The Journal of School Nursing
2021, Vol. 37(2) 73-74
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/1059840521992186
journals.sagepub.com/home/jsn
The Journal of School Nursing aims and scope (JOSN, 2021) are described on the SAGE website:
The Journal of School Nursing is a bimonthly peer-reviewed forum for improving the health of school children and the health of the school community. The JOSN seeks to engage a broad range of clinicians, scholars, and community leaders in an ongoing exchange of information through scholarly articles, including original research, brief research reports, literature reviews, evidence-based innovations in clinical practice or policy, and letters to the editor.
The JOSN website identifies many topics that are suitable for publication. The JOSN is fortunate to have many research and literature review submissions for each issue on topics of interest to readers. Unfortunately, there are also categories for submission that receive few manuscripts—policy reports, quality improvement projects, and evidence-based change leadership initiatives. Original research and building on programs of research close gaps in the nursing knowledge that drives practice. However, JOSN should also be publishing articles that apply that evidence to practice and suggest the programs and implementation strategies that are most likely to improve the structure, process, and outcomes of care.
School nurses are on the front lines of health care in communities every day. They are bringing about innovations and practices that hold promise for improving care in schools for health promotion and illness prevention, for children with chronic conditions, for school communities, and for specific administration and leadership practices that improve quality school health services across regions, states, and the nation. The dissemination of those innovations and practices is a priority to accelerate the translation of evidence into practice. JOSN is the forum for publishing implementation science for the subspecialty.
The nurses who are leading change and advocating for policy change often have never written for publication before. Fortunately, there are resources to support them. There may be colleagues who have published and who will be willing to mentor novice writers through the process and read manuscript drafts. If colleagues have experience with the nurse’s clinical problem, innovation, or phenomenon, they may even be willing to coauthor a publication. With National Association of School Nurses (NASN) membership, members have online access to all the back issues of the NASN School Nurses and the JOSN to review the literature. Local librarians may be able to connect clients to a medical of health sciences library for accessing the literature or coordinate requests for articles via interlibrary loan. Nursing faculty members who have a publication record may also be willing to coauthor manuscripts with school nurses and guide them through the writing and submission process.
One of the first steps before preparing to publish an article is to investigate its suitability for the journal. Even before starting the manuscript, the potential author should locate the journal website and read the guidelines for authors. The nurse should specifically note the journal’s purpose, the audience, the types of manuscripts accepted, and the recommended manuscript length. It is important to review the literature on the subject to determine how the planned manuscript will fill a knowledge gap or build on what is already known. Each journal uses a specific publication style. JOSN uses the American Psychological Association (2020) publication style for its references and in-text citations. Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (2020) has excellent and easy-to-follow examples and explanations for applying APA style to manuscripts. By using the journal’s style when references are saved will save valuable time and prevent frustration prior to submitting the article.
The JOSN guidelines for authors explicitly describe the sections and content expected for the types of articles published: original research, brief research reports, literature reviews, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and policy reports. Those details provide the outline for the manuscript drafts.
Potential authors may email the editor a letter of inquiry to determine whether a manuscript idea is a good fit for JOSN. Starting in the spring 2021, “Meet the Editor” Zoom sessions will be held bimonthly to discuss future manuscripts with potential school nurse authors and experienced authors.
Advancing school nursing science depends on both research and other scholarly publications. I look forward to increased submissions of policy reports, quality improvement projects, and evidence-based implementation initiatives to the journal by school nurse leaders and clinical innovators.
Martha Dewey Bergren, DNS, RN, NCSN, PHNA-BC, FNASN, FASHA, FAAN
Editor, The Journal of School Nursing
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American psychological association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
Purdue University Online Writing Lab. (2020). APA style introduction. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_style_introduction.html