The International Journal of Nursing Studies provides a forum for publication of scholarly papers
that report research findings, research-based reviews, discussion papers and commentaries which are of interest to an international readership
of practitioners, educators, administrators and researchers in all areas of nursing, midwifery and the caring sciences.
Papers should
highlight their contribution to the theoretical or knowledge base of the discipline.
Papers should have an international dimension
and those which focus on a single country should identify how the material presented might be relevant to a wider audience.
Selection
of papers for publication is based on their contribution to knowledge (including methodological development) and their importance and
relevance to contemporary nursing, midwifery or related professions.
TYPES OF PAPERS CONSIDERED FOR PUBLICATION
The
IJNS publishes papers under four main categories:
Editorials
Generally editorials are commissioned but authors who have
ideas for editorials which address issues of substantive concern to the discipline which can be linked to material published in the journal,
should contact the Editor in Chief. Editorials are typically short (200 words maximum) although there are no fixed limits.
Original
Research
• Full papers reporting original research can be a maximum of 7000 words in length, although shorter papers are
preferred.
• Short reports of up to 1,200 words and 5 references, reporting the development of a scale and including a copy of
the full scale so it can be published in full. If authors wish to retain copyright - they can do this by simply marking it as copyright
to them / their institution and saying it is reproduced with permission.
• Protocols of controlled intervention studies and systematic
reviews of up to 2,500 words. Authors should make a case for publication of the protocol in which they should state the trial registration
number (if any) and when the findings are due to be reported.
Reviews and Discussion Papers (up to 7000 words) • Reviews, including:
- systematic reviews, which address focussed practice questions;
- literature reviews, which provide
a thorough analysis of the literature on a broad topic;
- policy reviews, i.e. reviews of published literature and policy documents
which inform nursing practice, the organisation of nursing services, or the education and preparation of nurses and/or midwives;
• Book Review Articles, i.e. papers which provide a critical discussion of an aspect of nursing with reference to two
or more recent publications on a similar topic. The Editor-in-Chief welcomes proposals for book review articles, and may also commission
them.
• Discussion Papers, i.e. scholarly articles of a debating or discursive nature.
Commentaries
•Designed to stimulate academic debate and discussion the Editor invites readers to submit commentaries or short comments on papers
published in the IJNS. •Contributions that are of general interest, stimulating and meet the standards of scholarship associated
with the Journal may be selected for publication in a commentary section or as a standalone contribution. •Contributions should
be submitted as 'commentaries' (up to 1500 words) in the usual way.
SUBMISSION PROCEDURE
Authors should submit to the journal
online via the journal's home page or at http://ees.elsevier.com/ijns/. The paper can be submitted directly to the online
editorial system by following the link to 'submit paper' or via the link to the 'author gateway', which provides access to enhanced facilities
to track your paper through the production process. You will be guided through the creation and uploading of the various files. Once
the uploading is done, the system automatically generates an electronic (PDF) proof, which is then used for reviewing. All correspondence,
including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revisions, will be by e-mail.
Any author who is unable to submit
online for good reason should contact the editorial office in the first instance for advice, Stephanie.waller@kcl.ac.uk
Submission of a paper implies that it has not been published previously, that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere,
and that if accepted it will not be published elsewhere, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the publisher.
Review Process
All papers accepted for publication undergo a double blind peer review by at least two reviewers. Initially
all papers are assessed by an editorial committee. Papers which are unlikely to be published irrespective of a positive peer review,
for example because their novel contribution is insufficient or the relevance to the discipline is unclear, may be rejected at this point
in order to avoid delays to authors who may wish to seek publication elsewhere. Occasionally a paper will be returned to the author with
requests for revisions at this point in order to assist the editors in deciding whether or not send it out for review. Authors can expect
a decision on this stage of the review process within 2-3 weeks of submission. Manuscripts going forward to the review process are double-blind
peer reviewed by members of an international expert panel. We aim to complete this process within 8 weeks of the decision to review although
occasionally delays do happen and authors should allow at least 12 weeks before contacting the journal. The decision with regard to publication
is based on the reviews and editorial assessment of priority for publication. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to the final decision
regarding acceptance.
Role of the
funding source
You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation
of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation
of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such
involvement then this should be stated. Please see http://www.elsevier.com/funding
Contributors
Each author
is required to declare his or her individual contribution to the article: all authors must have materially participated in the research
and/or article preparation, so roles for all authors should be described. The statement that all authors have approved the final article
should be true and included in the disclosure.
Conflict of interest
All authors are requested to disclose any actual or
potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three
years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. See also http://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest
Acknowledgements
List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing
assistance or proofreading the article, etc.).
English Language Service: We expect that all papers will be presented with
a reasonable standard of English language. Papers which do not meet this standard are unlikely to be sent out to review and authors should
take great care in proof reading and checking their manuscript. Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting
services pre- and post-submission please visit to:http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorshome.authors/languagepolishing
or contact authorsupport@elsevier.com for more information. Please note Elsevier neither endorses nor takes responsibility
for any products, goods or services offered by outside vendors through our services or in any advertising. For more information please
refer to our Terms and Conditions http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/termsconditions.cws_home/termsconditions
PREPARATION
OF THE MANUSCRIPT General instructions: Submitted papers should be relevant to an international audience and authors should
not assume knowledge of national practices, policies, law, etc. Manuscripts must be typewritten, double-spaced with wide margins on one
side of white paper. Authors should not identify themselves or their institutions in the manuscript other than on the title page, which
is removed before review. For hard copy good quality printouts with a font size of 12 or 10 pt are required. Authors should consult a
recent issue of the journal for style if possible. Since the journal is distributed all over the world, and as English is a second language
for many readers, authors are requested to write in plain English and use terminology which is internationally acceptable.
The Editor-in-Chief
reserves the right to adjust the style to ensure certain standards of uniformity.
Paper length: Our experience suggests that
all things being equal, readers find shorter papers more useful than longer ones. Given this, and competition for space in the Journal,
shorter papers of between 2,000 and 3,500 words are preferred. However, full papers may be up to 7,000 words in length, plus tables,
figures, and references. There should be no more than five tables and figures in total. Ordinarily there should be no appendices although
in the case of papers reporting tool development or the use of novel questionnaires it is usual to include a copy of the tool as an appendix.
Authors of any manuscripts, which do not comply with these restrictions, should make preliminary enquiry to the Editor-in-Chief before
submitting the manuscript.
ORGANISATION OF THE MANUSCRIPT: Organise the manuscript in the following order: title page, acknowledgments,
abstract, text, references, tables, figure legends, figures, appendix. Please number the pages of your manuscript.
Title:
The title of a paper should indicate its subject and where relevant the population, clinical problem and its method of enquiry.
If
the paper is a review or a discussion paper, this should be indicated in the title; e.g. 'Nurse led units: a systematic review', 'Patient
empowerment: a literature review', 'Phenomenology for nursing research: a methodological review', 'UK guidelines for treatment of depression:
a policy review', 'Can patient satisfaction be reliably measured? A discussion paper'.
For research papers the research design adopted
should be indicated; e.g. 'The effectiveness of nurse led units: a randomised controlled trial', 'Coping with chronic pain: an ethnography',
'Communication barriers perceived by older patients and by nurses: a questionnaire survey', 'The psychometric properties of the Pain
and Stress Scale: scale development'.
Title page: Include full name, job title, highest academic and professional
qualification and institution for each author. Indicate an e-mail address for the corresponding author.
Acknowledgment:
Limit acknowledgment to key contributors.
Abstract: Prepare a structured abstract. Abstracts should be less than
400 words, and should not include references or abbreviations.
Abstracts of research papers should adopt the following headings,
where possible: Background; Objectives; Design; Settings (do not specify actual centres, but give the number and types of centre
and geographical location if important); Participants (details of how selected, inclusion and exclusion criteria, numbers entering
and leaving the study, relevant clinical and demographic characteristics); Methods; Results, report main outcome(s) / findings
including (where relevant) levels of statistical significance and confidence intervals; and Conclusions, which should relate
to study aims and hypotheses.
Abstracts for reviews should provide a summary under the following headings, where possible: Objectives, Design, Data sources, Review methods, Results, Conclusions. .
Abstracts for book review articles
and discussion papers should provide a concise summary of the line of argument pursued and conclusions. A structured format
is not essential.
Key Words: Provide between two and six key words in alphabetical order, which accurately identify
the paper's subject, purpose, method and focus. Use the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH®) thesaurus or Cumulative Index to Nursing
and Allied Health (CINAHL) headings where possible (see http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html).
Statements
of: •What is already known about the topic? •What this paper adds?
Required
for all papers (with the exception of Commentaries) is a clear summary statement of 'What is already known about the topic?'
and 'What this paper adds'. This should be included before the Introduction. Under each of these headings, please provide clear
OUTCOME statements in the form of two or three bullet points for each, NOT process statements of what the paper does.
eg.
This review demonstrates that nurse-led intermediate care reduces hospital stay but increases total inpatient stay
NOT
This review
considers the impact of nurse-led intermeidate care on acute stay and total inpatient stay.
Text: No more than three
references should be used to support a single idea. Avoid citation of personal communications or unpublished material.
References:
Verify all information included in references carefully using electronic databases where possible; it is important that readers are able
to look up the cited material.
Tables/Figures: Tables and figures are printed only when they express more than can
be done by words in the same amount of space. Indicate suggested placement of tables or figures in the text. Tables should be numbered
consecutively and given a suitable caption and each table typed on a separate sheet.
Abbreviations: Avoid abbreviations
wherever possible. Any abbreviations which the authors intend to use should be written out in full and followed by the letters in brackets
the first time they appear, thereafter only the letters without brackets should be used.
Statistics: Standard methods
of presenting statistical material should be used. Where methods used are not widely recognised explanation and full reference to widely
accessible sources must be given.
Informed consent: Where applicable authors should confirm that informed consent
was obtained from human subjects and that ethical clearance was obtained from the appropriate authority.
Permissions:
Permission to reproduce previously published material must be obtained in writing from the copyright holder (usually the publisher) and
acknowledged in the manuscript.
Questionnaires: Questionnaires and assessment schedules used in research studies
that are not established and well known should be included as an appendix.
References: All publications cited in
the text should be presented in a list of references following the text of the manuscript. In the text refer to the author's name (without
initials) and year of publication (e.g. "Since Peterson (1993) has shown that?" or "This finding is supported by results obtained later
(Kramer, 1994)"). For three or more authors use the first author followed by "et al.", in the text. The list of references should be
arranged alphabetically by authors' names. The manuscript should be carefully checked to ensure that the spelling of authors' names and
dates are exactly the same in the text as in the reference list.
References should be given in the following form:
Arthur, D.,
Sohng, K.Y., Noh, C.H., Kim, S., 1998. The professional self concept of Korean hospital nurses. International Journal of Nursing Studies
35 (3), 155-162.
Barnes, B., Bloor, D., 1982. Relativism, rationalism and the sociology of knowledge. In: Hollis, M., Lukes, S. (Eds.),
Rationality and Relativism. Basil Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 21-47.
Dijkstra, A., Buist, G., Dassen, Th.W.N., 1996. Nursing-care dependency:
development and psychometric testing of the NCD-scale for demented and mentally handicapped in-patients. In: Proceedings of the 8th Biennial
Conference of the WENR, Research on Nursing throughout the Lifespan, vol. 1. Ekblad & Co, Vastervik, pp. 117-126.
Gower, B.,
1997. Scientific method: an historical and philosophical introduction. Routledge, London.
Preparation of electronic illustrations
Submitting your artwork in an electronic format helps us to produce your work to the best possible standards, ensuring accuracy, clarity
and a high level of detail.
General points •Always supply high-quality printouts of your artwork, in case conversion of
the electronic artwork is problematic. •Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork. •Save
text in illustrations as graphics or enclose the font. •Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier,
Helvetica, Times, Symbol. •Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text. •Use a logical naming
convention for your artwork files, and supply a separate listing of the files and the software used. •Provide captions to illustrations
separately. •Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
Non-electronic illustrations
Provide all illustrations as high-quality printouts, suitable for reproduction (which may include reduction) without retouching. Number
illustrations consecutively in the order in which they are referred to in the text. They should accompany the manuscript, but should
not be included within the text. Clearly mark all illustrations on the back (or in case of line drawings on the lower front side)
with the figure number and the author s name and, in cases of ambiguity, the correct orientation.
Mark the appropriate position
of a figure in the article.
CONSIDERATIONS SPECIFIC TO TYPES OF RESEARCH DESIGNS
Reviews: All review articles should include sufficient
clarity of method of identifying and selecting material to allow readers to appreciate the scope of material included and excluded from
the review. In general they should describe the search strategy in terms of databases, search terms and data parameters and inclusion
and exclusion criteria for the papers.
If you are submitting a systematic review please follow the recommendations of the Meta-analysis
Of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) group. See the original article (JAMA 2000; 283:2008-2012) or http://www.consort-statement.org/Initiatives/MOOSE/moose.pdf
for the current MOOSE guidelines and checklist. Reports of reviews that include only randomized controlled trials should also follow
the recommendations of the Quality Of Reporting Of Meta-analyses (QUOROM) statement. See the original article (Lancet 1999; 354:1896-1900)
or
http://www.consort-statement.org/QUOROM.pdf for the current QUOROM guidelines and checklist. All reports should include
a flow diagram of study inclusion and exclusion and the abstract headings (Objectives, Data Sources, Review Methods, Results, Conclusions)
as described in the QUORUM guidelines.
Randomised controlled trials: Reports of randomized, controlled trials should
follow the recommendations of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement. See http://www.consort-statement.org/statement/revisedstatement.htm
for the current CONSORT guidelines and checklist.
Non-randomized interventions: Reports of non-randomized educational,
behavioral, and public health interventions should follow the recommendations of the Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Non-randomized
Designs (TREND) statement. See the original article (Am J Public Health 2004; 94:361-366) or http://www.trend-statement.org/.
Studies of the accuracy and use of diagnostic tests: Reports of studies of the accuracy and use of diagnostic tests
should follow the recommendations of the Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy (STARD) statement. See the original article (Ann
Intern Med 2003; 138:W1-12) or http://www.consort-statement.org/Initiatives/complements.htm
If you
are re-submitting a paper that has been revised please include a covering email or letter which provides a detailed account of how you
have responded to editorial and peer review comments and other guidance you may have received. Where suggestions have not been followed
you must explain and justify your decision. This should include specific reference by section / page / paragraph number to alterations
in the text.
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AUTHOR SERVICES Proofs
Proofs will be sent to the author (first named author if no corresponding author
is identified of multi-authored papers) and should be returned within 48 hours of receipt. Corrections should be restricted to typesetting
errors; any others may be charged to the author. Any queries should be answered in full. Please note that authors are urged to check
their proofs carefully before return, since the inclusion of late corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofs are to be returned to the
Log-in Department, Elsevier, Stover Court, Bampfylde Street, Exeter, Devon EX1 2AH, UK.
Offprints
Twenty-five
offprints will be supplied free of charge. Additional offprints and copies of the issue can be ordered at a specially reduced rate using
the order form sent to the corresponding author after the manuscript has been accepted. Orders for reprints (produced after publication
of an article) will incur a 50% surcharge.
Copyright
All authors must sign the "Transfer of Copyright" agreement
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without the author relinquishing his/her proprietary rights. The copyright transfer covers the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute
the article, including reprints, photographic reproductions, microfilm or any other reproductions of a similar nature, and translations.
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publication in machine-readable form and incorporation in retrieval systems. Authors are responsible for ob3aining from the copyright
holder permission to reproduce any material for which copyright already exists.
Queries For queries relating to the
general submission of manuscripts (including electronic text and artwork) and the status of accepted manuscripts, please contact authorsupport@elsevier.com.
Authors can also keep a track of the progress of their accepted article through http://authors.elsevier.com/TrackPaper.html.
