The Director

Articles in this category usually present results of original research undertaken by the author. Authors must include a structured abstract not to exceed 250 words. Structured abstracts should include Background, Methods, Results (including some data), and Conclusions. The maximum length is 6,000 words, including references, tables, photographs, and figures. The abstract and title page are not included in this word count. Articles that report original research should include the following headings as appropriate: Background (literature), Methods (design, data collection and analysis), Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Limitations, and Recommendations for Practice. Qualitative studies are also encouraged and should adhere to the above research guidelines as appropriate. Research articles that involved human participants require Internal Review Board (IRB) approval to be considered for publication. This should be noted in the “methods” section.

Review articles collate and summarize the available information about a particular topic. Qualitative and quantitative literature reviews on any area of research relevant to the practice involving the nursing role and its contributions to the field are welcomed. Authors are advised to specify the methodology clearly (e.g., overall approach, literature search strategies, data analysis). Authors should include a structured abstract not to exceed 250 words. The main text should be structured as follows: Introduction, Aims, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, and Relevance to Clinical Practice.

Clinical articles present new skills or knowledge related to the impact of the nursing leader/professional and patient care, provide an empirically or clinically based review or analyze current literature related to a topic. Clinical manuscripts may review new procedures or new products.

Clinical articles can also include quality improvement (QI) projects that describe a project that was carried out at the author’s place of employment. The results of QI projects are not considered research manuscripts. However, QI projects should include evidence of Institutional Review Board (IRB) review if human participants were involved and should adhere to accepted scientific standards for data collection, including evidence of measurement reliability and validity.

Case studies are detailed descriptions of the management of a unique clinical case problem. The description of the case includes but is not limited to the relevant patient characteristics, examination/ evaluation, diagnosis, and a description of the interventions that were provided.