Dear all,

I had sent an article for publication to a journal (which does not set a word limit) but it has been rejected (:-().
I am now trying to send it to another journal which sets a word count of 3000 words max. With a lot of effort I have managed to reduce the article from 4000 to 3150 words. I fear that if it is reduced more it would lose its coherence and meaning (qualitative research).
Does anyone know how strong these word limits are? Would it be OK to send it as a slightly longer manuscript, as long as I explain the reason in the letter to the editor? Or would they just reject as it is too long?
:-)

I'd send it off as it is, and not explain about the word limit and just see what they say. They'll probably come back to you and want some changes, so deal with it then.

Thanks Sue2604,

yes, perhaps it would be best to just send it, however my experience sofar is that it often takes several months before one gets feedback from a journal. I think it would be a pitty to send it and then to get a message back in 3 months time: Please reduce to 3000 words!

What was your experience regarding getting feedback?

======= Date Modified 12 Jul 2009 16:22:42 =======
Cut it down to 3,000 words - otherwise it may annoy the editor. Some publishers are very fussy about style guidelines.

Thanks Missspacey,

am trying, quite hard though, to cut and throw away material what you have written, and at the same time to keep the content the same. :-)