Cover Letter & Editor Pitch (sci-cover-letter)

When to trigger

• Ready to submit and need the editor-facing letter.
• The current letter is a formality ("please find enclosed…") with no argument.
• You need to argue broad significance explicitly to survive triage.

What the cover letter is for

Science editors triage fast. The letter must let an editor decide, in under two minutes, that the paper is plausibly broad enough to review. It is a significance argument, not a summary.

Structure (≈ 250–400 words, one page)

1. Opening claim (2–3 sentences). The one-sentence advance (sci-framing) plus why it matters to a broad audience. Lead with the result, not the background.
2. Why Science specifically (2–3 sentences). Why this is general-interest, not specialist — what communities beyond your own will care and why now (sci-framing why-now trigger).
3. What's new vs. prior work (2–3 sentences). The decisive distinction from the closest prior papers, including any concurrent work. Pre-empt "isn't this known?".
4. Format & logistics (short). "We submit this as a Report/Research Article. The work has not been published and is not under consideration elsewhere."
5. Optional: suggested/excluded reviewers, competing interests, related submissions, and any embargo/press considerations.