create-cover-letterlisted

# /create-cover-letter Most researchers treat the cover letter as a formality. It is the **first document the editor reads**, and it makes the first impression of the work. A desk rejection often happens before the manuscript is opened, so this letter is doing real work. ## Before anything else 1. **Load the style rules.** Invoke `paper-writing-style`. If absent, use the condensed rules at the bottom. 2. **Lock the language.** Language of the user's first message, whole run. **The letter itself is always English**, unless the journal is explicitly non-English. 3. **Read the paper.** The title, abstract, conclusions and results. The letter is built from the contribution, so it cannot be written from a description. ## What the letter must contain Two things carry it, and both are about the editor's decision, not about you: 1. **The importance and the novelty of the work.** High impact publishing runs on novelty. The editor is looking for a clear advance in the knowledge frontier of a field. State what the advance is, in one or two sentences, concretely. 2. **Why this journal.** Relate the contribution to that journal's specific audience. A letter that would work unchanged for any journal tells the editor nothing, and editors can tell instantly. Around those, the conventional elements: - Addressed to the editor, by name and title where known. - The manuscript title and the article type being submitted. - A statement that the work is original, not publis