This Editorial is to clarify the requirements for submitting a Letter-to-the Editor (LTE) to the European Journal of Plant Pathology. The purpose of an LTE is to allow for critique of an original research paper that has been published previously in the European Journal of Plant Pathology. The critique must be written in an objective scientific way, avoiding polemical language. The LTE is not available for critique of a paper that has been published in another scientific journal. Once submitted, the LTE will be assigned to the Editor-in-Chief or relevant Associate Editor and reviewed by at least two independent reviewers in the normal way. If the LTE is accepted, the corresponding author of the paper subject to critique will be invited to submit a response, again written in an objective scientific way. The response must be made within an acceptable period of time, will normally be handled by the same Associate Editor and be reviewed. If accepted, the critique and the response will appear in the same issue of the journal. The response should not include new data that have been obtained since the publication of the original paper, although re-analysis of original data is permissible. If new data have subsequently been obtained then these should form the basis of a new research submission, not an LTE. Once the critique and the response have been published, no further correspondence on the matter will be considered by the Editor-in-Chief.