Justification statement for exceeding the maximum length of manuscript I am submitting a manuscript to a journal that specifies &quot;papers must not exceed 30 double-spaced manuscript pages, including all figures and tables.&quot; My manuscript has 37 pages. The journal asks to provide a justification statement if the manuscript exceeds the length limitations. Based on previous experience with the journal, one of my colleagues told that the journal is not too strict and generally considers papers that exceed the maximum specified length. Since I am submitting a manuscript to this journal for the first time, I am quite anxious. Please advise how I may justify the length of the manuscript.
Assuming it is true, I'd say that I'd made a good faith effort to keep it to the limits, considering whether any of the material was extraneous, but it is still at 37 pages.
But also add that you would welcome advice from reviewers including advice on reducing the length.
I doubt that a detailed technical statement will get the result you want, since the editor may not be able to evaluate what you say since that is more the job of reviewers.
Some papers can also be split into two, of course. Perhaps you have considered that already. Not all, of course, but it is worth a look.