The Cover Letter as a Publication Support Gap: Structural Disadvantage and AI-Assisted Preparation for Non-Native English Speakers

The manuscript cover letter is a consequential but understudied genre: it is the last document an author prepares before submission and often the first an editor reads. This article argues that, as an occluded genre, invisible in the scholarly record, its demands fall unevenly on non-native English speakers (NNES). Synthesizing literature across genre theory, intercultural rhetoric, and AI-assisted writing via a structured narrative review, this article makes three contributions. First, it shows that the cover letter compounds two disadvantages for NNES authors: an occluded genre learned without visible models, and a form of calibrated self-promotion whose register is culturally asymmetric. Second, it advances a dual-beneficiary framing, arguing that assistance that improves cover letter quality benefits authors and editors simultaneously, since better-prepared letters support efficient editorial screening in an era of increased submission volumes. Third, it reviews empirical evidence on large language model performance to propose a four-consideration framework for effective, responsible AI use, offered as a starting point for practice rather than a validated instrument. The article positions academic librarians and research support professionals as the primary audience to translate this framework into publishing consultations and outlines a research agenda to measure the posited editorial efficiency gains and to field-test the framework through ongoing advisory practice.