Be picky about your journal: What is the way to actually choose the right journal for your paper. Well, the most important thing is that, you need to be able recognize somebody on the editorial board. To add to it, check into the recent articles in the paper to ensure that the topic, quality and impact of your paper matches with the standard that is maintained by the paper.
Adhere to the submission procedure: All it needs is 10 minutes of dedicated reading of the guidelines submitted to the authors for paper submission. If you do not read them, it prolongs the procedure and wastes a lot of time at both the ends
The cover letter should not duplicate the abstract: There is no need to duplicate the abstract in the cover letter. The cover letter should sufficiently indicate the reasons for which the paper is interesting and has significant findings. It should be a larger picture and not the more detailed information that is more relevant for an abstract.
Identify the knowledge gaps addressed and highlight them: Most of the good journals would reject papers due to the lack of context. Your research should sit within the wider scholarly landscape lest it becomes a reason for the rejection of your paper
Don’t claim ethnography unless it is there: Ethnography is the trend being followed and a lot of papers being submitted into good journals are found to be based on it. Surprisingly, upon a closer perspective, one figure out that the data is quite contained with limited interviews. This kind of submission often becomes a reason for paper rejection. Similarly, the theoretical concepts, if necessary, should be used consistently throughout the data. This adds more relevance and authenticity in the paper rather than bigger claims with limited justified content inside which cannot be linked together.