How do I submit a letter to the editor?

If you have a substantial comment, feedback, a critique, or additional information related to a paper previously published in a JMIR Publications journal, we encourage you to submit a formal short letter to the editor.

In this article:

What do authors of Letters to the Editor need to know before submitting?

What do authors responding to a Letter to the Editor (Author Reply) need to know? 

What do authors of Letters to the Editor need to know before submitting?

The following requirements and important information apply to a Letter to the Editor:

• Letters to the editor should be short and succinct. Letters to the editor must comment on a previously published JMIR article (usually not older than 6 months*) and must contain important additional information or critical questions adding value to the understanding of the published paper. We do not allow brief research reports as Letter to the Editor; instead, please submit a Research Letter to the journal (standard APFs apply: What is your APF/APC?).
• Maximum word count: 500 words
• Maximum references: 5 references. The first reference should always cite the JMIR Publications paper you are commenting on. The original paper must have been published within the last six (6) months.
• No figures, tables, or supplementary materials are included in a Letter to the Editor. 
• The Letter to the Editor must only be submitted to the journal in which the original paper (first reference) is published. If it is not, Editorial staff will automatically transfer the Letter to the Editor to the corresponding journal. When submitting, choose the section "Letter to the Editor" from the drop-down list in the submission process.
• Disclosure of generative AI use is required. If none is used, the authors are required to include a statement of no generative AI use in their cover letter. See also: Do you allow the use of ChatGPT or other generative language models and how should this be reported?
• Although submissions as Author Reply can supply their own title, JMIR Publications staff will modify the title to align with the typical format of the titles for this article type. 
• Letters to the editor are not usually peer-reviewed (like original papers), but are reviewed by the author of the paper the letter comments on or critiques. 
• There is no Article Processing Fee (APF) for Letter to the Editor.
• We will not invite a 2nd reply from the writer of a Letter of the Editor to the Author Reply. This avoids an endless back-and-forth conversation via letters and replies.

Issues or questions about possible research misconduct should be raised with the editor by sending an email to ed-support@jmir.org. See also: Ethical issues and post-publication review

Any other issues are better handled in a private conversation / email exchange with authors. Readers can find the contact information of the Corresponding Author on the article page.

Authors who are interested in writing an Addendum or Corrigendum for their published manuscript should submit an Addendum or Corrigendum, not a Letter to the Editor. Queries about this type of submission can be directed to prod-support@jmir.org. For more information, see: How to submit a corrigendum (correction) or addendum.

*While the article the letter is referring to should usually not be older than 6 months, we will consider letters that comment on important issues threatening the validity of a paper (we will ask the author to respond). Exceptions to the six-month cutoff are rare.

What do authors responding to a Letter to the Editor (Author Reply) need to know? 

If you are the author of a critiqued article and we sent you a letter to the editor critiquing your paper, you are asked to submit an Author Reply through the manuscript submission system to formally reply to a Letter to the Editor. We may publish the letter to the editor and the Author Reply simultaneously.

Authors will be invited to provide a reply within four (4) weeks of notification by JMIR Publications staff. Alternatively, authors may reply to staff to confirm that they do not wish to respond to the Letter to the Editor. In this case, staff may proceed with publishing the submitted Letter to the Editor without an Author Reply, at their discretion.

The following requirements and important information apply to an Author Reply:

• Author Reply to a Letter to the Editor should be short and succinct. 
• Maximum word count: 500 words
• Maximum references: 5 references. The first reference and second references should typically cite the original JMIR Publications paper, and also the Letter to the Editor. 
• No figures, tables, or supplementary materials are included in an Author Reply. 
• The Author Reply must only be submitted to the journal in which the original paper is published. If it is not, Editorial staff will automatically transfer the Letter to the Editor to the corresponding journal. When submitting, choose the section "Letter to the Editor" from the drop-down list in the submission process.
• Although submissions as Author Reply can supply their own title, JMIR Publications staff will modify the title to align with the typical format of the titles for this article type. 
• There is no Article Processing Fee (APF) for Author Reply.

To submit the Author Reply: Respond to the Letter and submit it through our online system in the Letters to the Editor section of the relevant journal. Please note in the cover letter that this is an Author Reply pertaining to the original manuscript number. 

Other Article Types

• If you are an author of a previously published JMIR Publications manuscript wishing to add to or correct your previous paper, do not submit a letter, but instead a correction or addendum (which may be subject to a small APF). How to submit a corrigendum (correction) or addendum.
• If you plan to submit a short communication containing original research/data, consider submitting a Research Letter. Not all JMIR journals currently publish Research Letters. Please refer to our Knowledge Base to confirm which journals accept Research Letters before you submit (see: What are the article types for JMIR journals? and the JMIR Editorial on Research Letters. 
• If you have a substantial commentary or viewpoint on an issue, this should be submitted as a Viewpoint not as a Letter to the Editor (standard APFs apply: What is your APF/APC?).

See also:

What are the article types for JMIR journals?

How to become an author at JMIR

How to submit a corrigendum (correction) or addendum