Revised as of January 14, 2009

The Editor welcomes manuscripts of relevance and interest to research in nursing. It is advisable to precede submission (see "Initial Online Manuscript Submission" below) with an email message of inquiry to the Editor at m_dougherty@unc.edu, including an attached abstract of the manuscript. Queries allow the Editor to indicate interest in, and give developmental advice on, manuscript topics. Click m_dougherty@unc.edu to send a query letter via this website.

Initial Online Manuscript Submission Manuscripts must be submitted electronically through our Web-based Editorial Manager system. Go to http://nres.edmgr.com. Once registered as an author, logon, and select "Submit A New Manuscript." You will then:

1. Enter the title of your manuscript.

2. Select an "article type" from the drop down menu.

3. Add information about the author(s) of the paper.

4. From your manuscript file, copy and paste the abstract only into the dialogue box.

5. Enter a few key words that describe your manuscript's content.

6. Select your document's classifications from a list of possible content descriptors. Make sure you first select the main heading you want, then select various sub-topics within that main heading.

7. Enter your comments to the editor in a dialogue box, mentioning any prior query you may have had with the editor, URLs or citations of other publications or manuscripts that are derived from the same dataset or examine the same topic.

8. Attach your various individual files containing elements of your entire manuscript. No file should contain information found in any other file:

• One-page Word file - Title/author bio page
• Word file containing text of manuscript, starting with the abstract and ending with the references
• add many individual files as necessary, each containing 1 table or figure.

When all files are attached, the system will prompt you to complete a process that will submit your manuscript to the editorial office.

You will receive an e-mail to let you know the journal office received your manuscript. After the review process, you will receive an e-mail letting you know the final disposition of the manuscript.

You may check the status of your manuscript at any time by logging in at http://nres.edmgr.com. Select "Submissions Being Processed."

Revised Submission

Editorial Purposes

The editorial purposes of Nursing Research are to: report research, both completed and that which is in progress, that contributes to the knowledge base of the discipline of nursing and that provides a better understanding of human responses to illness and the promotion of health; serve an educational function through presenting reports and critiques of methodology and research design; and serve as a medium for the stimulation of ideas and exchange of information about nursing research and practice. Selection of articles for publication is based on their contribution to knowledge, value of method, significance of findings, and relevance to contemporary nursing.

Journal Categories

Regular Articles are original manuscripts which report completed research.

Brief Reports feature limited, critical studies; cutting edge ideas; well-done pilot studies; or studies with limited samples but important results.

Methodology articles describe innovative aspects of the research process. Prepare a structured abstract with the following sections: Background, Approach, Results and Discussion.

Letters to the Editor should be less than 450 words. They should be e-mailed to Sherry Handfinger at handfing@email.unc.edu, and not uploaded to Editorial Manager. Authors of articles referenced in the letter will be given a chance to respond.

General Information

Compliance with NIH and Other Research Funding Agency Accessibility Requirements. A number of research funding agencies now require or request authors to submit the post-print (the article after peer review and acceptance but not the final published article) to a repository that is accessible online by all without charge. As a service to our authors, LWW will identify to the National Library of Medicine (NLM) articles that require deposit and will transmit the post-print of an article based on research funded in whole or in part by the National Institutes of Health, Wellcome Trust, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, or other funding agencies to PubMed Central. The revised Copyright Transfer Agreement provides the mechanism.

It is understood that submitted manuscripts are prepared specifically and solely for Nursing Research. Accepted manuscripts become the property of the publisher and may be reproduced in other publications in whole or in part only with the permission of the publisher. The publisher has exclusive rights to the article and to its reproduction and sale in all countries.

Nursing Research reserves the right to edit all manuscripts for style and space requirements, and to clarify the presentation. Before publication, proofs of edited copy are submitted electronically to the corresponding author who is responsible for checking the accuracy of the material. At this time, authors may order reprints via the electronic reprint order form.

General Instructions

Prepare manuscripts according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th Edition). Do not attempt to prepare manuscripts as they appear in the journal.

Please refer to page 6 (Section 1.03) of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.) for co-authorship guidance. It should not be possible for reviewers to identify authors from the manuscript (see Anonymous Review below).

Full-length manuscripts are limited to 14-16 typewritten pages; Brief Reports and Methodology are limited to 8 pages. These limits do not include the abstract, references, tables, or figures. Double-space manuscripts — including abstract, text, references, and tables — with 1-inch margins on all sides. Use a 12-point font. Do not justify the text.

If your work is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design, please refer to http://www.consort-statement.org for further instructions. Authors are requested to include this information within RCT articles. To facilitate future meta-analyses (see Anderson and Beck [2003], Facilitating meta-analysis in nursing, Nursing Research, 52, 1), the Nursing Research Editor's Web site http://www.nursing-research-editor.com provides the opportunity for authors to post detailed supplemental analyses not included in their published article.

Nursing Research is concerned with the protection of the rights and dignity of all subjects involved in research. An explicit statement should be made in the manuscript or cover letter affirming the status of human or animal subjects institutional review.

Permissions: The author must request permission for the use of material owned by others such as copyrighted material: tables, charts, forms, and figures. All letters of permission should be submitted with the manuscript. If aspects of the research are reported elsewhere, include a copy of the publication(s).

Organization of the Manuscript

Organize the manuscript in the following order: title page, acknowledgments, abstract, text, references, tables, figure legends, and figures. Generally, addenda or appendices are not used.

Title Page: Include job titles, professional letters, institutions for each author, and any disclosure of funding received for this work from any of the following organizations: National Institutes of Health (NIH); Wellcome Trust; Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI); and other(s). Indicate an email address for the corresponding author.

Acknowledgments: Limit acknowledgments to key contributors.

Abstract: Prepare a structured abstract with these headings. The abstract should be no more than one double-spaced page, with no citations.

Background: Summarize the literature review in one sentence, demonstrating the need for this study.

Objectives: Clearly state the main question or hypothesis of this study in one sentence.

Method: Describe the study design, participants, and measurements used in 3-4 sentences.

Results: Describe the main results in a concise paragraph. This section should be the most descriptive. Note levels of statistical significance and confidence intervals where appropriate.

Discussion: Base the discussion only on the reported results. Describe any further study needed.

Key Words: The indexers use MESH guidelines to index articles. Provide 2-3 key words; be very specific in your word choice. Use MESH key words http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html when possible.

Text: No more than four citations should be used to support a single idea. Avoid citation of personal communications or unpublished material.

References: Verify all information included in references carefully via PubMed or CINAHL; it is essential that readers be able to look up the cited material. Please include no more than 40 references.

Tables/Figures: Tables and figures are printed only when they express more than can be done by words in the same amount of space. Do not indicate placement of tables or figures in the text—the copy editor will automatically place your tables and figures.

Four Steps for Submitting Artwork

a. Click “For Authors” and go to the Artwork tab.

b. Here you will also find specific Digital-Imaging Software Instructions to help support your efforts to create perfect images the first time.

Digital Artwork Guideline Checklist

Here are the basics to have in place before submitting your digital art to Nursing Research.

• Artwork saved as TIFF and EPS files. Do not save TIFFs as compressed files.
• Artwork created as the actual size (or slightly larger) it will appear in the journal. (To get an idea of the size images should be when they print, study a copy of the journal to which you wish to submit. Measure the artwork typically shown and scale your image to match.)
• Crop out any white or black space surrounding the image.
• Text and fonts in any figure are one of the acceptable fonts: Helvetica, Times Roman, Symbol, Mathematical PI, and European PI.
• Color images are created/scanned and saved and submitted as CMYK only. Do not submit any figures in RGB mode because RGB is the color mode used for screens/monitors and CMYK is the color mode used for print.
• Line art saved at a resolution of at least 1200 dpi.
• Images saved at a resolution of at least 300 dpi.
• Each figure saved as a separate file and saved separately from the accompanying text file.
• For multi-panel or composite figures only: Any figure with multiple parts should be sent as one file with each part labeled the way it is to appear in print.

Remember:

• Artwork generated from office suite programs such as CorelDRAW, MS Word, Excel, and artwork downloaded from the Internet (JPEG or GIF files) cannot be used because the quality is poor when printed.
• Cite figures consecutively in your manuscript.
• Number figures in the figure legend in the order in which they are discussed.
• Upload figures consecutively to the Editorial Manager web site and number figures consecutively in the Description box during upload.
• All electronic art that cannot be successfully uploaded must be submitted on a 3 1/2-inch high-density disk, a CD-ROM, or an Iomega Zip disk, accompanied by high-resolution laser prints of each image.

Anonymous Review

Manuscripts are reviewed anonymously by members of an expert panel. The decision with regard to publication is based on the reviews. Authors should not identify themselves or their institutions in the manuscript other than on the title page, which is removed before review.

Open Manuscript Review

Nursing Research supports limited open peer review by posting information on the peer review of some published manuscripts, which allows examination of (a) peer reviews, (b) how manuscripts are revised based on them, and (c) the contribution of the editorial office. The originally submitted manuscript is posted along with the reviews and other pertinent correspondence on this Web site click here only when all authors grant permission.