Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A 400-word letter in JAMA pointing out a statistical inconsistency in a recent original article, with an authors' reply
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
An informal email to a journal editor is not a published letter to the editor
Editorial commentary
Letters to the editor are peer-reviewed (often by the original article’s reviewers) and are citable. They are the canonical post-publication-peer-review mechanism in traditional journal publishing. Length limits are tight (typically under 500 words). Distinct from a research letter (which presents new research data).
References
- ICMJE Recommendations on Correspondence (2024)
- NEJM Letter to the Editor submission guidelines
Also known as
Letter to the editor · Correspondence (letter)
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
xml
<role vocab="credit"
vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
vocab-term="Letter to editor"
vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/letter-to-editor" />json
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"name": "Letter to editor",
"identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/letter-to-editor",
"description": "A short scholarly communication submitted to a journal in response to a previously-published article in that journal, raising questions, corrections, alternative interpretations, or additional evidence, typically published with a reply from the original authors.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/research-outputs-expanded/",
"url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/letter-to-editor",
"sameAs": [
"Letter to the editor",
"Correspondence (letter)"
],
"license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}
