不同 （其实是完全两码事）。 不幸的是，另一个评审人也提出了一些尖锐的但 都可以解答的问题。 编辑就基于两个评审意见把它拒掉， 连个解释的机会都没有。 如果当时给编辑的coverletter上有明明白白地解释清楚此项工作的新意和对本领域的影响时， 编辑应该会对第一个评审意见有个很明确的判断。 我们很可能有机会回答第二个评审中的问题。 结果很可能完全不一样了。

另外一篇文章也是递交了本领域的一个顶尖杂志（未能免俗，当时是冲着它最高的影响因子而去的）。 结果由于负责的编辑不是我们研究方向的专家。 并且没有对我们的工作没有马上产生兴趣， 连送审都没有。 这些不愉快的结果本来都可以是通过一个高质量的coverletter避免的。编辑都很忙，不太可能每一篇都认真读过。 他们有不可能是所有研究方向的专家。 一个好的coverletter会使编辑的工作容易了很多。 而且一旦把编辑说服，一篇文章的命运也许会是截然不同的。

不过吃一堑长一智，从这些经历中，我对coverletter的重要性认识清楚了。 以后会有认真对待。 希望此类的失败不会在我以后的经历中重现。 也希望读者可以从我的经历中学到功课，而不会阴沟里翻船。 把每项工作应有的影响通过最合适的杂志发挥到极致。