Nursing Resources at Baystate: Publishing Your Own Research

You are probably familiar with many nursing journals already, both general and specific to your field. Some of the more popular titles include American Journal of Nursing, Journal of Advanced Nursing, AORN, and JOGNN. In order to find a journal in which to publish your article, you have to determine:

1. If your topic of interest is typically published in that journal (e.g. patient safety issue, quality improvement project)
2. If that journal publishes the type of article you would like to submit (e.g. clinical study, case report, review article, editorial)
3. The specific details and guidelines for submission that authors must follow

One approach to finding this information is to go to the main web site of a journal that you are familiar with and browse through an issue or two. The best place to check for specific publishing information is a section typically called "For Authors" or "Author Guidelines." These pages will provide you with details on the type of articles that they accept, formatting guidelines, peer-review process, licensing restrictions, etc. 

Another method of finding a journal to publish your work in is to do a search for your topic in a database such as CINAHL, Scopus, PubMed, or Google Scholar. Browse through your results list to see what journal titles have published articles on your topic, and then go to the home page of those journals to get more information about submission guidelines. 

Questions? Contact one of the librarians for more information!

Following the many detailed rules required of each citation style can be challenging! Listed below are a few resources to provide some formatting guidance as you write your paper and create your reference list:

The Library & Knowledge Services has several books on writing and publishing. Listed below are a few examples; you can find each book by using the Call Number listed, or ask the librarian at the front desk for help!