那剩下的那几篇完全没关系的文献怎么办？别急，大招在给编辑看的 Cover Letter 里。

记住，审稿人是看不到 Cover Letter 的，但出版社的编辑一般都是会认真去读。编辑其实比你更讨厌这种乱塞私货的行为，这种不仅影响期刊质量，万一被曝出来也影响期刊声誉。你要做的，就是表现得像个“受了委屈但依然顾全大局”的好学生。

你得在 Cover Letter 里加点料，按照我下面给出的方法来写：

一：给审稿人的“面子工程”

（放进 Response to Reviewers）

这部分的核心逻辑是：夸他的建议好，承认你学到了东西，然后“体面地”只引几篇。

Response: "Thank you very much for your thoughtful suggestions regarding the literature review. We have carefully studied the 15 references you recommended and found them highly enlightening. These works provided us with a broader perspective on [这里填你的研究领域].

Following your guidance, we have incorporated the most relevant studies (e.g., Refs. [X] and [Y]) into the revised manuscript to further strengthen our theoretical framework. We believe these additions have significantly improved the depth of our discussion. Thank you again for your constructive feedback."

编辑点评： 这里的核心词是 "highly enlightening"（极具启发性）。哪怕你心里觉得那是垃圾，嘴上也得这么说。最后强调“已经引了最相关的”，这就给了对方台阶下。

二、给编辑的“越级申诉”

（放进 Cover Letter，这才是保命的关键）

这部分审稿人看不见，所以你要表现出一种“为了维护学术严谨性而感到为难”的姿态。

Special Note in Cover Letter: "We would like to bring a specific matter to your attention regarding the feedback from Reviewer #[X]. In Question #[X], the reviewer suggested the inclusion of 15 specific references.

While we hold the reviewer’s expertise in high regard, after a thorough review of all 15 papers, we found that only a few (which we have already cited) are directly pertinent to the core scope of our manuscript. Many of the suggested references appear to have minimal correlation with our specific research focus.

To maintain the conciseness and original focus of our article, we have chosen not to cite all the suggested papers. We are concerned that excessive, unrelated citations might compromise the academic integrity and readability of the work. We sincerely hope the Editor can understand our decision and support us in prioritizing the quality of the manuscript over the quantity of citations."

编辑点评：

1. 用 "minimal correlation"（极低相关性） 委婉地告状：这人乱塞私货。

2. 祭出 "academic integrity"（学术诚信） 大旗：编辑最听不得这个词，一旦提出来，编辑就必须站在你这边。

3. 强调 "conciseness"（简洁性）：这是为了杂志的质量着想，编辑会觉得你是个懂行的作者。

为什么要这么改？

你想想看，如果你直接跟审稿人硬刚说“我不引”，他肯定要在二审的时候找茬。但如果你引用后在 Cover Letter 里跟编辑交了底，编辑就会意识到：“哦，这个审稿人在刷引用量，作者挺有原则的，我要盯紧点。”

这就叫“兵不厌诈”。

这种处理方式，既保全了对方的一点点虚荣心，又在规则范围内把这种不合理的诉求给挡回去了。