Academics in nursing and midwifery?

[fireHC11]

Are you an academic, that has published in any of these kinds of journals, and could give me some advice?

Journal of Advanced Nursing
Birth
Midwifery
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing
etc.

I've written a paper more in this area, but I'm in a much more technical field. What I need is some proof reading (in terms of what's expected in a paper in this field) and advice on where and how to submit.

Please send a PM if you can help.

Thanks in advance!

[kate3]

I have published extensively (and in some of those journals). I have a PhD in nursing and work in academia.
I will give you some quick and general tips:

Pick your journal wisely. Know the journal's mission and also the author guidelines (style, word count, submission type, etc.). Also know if it is an international, interdisciplinary, nursing, or medical journal. This will affect style and audience. Some journals only take research articles, some take clinical submissions, and some will take a theory or policy paper.

After you have a targeted journal in mind, you should go back 1-2 years and see if they have published on a similar topic. If they have, it's more likely your manuscript will be less interesting. Sending a query letter and abstract to the editor is also a possibility.

Research can often go anywhere. Clinical articles can be a tougher fit, especially for a high impact journal. Also, have at least 2 other people with publishing experience read your manuscript before submission. Their feedback will be invaluable.

Happy writing and good luck.

[fireHC11]

Thanks, Kate.

Unfortunately, none of these journals are within my primary, secondary, or even tertiary line of research, so I am largely unfamiliar with even which journals exist and what options there are for a student author with limited experience.

You are right, I need to spend some time researching each journal and finding the right hierarchy for my contribution (that is, submit to journal A, and upon rejection, try journal B, etc.). However, with the limited information I have, this could be a painful and lengthy process of trial and error --- hence my appeal to the Mothering forum for a gentle prod in the right direction () and some help figuring out the style of this kind of submission. My advisor is also at a loss, and we do not have a nursing nor med school program at my university from which to draw ...erm... volunteer collaborators.

Anyway, I appreciate your advice, and I will certainly do as you say. I wanted to clarify that I know how to submit in general, elsewhere, but not in this field.

I have added emoticons for extra friendliness. I've been writing too many papers so this post kind of reads like an abstract --- sorry!

[kate3]

If nursing or medicine is not your field, I would find someone in either of those professions to look at your work, even if you need to contact someone outside of your university. Nursing journals structure their research articles differently than medicine. Nursing almost exclusively uses APA format while medicine uses AMA. And that's only one of the many differences.

The review process for all of the journals you mentioned is very rigorous and most only accept about ~ 20% of submissions. If you do go with any of those journals, make sure your stats and methods are solid. Separate reviewers for the statistical analysis portion of your manuscript is common and if there is any question on how you arrived at your results, it's pretty much an automatic rejection.

Again, good luck!

[fireHC11]

Originally Posted by kate3

If nursing or medicine is not your field, I would find someone in either of those professions to look at your work, even if you need to contact someone outside of your university.

Aha! That is exactly the reason I started this thread --- to find mamas that can help me out.

Thanks for all of your advice. I think I may have found such a mama through PMs. :-)