Can I email a journal editor about an article idea?

N

Hi all,

I'd like to submit an article for peer-review but the paper needs a lot of editing and re-formatting to tailor it for a specific journal (it's based on an essay I wrote several years ago). Before I do all of this, is it normal/desirable to email the journal editor with a very short (2-3 sentences max) description of the article and ask whether they'd be interested in the topic? I haven't had any prior contact with the editor. This is for a humanities subject.

Thanks!

C

At a seminar I went to on getting papers published, the presenter suggested emailing the editor with a brief summary as reasonable and sensible, particularly so if the article you propose is slightly outside the normal scope of the journal but I think he deemed it an acceptable thing to do in general.

N

Okay, thanks a lot, Clupea! I figured it was a sensible thing to do but sometimes there are weird unspoken rules of etiquette in academia that I'm unaware of...

E

Cover letters are for this use, indeed.

M

Editors usually know their reviewers very well.
If they do not want your paper, they may send it to certain 'group' of reviewers…
Be careful when you write to them. :-)

N

Quote From MeaninginLife:
Editors usually know their reviewers very well.
If they do not want your paper, they may send it to certain 'group' of reviewers…
Be careful when you write to them. :-)


Really?? Peer-review is supposed to be anonymous, so you mean they send it to someone who is hard to impress? I've never heard of that happening, but maybe I'm very naive!

M

Do you think editors would assign nasty reviewers for their papers in their journals?
I would assign insightful, helpful, and open-mined reviewers for my paper.

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