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| EDITORIAL |
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| Year : 2021 | Volume
: 22
| Issue : 2 | Page : 107-108 |
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Publishing a nursing journal – What for?
Vinitha Ravindran
Department of CNE and Research, College of Nursing, CMC, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India
| Date of Web Publication | 31-Jan-2022 |
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Vinitha Ravindran
Department of CNE and Research, College of Nursing, CMC, Vellore, Tamil Nadu
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
DOI: 10.4103/ijcn.ijcn_123_21
How to cite this article:
Ravindran V. Publishing a nursing journal – What for?. Indian J Cont Nsg Edn 2021;22:107-8 |
IJCNE completed 20 years of its uninterrupted existence in 2020. The journal publication was initiated with a primary aim to provide a platform for nurses at different levels in India to share their knowledge and discuss current issues and trends in nursing. Further, it acts as an interface between theory and practice highlighting relevant current perspectives in nursing.
During the past years, many sections (student section, evidence-based practices, short communications) have been added to facilitate discussion on past and current issues, advances in health care at large, and in nursing particularly. We celebrate our insistence on double-blinded peer-review process and a rigorous editorial review practices both of which have been the strengths of the journal. However, the rigorous processes have also put a strain on the time lines for publication especially with all internal editorial members contributing to the journal in addition to their full load of academic and clinical responsibilities.
The thrust for getting indexed in a scientific platform for the past few years has been a driving force for venturing out of our comfort zones and exploring various possibilities for improving publication. As we work towards getting our journal indexed, I reflect on the then and now purpose of publishing this journal. IJCNE publication was initiated because at that time there was only one national journal of nursing published by the Trained Nurses' Association of India. Although it was accessible to all its members then, it was not possible for many nurses to publish in that one journal. The number of scientific articles published was also less. Further, accessibility to information on advances in nursing education, nursing practice, leadership, administration and research was scarce as journals published in other countries were expensive and not available in all nursing libraries. At the same instant, nationally, there was a high thrust for improving nursing knowledge and publications in nursing.
The birth of IJCNE provided a platform for nurses in India to learn more about current issues in nursing, nursing concepts and practices and also share their research work that would benefit nursing care practices in the country. Then, it was not about high visibility, citations, or impact factors but was more about sharing nursing knowledge, learning and motivating each other in nursing through continuing nursing education, providing an opportunity to improve professionalism through opportunities to ask critical questions that will promote research, and encourage nurses to share their work through scientific writing.
Over the years, with the thrust and need for authors to publish in an indexed journal, the focus of publishing has gradually turned towards getting accepted by prominent databases for peer-reviewed scientific articles. This focus has hiked the need for author diversity, impressive editorial board, more number of original research or review articles and higher rejection rates. These factors have further brought up the need for better visibility of the journal. The visibility thrust brought up the need for opting online portals and open access publishing. Publishing a journal, therefore, now has a twist to its original intentions and has introduced more demands to the publishing process.
Irrespective of the twist I am glad to say that we have not lost the primary intentions of publishing our journal. While the twist has brought in a need to look at priorities differently, it has also assisted us to move forward. As much as it is important to publish scholarly articles that promote evidence synthesis for practice, it is also important to publish concept and CE articles to share knowledge. Short communications and opinion papers are also vital to introduce discussions and reflections. We should not fall into the clutch of giving credit to articles which are cited more by other researchers but be aware of the knowledge needs of health care delivery and the clinical care services for patients.[1] Publications should not be only for citations but also for use in practice. What is used in practice may never be cited and therefore citation credits should not be the prime criteria for publishing articles in a journal. As we are taking difficult and painful steps towards indexing, I caution myself and our editorial team not to overcome by the “impact factor game” that is mentioned by Watson, Cleary and Hunt, 2013[2] that is taking over submission, selection and publication of manuscripts in many journals today but to continue to publish knowledge and practice relevant articles that are scientifically written which will ultimately improve the quality of patient care in various settings.
Rolfe G. Editorial: What are nursing journals for? J Adv Nurs 2019;75:495-6.
Watson R, Cleary M, Hunt GE. What gets highly cited in JAN? Can editors pick which articles will contribute to a journal's impact factor? J Adv Nurs 2013;69:e30-4.
| References | |  |
| 1. | Rolfe G. Editorial: What are nursing journals for? J Adv Nurs 2019;75:495-6.  |
| 2. | Watson R, Cleary M, Hunt GE. What gets highly cited in JAN? Can editors pick which articles will contribute to a journal's impact factor? J Adv Nurs 2013;69:e30-4. |
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