How to Write a Clinical Psychology Review Cover Letter (Template + Examples)
What a Clinical Psychology Review cover letter must say for a review or meta-analysis. Template, PRISMA framing, declarations, and common mistakes.
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How to use this page well
These pages work best when they behave like tools, not essays. Use the quick structure first, then apply it to the exact journal and manuscript situation.
Question | What to do |
|---|---|
Use this page for | A working artifact you can actually apply to the manuscript or response package. |
Start with | Fill the template with real manuscript-specific details instead of leaving it generic. |
Common mistake | Copying the structure without tailoring the logic to the actual submission. |
Best next step | Use the artifact once, then cut anything that does not affect the decision. |
Quick answer: A strong Clinical Psychology Review cover letter does one job in under one page: it convinces the editor that your manuscript is a genuine review or meta-analysis, that the literature search is documented and current, and that the synthesis adds something over existing reviews in clinical psychology. Because CPR is a review-only Q1 journal (2024 JIF 12.2, rank 3/185), the letter has to settle the article-type question before the editor opens the file. State the review question, the scope, the PRISMA or PROSPERO status, and the clinical consequence. Do not restate the abstract.
Why the cover letter decides your fate at Clinical Psychology Review
The right question is not "did I attach a cover letter?" It is "can an editor tell, from one page, that this is a rigorous review with clinical-psychology consequence, and not a primary study wearing a long introduction?"
Clinical Psychology Review is unusual among high-impact psychology titles. It publishes reviews, not original empirical research. That single rule shapes the entire triage. An editor opening your submission is asking two things before anything else: is this actually a review, and does the review meet a methodological bar a clinician can trust? The cover letter is where you answer both, fast, before the manuscript file is even read.
Run a Clinical Psychology Review desk-reject risk check on the manuscript before you write the letter, so the letter is describing a paper that can survive the claims you make for it.
What a Clinical Psychology Review cover letter must convey
CPR routes submissions through Elsevier Editorial Manager. Elsevier's own guidance asks for a short cover letter, ideally under one page, that states the aim and main findings, explains journal fit, and emphasizes novelty. For a review journal, that translates into four specific jobs.
Letter job | What to say at CPR | What to avoid |
|---|---|---|
Establish article type | Name it: systematic review, meta-analysis, or integrative theoretical review | Letting the editor guess whether new data is hiding inside |
State the review question | One precise clinical-psychology question the synthesis answers | "We reviewed the literature on anxiety" with no boundary |
Show methodological backbone | PRISMA adherence, search currency, PROSPERO registration if applicable | Implying rigor without naming a single method |
Argue novelty over existing reviews | Why this synthesis exists when others already do | "No prior review has examined this" with no reason it matters |
The order matters. CPR editors are screening for review legitimacy first and synthesis novelty second. A letter that confirms the type, names the question, points to the methods, and explains why the review is needed is easy to route. A letter that reads like a methods summary forces the editor to do the sorting work themselves, and that is where momentum is lost.
Clinical Psychology Review cover letter template
Use this as a structure, not a script. Replace every bracketed field with your specifics.
Dear Editors,
We are pleased to submit our manuscript, "the manuscript title," for consideration as a
[systematic review / meta-analysis / theoretical review] in Clinical Psychology
Review. This manuscript synthesizes [N] studies addressing [precise clinical-
psychology question], a question of direct consequence for [clinical population
or practice decision].
This review adds to the existing literature because [one to two sentences on what
it offers over prior reviews: new trials, a sharper clinical question, a
methodological upgrade, or a new theoretical frame]. The search was conducted
according to PRISMA, is current to within three months of submission, and the
protocol was prospectively registered [PROSPERO ID, or state not registered].
This manuscript has not been published previously and is not under consideration
elsewhere. All authors have read and approved the submission and agree to its
content. We have no competing interests to declare beyond those entered in the
Declaration Tool.
Sincerely,
Corresponding author, on behalf of all authorsThe point of the template is discipline. If the letter grows because you keep adding search detail or sample descriptions, the review question is probably not sharp enough yet. The manuscript carries the method; the letter carries the argument.
The non-duplication and authorship declaration
Two sentences belong in every Clinical Psychology Review cover letter, verbatim or close to it. They are the lines an editor scans for before sending anything to review:
This manuscript 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 to Clinical Psychology Review.
That is the originality plus authorship pair. Note what does NOT go in the letter at an Elsevier journal: suggested reviewers, opposed reviewers, funding statements, and the full competing-interest declaration are entered in dedicated Editorial Manager fields and through the Declaration Tool, not pasted into the cover letter body. Putting them in the letter is harmless but redundant; leaving them out of the system fields is what stalls a submission.
A journal-specific opener: weak versus strong
The opening sentence is where most review cover letters quietly fail. Here is the weak version most editors see, and the strong version that earns a fast routing decision:
Weak: avoid "Please find attached our manuscript on cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety, which we believe is suitable for your esteemed journal."
Strong: use "We submit a PRISMA-compliant meta-analysis of 41 randomized trials testing whether therapist-delivered and digital CBT produce equivalent outcomes for adult generalized anxiety."
The weak opener fails because it names no article type, no review question, no scope, and no reason the paper belongs at a review journal specifically. An editor cannot tell whether this is a meta-analysis or a primary trial, and the flattery wastes the most valuable line. The strong opener works because the article type is explicit, the review question is precise, the scope is quantified, the methodological backbone is named, and the synthesis is positioned in one breath. The editor already knows how to route it.
Article types and how the letter changes
Clinical Psychology Review accepts a narrow band of article types, and the cover letter framing shifts with each.
Article type | What the letter must emphasize |
|---|---|
Systematic Review | Documented search, inclusion and exclusion criteria, PRISMA flow, risk-of-bias appraisal |
Meta-analysis | The same plus the analytic model, heterogeneity handling, and what the pooled estimate adds |
Theoretical / integrative review | The organizing framework, what it reconciles, and why narrative synthesis is the right method here |
What the letter must never imply is a primary empirical study or a case report. Those are not category options at CPR. The journal publishes reviews and meta-analyses relevant to clinical psychology, and a manuscript that presents new data wrapped in a literature section is the single most common desk rejection. If your "review" has a Methods section describing data you collected, the letter cannot rescue it; the manuscript is for a different journal.
Mandatory statements and the reviewer-suggestion mechanics
Elsevier separates the persuasive cover letter from the structured declarations. Handle each in the right place:
- Suggested reviewers: supply 3 to 5 reviewers with institutional email addresses in the Editorial Manager field. Exclude reviewers who co-authored or collaborated with you in the last three years, and favor candidates from different countries for a balanced assessment.
- Opposed reviewers: you may exclude reviewers with a genuine conflict;
name them in the opposed-reviewer field, briefly and factually, not in the letter.
- Competing interests: declare explicitly whether any exist, through the Declaration Tool, which follows ICMJE standards.
- Preprint disclosure: if the review or its protocol is posted as a preprint, disclose it and provide the link, in the letter or the relevant field, so the editor is not surprised during screening.
- Registration: if the protocol was prospectively registered (PROSPERO, OSF, or INPLASY), state the ID.
For systematic reviews and meta-analyses this is increasingly expected and strengthens the methodological case.
From an editor's chair
When I read a review cover letter, I am not looking for politeness or for a summary of the field. Editors screen for review legitimacy first and synthesis novelty second, and I am deciding, in under a minute, whether to send the manuscript out or return it.
The letters that earn a fast yes do three things: they tell me the article type without ambiguity, they name a review question I can picture a clinician caring about, and they give me one concrete reason the synthesis is needed when a competent review of the same question may already exist.
The letters that earn a fast no are the ones where I finish the page still unsure whether I am holding a meta-analysis or a primary study, or where the only argument for novelty is that no one has used these exact search terms before. Reviewers never see the cover letter; it is written entirely for the editor's routing decision, which is exactly why every sentence should reduce my uncertainty rather than add to it.
In our pre-submission review work with Clinical Psychology Review submissions
In our pre-submission review work with Clinical Psychology Review submissions, three cover-letter and framing patterns predict a desk return before an editor ever reaches the synthesis. Each is testable against your own draft.
The empirical study in review clothing. The most consistent failure pattern in manuscripts we screen for Clinical Psychology Review is a primary empirical study presented as a review. The cover letter calls it a "comprehensive review," but the manuscript has a Methods section describing data the authors collected, a participant table, and primary results. At a review-only journal this is a category error, and no cover-letter language repairs it.
Before writing the letter, confirm the manuscript synthesizes existing studies rather than reporting new ones. If there is a sample you recruited, the paper belongs elsewhere.
The undocumented search strategy. The second pattern we see at Clinical Psychology Review is a genuine review whose cover letter claims rigor the manuscript cannot show. The letter says "systematic review," but the manuscript never specifies databases, search dates, or inclusion and exclusion criteria, and there is no PRISMA flow diagram.
CPR's guidance asks for PRISMA adherence and a search current to within three months of submission, so an editor checks the search strategy and the inclusion criteria early. A letter that promises a systematic review must be backed by a search strategy a reader could reproduce, ideally with a PROSPERO registration ID. We flag this when the cover letter asserts a method the figures and tables do not contain.
The novelty claim with no reason to exist. The third pattern in our Clinical Psychology Review reviews is a methodologically clean synthesis whose cover letter never explains why it should be published when a similar review already exists. Because strong CPR papers stay cited for years, editors are protective about redundancy.
We see authors write "no prior review has addressed this exact topic" when a competent meta-analysis of the same question was published two years ago. The fix is specific: the letter should name what this synthesis adds, new trials since the last review, a sharper clinical question, a methodological upgrade in how the meta-analytic estimate is pooled, or a new theoretical frame.
A novelty claim that survives a reviewer's literature search is the one that gets the manuscript sent out.
These are fixable before submission. A Clinical Psychology Review review-and-meta-analysis fit check evaluates whether the manuscript matches the claims the cover letter is about to make.
Common mistakes and red flag patterns that sink otherwise good letters
Mistake 1: Restating the abstract. The editor reads the abstract on the next screen. A letter that repeats it forfeits the only space you have to argue for review.
Mistake 2: Hiding the article type. If the editor finishes the letter unsure whether the paper is a meta-analysis or a primary study, the letter has failed its primary function.
Mistake 3: Claiming PRISMA adherence the manuscript does not show. Asserting a systematic method the figures and tables do not contain is worse than claiming nothing; it signals that the authors do not know what the method requires.
Mistake 4: Pasting declarations into the letter instead of the system fields. Suggested reviewers and competing interests belong in Editorial Manager, not the cover letter body.
Mistake 5: Naming a specific editor you have not verified. Editorial rosters change. Verify the current Editor-in-Chief on the journal's editorial-team page before quoting any name, or open with "Dear Editors."
Submit If / Think Twice If
Before the cover letter is even worth writing, decide whether the manuscript can stand behind it.
Submit to Clinical Psychology Review if:
- The manuscript is a synthesis of existing studies, not a primary study with a participant sample and original results
- The methods section documents a reproducible search strategy with databases, dates, and inclusion criteria, and a PRISMA flow diagram is present
- The review answers a clinical-psychology question a clinician or researcher would act on, not a basic-science question with no practice consequence
- You can state in one sentence what this synthesis adds over the most recent existing review of the same question
Think twice if:
- The methods describe data you collected, which makes the paper a primary study and a category error for a review-only journal
- The cover letter would claim "systematic review" but the manuscript has no documented search strategy and no inclusion or exclusion criteria
- The literature search is more than a year old, because CPR asks for a search current to within three months of submission
- A competent meta-analysis of your question was published in the last two years and your only novelty claim is different search terms
- The figures are a handful of forest plots with no risk-of-bias appraisal table, which reads as an incomplete methodological package
Readiness check
Run the scan to see how your manuscript scores on these criteria.
See score, top issues, and what to fix before you submit.
Final cover-letter checklist
Run this before you submit:
- The letter names the article type explicitly (systematic review, meta-analysis, or theoretical review)
- The review question is stated in one precise clinical-psychology sentence
- PRISMA adherence and search currency are named, with a PROSPERO ID if registered
- The novelty-over-existing-reviews argument is concrete, not "no one has done this"
- The non-duplication and all-authors-approved declarations are present
- Suggested reviewers (3 to 5) and competing interests are entered in Editorial Manager, not the letter
- The letter fits one page and does not restate the abstract
Frequently asked questions
Keep it to one page, roughly 250 to 400 words. Elsevier's own guidance asks for a short cover letter, ideally under one page. The letter has one job: convince the editor that your manuscript is a genuine review or meta-analysis with a defensible search strategy and real clinical-psychology consequence. Do not pad it with method detail that belongs in the manuscript.
No. A Clinical Psychology Review editor reads the abstract on the next screen. A cover letter that repeats the abstract wastes the only space you have to make the editorial case. State the review question, the scope of the synthesis, what it adds over existing reviews, and your PRISMA or PROSPERO status. That is the argument the abstract cannot make for you.
No. In Elsevier Editorial Manager, suggested and opposed reviewers go in dedicated submission fields, not in the cover letter body. Supply 3 to 5 names with institutional emails, and exclude anyone who co-authored or collaborated with you in the last three years. Declarations of competing interests are also entered separately through the Declaration Tool, not pasted into the letter.
No. Clinical Psychology Review is a review-only journal. It publishes systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and integrative theoretical reviews relevant to clinical psychology research or practice. A primary empirical study, a case report, or a literature summary with no documented search will be desk-rejected as a category error, no matter how strong the science.
Address it to the Editor-in-Chief or the Editors. If you are unsure of the current incumbent, verify the editorial-team listing on the journal's own page before quoting any name. A generic 'Dear Editors' is safer than a wrong name. Never assume the editor of one Elsevier psychology journal also handles Clinical Psychology Review.
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Where to go next
Same journal, next question
- Clinical Psychology Review Submission Guide: Requirements & Editorial Fit
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- Clinical Psychology Review 'Under Review': What the Status Means
- Clinical Psychology Review Impact Factor 2026: 12.2, Q1, Rank 3/185
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