Journal of Clinical Nursing AUTHOR GUIDELINES

March 2023

1. GENERAL SUBMISSION INFORMATION

2. ARTICLE TYPES

3. PARTS OF THE SUBMISSION

4. SPECIAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

5. FILES TO SUBMIT SEPARATELY

6. PEER REVIEW PROCESS

7. APPEALS AND COMPLAINTS

8. AFTER ACCEPTANCE

9. Appendix

GENERAL SUBMISSION INFORMATION

We are delighted you are choosing to submit to Journal of Clinical Nursing. While we cannot provide any assurance of acceptance, we can say that following all of the following guidelines very carefully and asking any questions you might have along the way to this email address: [email protected] might go a long way towards facilitating a favourable outcome for your submission.

Please do not submit your paper to the Journal if it is not relevant to nurses, nursing, and the topics that nurses are involved with and care about.

• Once all of your submission materials have been prepared in accordance with these Author Guidelines, manuscripts should be submitted online at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/JCN
• You will be asked to complete a submission form as part of the process and these author guidelines may be helpful to refer to as you do so.
• For help with submissions, contact: [email protected]
• This journal does not charge submission fees. If you choose to publish your paper Open Access, you will be asked to pay an Article Publication Charge.

Statistical Guidelines

Click here to read Statistical Guidelines.


Article Preparation Support

Wiley Editing Services offers expert help with English Language Editing, as well as translation, manuscript formatting, figure illustration, figure formatting, and graphical abstract design – so you can submit your manuscript with confidence.

Also, check out our resources for Preparing Your Article for general guidance about writing and preparing your manuscript.

 

Free format submission

Journal of Clinical Nursing now offers Free Format submission for a simplified and streamlined submission process.

Before you submit, you will need:

• Your manuscript: this should be an editable file including text, figures, and tables, or separate files—whichever you prefer. All required sections should be contained in your manuscript, including abstract, introduction, methods, results, and conclusions. Figures and tables should have legends. Figures should be uploaded in the highest resolution possible. If the figures are not of sufficiently high quality your manuscript may be delayed. References may be submitted in any style or format, as long as it is consistent throughout the manuscript. Supporting information should be submitted in separate files. If the manuscript, figures or tables are difficult for you to read, they will also be difficult for the editors and reviewers, and the editorial office will send it back to you for revision. Your manuscript may also be sent back to you for revision if the quality of English language is poor. During revision, please upload the latest version only.
• An ORCID ID, freely available at https://orcid.org.

 

Please see the details below on what to include in your title page and main document. Your manuscript may be returned to you if you do not submit all of the required information.

Important: the journal operates a double-blind peer review policy. Please anonymize your manuscript and supply a separate title page file.

To submit, login at https://wiley.atyponrex.com/journal/JOCN and create a new submission. Follow the submission steps as required and submit the manuscript. For technical help with the submission system, please review our FAQs or contact [email protected].

 

Open Access:

This is a subscription journal that offers an open access option. You’ll have the option to choose to make your article open access after acceptance, which will be subject to an Article Publication Charge (APC), unless a waiver applies. Details about the journal's APC are available here. For more general information about APCs, click here.

 

Preprint Policy:
Find the Wiley preprint policy here. The Journal of Clinical Nursing accepts articles previously published on preprint servers. You may also post the submitted version of a manuscript to a preprint server at any time. You are requested to update any pre-publication versions with a link to the final published article.

This Journal operates a double-blind peer review process. Authors are responsible for anonymizing their manuscript in order to remain anonymous to the reviewers throughout the peer review process (see Main Text File). Since the journal also encourages posting of preprints, however, note that if authors share their manuscript in preprint form this may compromise their anonymity during peer review.

Data Sharing and Data Availability
The Journal encourages data sharing. Review Wiley’s Data Sharing policy where you will be able to see and select the data availability statement that is right for your submission.

Data Citation
Review Wiley’s Data Citation policy.

Data Protection
By submitting a manuscript to or reviewing for this publication, your name, email address, and affiliation, and other contact details the publication might require, will be used for the regular operations of the publication. review Wiley’s Data Protection Policy to learn more.

Authorship
All listed authors are to have contributed to the manuscript substantially, agreed to the order in which the author names appear, and agreed to the final submitted version. Review Wiley’s editorial standards and see the ICJME description of authorship criteria.

ORCID
This journal requires ORCID. refer to Wiley’s resources on ORCID.

Reference Style
This journal uses American Psychological Association (APA) Reference Style; as the journal offers Free Format submission, however, this is for information only and you do not need to format the references in your article. This will instead be taken care of by the typesetter. All references must be in publications available in English.

Reproduction of Copyright Material
If excerpts from copyrighted works owned by third parties are included, credit must be shown in the contribution. It is your responsibility to also obtain written permission for reproduction from the copyright owners. For more information visit Wiley’s Copyright Terms & Conditions FAQs.

ARTICLE TYPES

Carefully review the types of articles the Journal considers for publication in the chart below and all of the guidelines included throughout. You will be asked to select an article type when you enter your submission into Research Exchange (our submission management system). Contact the editorial office ([email protected]) if you have any questions.

 

ARTICLE TYPE	BRIEF DESCRIPTION	WORD LIMIT	FIGURES AND TABLES	REFERENCES
RESEARCH ARTICLES	REPORTS ORIGINAL RESEARCH ALL RESEARCH ARTICLES MUST ADHERE TO THE RELEVANT EQUATOR RESEARCH REPORTING CHECKLIST.  Research Articles include the following: Clinical Trials, Empirical Research Mixed Methods, Empirical Research Qualitative, Empirical Research Quantitative, Feasibility Study, Pilot Study
CLINICAL TRIAL	All Clinical Trials require prospective trial registration.	8,000	Up to 10	35 or fewer, or reasons for requiring more addressed in cover letter to Editor.
EMPIRICAL RESEARCH MIXED METHODS, EMPIRICAL RESEARCH QUALITATIVE, EMPIRICAL RESEARCH QUANTITATIVE		8,000	Up to 10
FEASIBILITY STUDY		8,000	Up to 10
Protocol	Protocol for a research study or systematic review. Structured abstract, 5000 words, trial registration and ID required.	8000	Up to 10
PILOT STUDY		8,000	Up to 10
REVIEW ARTICLES	ALL REVIEW ARTICLES MUST ADHERE TO THE RELEVANT EQUATOR RESEARCH REPORTING CHECKLIST. SEE HERE  FOR MORE INFORMATION.
REVIEW ARTICLES (Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, Qualitative Evidence Synthesis, Mixed-Methods Review, Integrative Review, Scoping Review etc)		8,000	Up to 9	Negotiable
CONCEPT		8,000	Up to 8	60 or fewer
ALL OTHER ARTICLE TYPES
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY PAPER		8,000	Up to 10	35 or fewer
DISCURSIVE PAPER		8,000	Up to 10	35 or fewer
POSITION PAPER		8,000	Up to 10
Policy Analysis	A statement by a representative group of experts agree to be evidence-based and state-of-the-art knowledge on an aspect of policy	8000	Up to 10
BRIEF REPORT		3,000	Up to 10
COMMENTARY	BY INVITATION ONLY	2,000	Up to 5	5 or fewer
LETTER TO THE EDITOR	Reserved for discussion about published papers.	1,500	Up to 2	5 or fewer
EDITORIAL	BY INVITATION ONLY	1,500	Up to 5	5 or fewer

 

PARTS OF THE SUBMISSION

PREPARE IN ORDER AS DESCRIBED HERE

TITLE PAGE 
The title page is to be submitted separately from all other files and must include the following as applicable:

1. A brief informative title (maximum 20 words) containing as many of the keywords for your submission as possible.

a. Do not use country names or abbreviations in the title.

b. Craft your title with great thought and care for readability and maximum search discoverability (see Wiley's best practice SEO tips).

c. All submissions describing randomised clinical controlled trials are to include ‘randomised controlled trial’ in the title. Also make non-randomized and other types of studies that evaluate interventions clear in the title:

“Intervention effect of virtual reality technology for people with kinesiophobia: Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials”

“Audiovisual and printed technology to prevent childhood diarrhea: Clinical Trial”

2. A short running title of fewer than 40 characters.
3. The full names of the authors (last name in CAPITALS) including institutional affiliations where the work was conducted (maximum of three per author) and a footnote for the author’s present address if different from where the work was conducted.
4. For all articles, the journal mandates the (CRediT (Contribution Roles Taxonomy)—more information is also available on our Services Detail the contributions each author has made to the manuscript in accordance with the taxonomy here. See also the ICMJE authorship guidelines mentioned here.
5. Insert all the declarations regarding conflicts of interest from all authors here. Include what they are if any, or if there are none for each author.
6. Corresponding author’s contact email address and telephone number.
7. X handles for all authors and their affiliated school/university/organization if available; note these may not be included if a handle is not appropriate in a professional setting.
8. The number of References for Clinical Trials, Empirical Research Mixed Methods, Empirical Research Qualitative, Empirical Research Qualitative, or Feasibility submissions permitted are shown in the Article Type chart as 25 or less. If more than 25 references are included address why in the cover letter.
9. Conflict of Interest Statement
10. Acknowledgments: Acknowledgments, including all funding sources. The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining in writing permission for individual acknowledgements for those persons and their names to be included, for including the funding sources for all authors, and for the accuracy of funder designations. If in doubt, check the Open Funder Registry for the correct nomenclature. Include information from all authors specifying any sources of funding (institutional, private and corporate financial support) for the work reported in their paper. Include the name of the funding organization(s) and the grant number. If there was no funding, use this wording: “This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.” (NB: this does not apply to protocols). Name any suppliers of materials and their location (town, state/county, country) included if appropriate. This information will be included in the published article.

Confirm that any data utilised in the submitted manuscript have been lawfully acquired in accordance with The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity. State that the relevant fieldwork permission was obtained and list the permit numbers.

For all submissions with statistics, include the following in the title page:

INCLUDE “b” OR “c”:

a. The authors have checked to make sure that our submission conforms as applicable to the Journal’s statistical guidelines described here.

b. The statistics were checked prior to submission by an expert statistician, and state their name and email address

OR

c. There is a statistician on the author team and state which author.

 If you cannot state either “b” or “c” above have this done and submit your paper at a later time.

d. The author(s) affirm that the methods used in the data analyses are suitably applied to their data within their study design and context, and the statistical findings have been implemented and interpreted correctly.

e. The author(s) agrees to take responsibility for ensuring that the choice of statistical approach is appropriate and is conducted and interpreted correctly as a condition to submit to the Journal.

MAIN TEXT FILE
The Journal uses a double-blind peer review process. ensure that all identifying information such as author names and affiliations, acknowledgements or explicit mentions of author institution in the text are on the title page and not in the main text file. It is not possible to anonymize trial registration entries. Reviewers will be able to view who conducted the trial when making essential checks of the registration entry.

For all article types except Brief Reports, Commentary, Letter to the Editor, and Editorial the main text file to include the following information and/or headers:

Repeat the brief informative title (maximum 20 words) you included on the title page here.

Abstract: The abstract format for all article types is structured, except these article types do not include abstracts: Brief Report, Commentary, Letter to the Editor, and Editorial.

Structured Abstract Format:

a. 300 words maximum.
b. No abbreviations.
c. Do not report p values, confidence intervals and other statistical parameters.

INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING HEADERS IN ABSTRACTS:

Aim(s) (of the paper, simply state 'To...')

Design

Keywords (You will be able to choose keywords when you begin the submission process and you can select up to ten).

Methods

Data Sources (Include search dates) *for reviews only

Results 

Conclusion

Implications for the profession and/or patient care

Impact (Addressing:)

• What problem did the study address?
• What were the main findings?
• Where and on whom will the research have an impact?

Reporting Method: State here that you have adhered to relevant EQUATOR guidelines and name the reporting method.

Patient or Public Contribution: Include a paragraph that details how patients, service users, caregivers or members of the public were involved in your study. This may be the design or conduct of the study, analysis or interpretation of the data, or in the preparation of the manuscript.

OR

Include a statement at the end of the abstract titled “No Patient or Public Contribution”. Your paper will be unsubmitted and returned to you if this section is not included.

What does this paper contribute to the wider global clinical community?: Include one to three bullet points.

Trial and Protocol Registration: Include the following here for papers that require trial and protocol registration:

• Include the name of the name of the trial register, the clinical trial registration number, and a link to the trial at the registration website.
• If there is a protocol that does not require registration, it must still be made accessible at: Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/) ” or “Figshare ( https://figshare.com/ ). Include the name of the website, the protocol number, and a link to the registration site.
• If the trial is not registered, or was registered retrospectively, explain the reasons why.

 

MAIN TEXT HEADINGS

Find your ARTICLE TYPE below and use the relevant headings below in your main text file:

CLINICAL TRIAL, EMPIRICAL RESEARCH – QUANTITATIVE, FEASIBILITY STUDY, PILOT STUDY article types:

1. Introduction
2. Background
3. The Study

• Aim(s), Objective, Research Question/Hypotheses
• Technical Terminology Used to Describe the Aim(s) (if any)
• Primary, Secondary, or Other Objectives (if applicable)

4. Methods/Methodology

• Design
• Study Setting and Sampling (including if appropriate justification of sample size and power)
• Inclusion and/or Exclusion Criteria
• Study interventions (if any)
• Fidelity of intervention (if any)
• Instrument with Validity and Reliability/ Data source
• Data collection Data Analysis
• Ethical Considerations

5. Results

• Characteristics of the sample

6. Discussion

• Strength and Limitations of the Work
• Recommendations for Further Research
• Implications for policy and practice

7. Conclusion

 

EMPIRICAL RESEARCH – QUALITATIVE article type:

1. Introduction
2. Background
3. The Study

• Aim(s)Objective(s), Research Question
• Technical Terminology Used to Describe the Aim(s) (if any)

4. Methods/Methodology

• Design
• Theoretical Framework
• Study Setting and Recruitment
• Inclusion and/or Exclusion Criteria
• Data collection
• Data Analysis
• Ethical Considerations
• Rigor and reflexivity

5. Findings

• Characteristics of participants

6. Discussion

• Strengths and Limitations of the Work
• Recommendations for Further Research
• Implications for policy and practice

7. Conclusion

 

EMPIRICAL RESEARCH MIXED METHODS article type: Use Quantitative and/or Qualitative Main Text headers.

CONCEPT Analysis article type:

1. Introduction
2. Background
3. Data Sources
4. Overview of the Concept
5. Discussion
6. Conclusion

 

DISCURSIVE Paper and RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: DISCUSSION PAPER - METHODOLOGY article types:

1. Introduction
2. Background
3. Data Sources
4. Overview of the Issue(s)
5. Findings
6. Discussion
7. Conclusion

 

REVIEW article types:

1. Introduction
2. The Review
3. Aim(s)
4. Methods/Methodology

• Design
• Search Methods
• Inclusion and/or Exclusion Criteria
• Search Outcome
• Quality Appraisal
• Data Abstraction
• Synthesis

1. Results/Findings
2. Discussion
3. Conclusion

 

SPECIAL GUIDELINES FOR QUANTITATIVE INVERVENTION EVALUATIONS

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Interventions involved in a submission requires use of the EQUATOR network or JBI checklists and registry.
• It is recommended that authors read the following editorials before submitting a manuscript evaluating an intervention (Noyes 2018, Noyes 2021). Also read the following information for guidance depending on the article type you are submitting.

1. Clinical Trials
   The ICMJE defines a clinical trial as any research project that prospectively assigns people or a group of people to an intervention, with or without concurrent comparison or control groups, to study the relationship between a health-related intervention and a health outcome. Health-related interventions are those used to modify a biomedical or health-related outcome; examples include drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioral treatments, educational programs, dietary interventions, quality improvement interventions, and process-of-care changes. Health outcomes are any biomedical or health-related measures obtained in patients or participants, including pharmacokinetic measures and adverse events.  Trials may be randomized or non-randomized.
2. Clinical Trial Registration
   

   The journal requires that clinical trials, including feasibility and pilot studies are registered before the first site or participant is recruited*  We only accept registration of trials on a WHO acknowledged trials registry listed at the ICTRP Search Portal (such as  http://clinicaltrials.gov) that meet minimum content and quality criteria.

* The ICMJE does not define the timing of first site or participant enrollment, but best practice dictates registration by the time of first site or participant consent depending on the trial design.

We also encourage the appropriate registration of all intervention studies including observational quasi-experimental clinical studies and studies that do not include clinical outcomes. Before preparing your paper, we recommend you read Which studies should be registered on a clinical trials registry? and The Trials and Tribulations of Trial Registration and Reporting: Why are some nursing trials still slipping through the net? 

 The following is essential; read and follow this carefully and completely:

i. Authors must include a statement in the abstract if their trial is not eligible for trial registration and why. If the study is not appropriate for registration in a trials registry, then use another suitable study registration site, for example, the Center for Open Science.

ii. If the trial is eligible for trial registration, the trial must be registered prospectively before the first participant is recruited and authors are asked to include the name of the trial register and the clinical trial registration number in the abstract.

iii. To check if your trial is eligible for registration, see these resources: Which studies should be registered on a clinical trials registry? and The Trials and Tribulations of Trial Registration and Reporting: Why are some nursing trials still slipping through the net?

 

        3. Feasibility and Pilot Studies
        The UK National Institutes for Health Research defines feasibility and pilot studies as follows:

A feasibility study asks whether something can be done, should we proceed with it, and if so, how.  A feasibility study may or may not involve recruitment of sites and/or participants depending on the feasibility questions asked and the design.

• A pilot study asks the same questions and also has a specific design feature.  In a pilot study a future study, or part of a future study, is conducted on a smaller scale.  Pilot studies/trials will include recruitment of sites and/or participants depending on the design.
  
  
• As a subset of feasibility research, pilot studies may or may not be randomised. In a randomised pilot the future RCT design is first conducted on a smaller scale. This is intended to check that the study processes (e.g. recruitment, randomisation, treatment, follow-up assessments) all run smoothly. In some cases, this will be the first phase of the main study, and data from the pilot phase may contribute to the final analysis; this is referred to as an internal A non-randomised pilot has similar aims but without randomisation of participants (Eldridge et al 2016).
  
  

a. It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that an accurate and appropriately reported manuscript is submitted.
b. Submit a manuscript that meets all the requirements as outlined in the appropriate CONSORT guideline and TIDierchecklist for the replication of interventions.
c. Transparently report all the information required for peer review of the protocol or trial in the manuscript as indicated in throughout these guidelines.
d. All submissions describing randomised clinical controlled trials are to include ‘randomised controlled trial’ in the title. Make non-randomized and other types of studies that evaluate interventions clear in the title.

SPECIAL GUIDELINES FOR SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS WITH OR WITHOUT META-ANALYSIS
Systematic reviews are valued submissions to the Journal. Follow these guidelines to ensure that the topic is appropriate, the methods are well described and applied, reporting guidelines are adhered to, and the findings are credible. Evaluate your submission as follows:

• The search is contemporary for the question.
• Cross check reporting against the relevant reporting guideline and provide substantial methodological information.
• All meta-analyses to be reviewed by a statistician prior to submission, or a statistician is a member of the author team.

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of interventions

• Registered in PROSPERO or other recognized registry such as JBI if reporting a health outcome.
• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of interventions must conform to PRISMA reporting guidelines.
• Ensure that Item 20 of PRISMA (reporting outcomes and estimates of precision such as confidence intervals for all outcomes of interest) is not omitted.
• Consider that PRISMA is a reporting guideline and not a methods manual. Authors must cite a review design and an appropriate methods manual or citation (and not just cite the PRISMA reporting guideline). Where?
• Unless conducting a systematic review of systematic reviews, do not include systematic reviews in reviews. Unpick systematic reviews, and screen primary studies screened for inclusion in the review.
• Quantitative reviews must critically appraise included studies; it is an essential requirement.
• The Journal will carefully consider how a specific methodological limitation may impact the findings. The Cochrane risk of bias tool is the recommended tool for trials of interventions. The EPOC group provides guidance on its application and reporting.
• If applicable, report the assessment of each domain of quality for each tool and each study in supporting information.
• If conducting a review without a meta-analysis do not use the terms ‘qualitative synthesis’ or ‘narrative synthesis’ to avoid confusion with qualitative synthesis methods of the same name. The preferred term is: ‘Synthesis without meta-analysis’.   Also check that the PRISMA flow diagram does not mention ‘qualitative synthesis’.
• Use the new Synthesis without meta-analysis (SWiM) reporting guidelines and not the standard PRISMA checklist.
• If following Cochrane methods apply GRADE and produce a summary of findings table.
• Reviews must include a PRISMA flow diagram.

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of tools and instruments.

Must follow COSMIN guidelines and standards: COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments.

Tables and Figures

Adhere to the guidelines for tables and figures in the Article Types chart.

SPECIAL GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSIONS WITH STATISTICS

Design

State the study design clearly, for example, randomized controlled trial, intervention study (randomized or non-randomized), quasi-experimental study, systematic review, cross-sectional study, case-control study, ecological study, descriptive study, etc.

Describe in detail the design for the study being reported and you state clearly which parts of the study are exploratory or confirmatory. Recognize that hypothesis generating and hypothesis testing are different and be clear on which you are doing.

IF APPLICABLE, AS SEPARATE DOCUMENTS:

• Trial Report
• Protocol
• Trial registration documentation
• Any relevant checklist, including completed CONSORT checklist, EQUATOR network or JBI checklists and registry.

It is not possible to anonymize the trial registration entry.  Reviewers will be able to view who conducted the trial when making essential checks of the registration entry.

TABLES (each table complete with title and table notes).

FIGURES AND SUPPORTING INFORMATION

Review the basic figure requirements for manuscripts for peer review, as well as the more detailed post-acceptance figure requirements.

Supporting Information

Supporting information are in addition to articles and do not count towards word, reference, and figure/table limits. Such material is published online only. This information is not essential to the article but provides greater depth and background. It is hosted online and appears without editing or typesetting. It may include tables, figures, videos, datasets, etc. Click here for Wiley’s FAQs on supporting information. Supply supporting information and appendices as separate files.

Note: if data, scripts, or other artifacts used to generate the analyses presented in the manuscript are available via a publicly available data repository, include a reference to the location of the material within their manuscript.

If you are submitting any manuscript other than a Discursive Paper, Editorial or Letter to the Editor, and are therefore providing a completed EQUATOR checklist with your submission, ensure that the file name indicates that it is a supplementary file (e.g., Supplementary File 1.docx), for the reference of our Production team. also check that your completed checklist includes the page numbers on which each item has been addressed. Submissions not conforming to these requirements will be returned to you for amendment prior to being sent for review. If you have any queries about the suitability of your checklist, contact the Editorial Office.

PEER REVIEW PROCESS

General Peer Review Process

Papers will only be sent to review if the Editor-in-Chief and/or the editorial office determines that the paper meets the appropriate quality, relevance, and submission requirements. This journal operates under a double-blind peer review model, and Transparent Peer Review is optional. Except where otherwise stated or in special circumstances, manuscripts are peer reviewed by at least two anonymous reviewers and an Associate, Guest, or other Editor (not Editor-in-Chief). Some papers will also undergo quantitative intervention or statistical pre-check before regular peer review either by Special Editors or in additional to the two anonymous reviewers.

Transparent Peer Review 

The Journal of Clinical Nursing participates in peer review transparency, where the reviewer reports, author responses, and the editor’s decision letters will be hosted on Publons and linked to from the published article in the case that the article is accepted. Authors have the opportunity to opt out during submission, and reviewers can choose to remain anonymous unless they would like to sign their report.

In-house submissions, i.e. papers authored by Editors or Editorial Board members of the title, will be sent to Editors unaffiliated with the author or institution and monitored carefully to ensure there is no peer review bias.

Wiley's policy on the confidentiality of the review process is available here.

 Refer and Transfer Program

Wiley believes that no valuable research should go unshared. This journal participates in Wiley’s Refer & Transfer program. If your manuscript is not accepted, you may receive a recommendation to transfer your manuscript to another suitable Wiley journal, either through a referral from the journal’s editors or through our Transfer Desk Assistant. If peer reviews were done for your submission, they will travel with your paper if it is referred or transferred.

Guidelines on Publishing and Research Ethics in Journal Articles

The Journal requires that you include in the manuscript details IRB approvals, ethical treatment of human research participants, and gathering of informed consent, as appropriate. You will be expected to declare all conflicts of interest, or none, on submission. The Journal does not accept papers that include animal research participants. review Wiley’s policies surrounding human studies, animal studies, clinical trial registration, biosecurity, and research reporting guidelines.

This journal follows the core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and handles cases of research and publication misconduct accordingly.

This journal uses iThenticate’s CrossCheck software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. Read Wiley’s Top 10 Publishing Ethics Tips for Authors and Wiley’s Publication Ethics Guidelines.

APPEALS AND COMPLAINTS

Any appeal against a decision on a manuscript should be filed within 28 days of notification of the decision. The appeal should be in the form of a letter addressed to the Editor-in-Chief and submitted to the JCN editorial office. The letter should include clear and concise grounds for the appeal, including specific points of disagreement with the decision. The appeal will then be assessed by the JCN management team, led by the Editor-in-Chief, and informed by the reviewer assessments and subsequent editorial communications. 
 
You will be informed of the outcome of the appeal within 28 days. The decision will be final. 

AFTER ACCEPTANCE
First Look

After your paper is accepted, your files will be assessed by the editorial office to ensure they are ready for production. You may be contacted if any updates or final files are required. Otherwise, your paper will be sent to the production team.

Wiley Author Services

When an accepted article is received by Wiley’s production team, the corresponding author will receive an email asking them to login or register with Wiley Author Services. You will be asked to sign a publication license at this point as well as pay for any applicable Open Access Article Publication Charges.

Copyright & Licensing

You may choose to publish under the terms of the journal’s standard copyright agreement, or Open Access under the terms of a Creative Commons License.

Standard re-use and licensing rights vary by journal. Note that certain funders mandate a particular type of CC license be used. This journal uses the CC-BY/CC-BY-NC or CC-BY-NC-ND Creative Commons License.

Self-Archiving Definitions and Policies: Note that the journal’s standard copyright agreement allows for self-archiving of different versions of the article under specific conditions.

Proofs

Authors will receive an e-mail notification with a link and instructions for accessing HTML page proofs online. Make sure that any renumbered tables, figures, or references match text citations and that figure legends correspond with text citations and actual figures. Proofs must be returned within 48 hours of receipt of the email.

Article Promotion Support

Wiley Editing Services offers professional video, design, and writing services to create shareable video abstracts, infographics, conference posters, lay summaries, and research news stories for your research – so you can help your research get the attention it deserves.

Author Name Change Policy

In cases where authors wish to change their name following publication, Wiley will update and republish the paper and redeliver the updated metadata to indexing services. Our editorial and production teams will use discretion in recognizing that name changes may be of a sensitive and private nature for various reasons including (but not limited to) alignment with gender identity, or as a result of marriage, divorce, or religious conversion. Accordingly, to protect the author’s privacy, we will not publish a correction notice to the paper, and we will not notify co-authors of the change. Contact the journal’s Editorial Office with their name change request.

Correction to authorship

In accordance with Wiley’s Best Practice Guidelines on Research Integrity and Publishing Ethics and the Committee on Publication Ethics’ guidance, Journal of Clinical Nursing will allow authors to correct authorship on a submitted, accepted, or published article if a valid reason exists to do so. All authors – including those to be added or removed – must agree to any proposed change. To request a change to the author list, complete the Request for Changes to a Journal Article Author List Form and contact either the journal’s editorial or production office, depending on the status of the article. Authorship changes will not be considered without a fully completed Author Change form. [Correcting the authorship is different from changing an author’s name; the relevant policy for that can be found in Wiley’s Best Practice Guidelines under “Author name changes after publication.”]

Appendix

Publication Charges

The Journal does not publish colour figures in print. There is no charge for colour figures online.

Page charges

There are no page charges. As described above, there are Article Publication Charges when authors choose Open Access.

Embedded Rich Media

This journal has the option for authors to embed rich media (i.e., video and audio) within their final article. Submit this material with the manuscript files online, using either the “Embedded Video” or “Embedded Audio” file designation. If the video/audio includes dialogue, include a transcript as a separate file. The combined manuscript files, including video, audio, tables, figures, and text must not exceed 350 MB. For full guidance on accepted file types and resolution see here.

Ensure each file is numbered (e.g. Video 1, Video 2, etc.) Place legends for the rich media files at the end of the article.

The content of the video is not to display overt product advertising. Educational presentations are encouraged.

Any narration is to be in English, if possible. Provide a typed transcript of any speech within the video/audio. Provide an English translation of any non-English speech in the transcript.

All embedded rich media will be subject to peer review. Editors reserve the right to request edits to rich media files as a condition of acceptance. Contributors are asked to be succinct, and the Editors reserve the right to require shorter video/audio duration. The video/audio must be high quality (both in content and visibility/audibility). The video/audio is to make a specific point; particularly by demonstrating the features described in the text of the manuscript.

Participant Consent: It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to seek informed consent from any identifiable participant in the rich media files. Masking a participant’s eyes, or excluded head and shoulders is not sufficient. Ensure that a consent form is provided for each participant.

Links to useful resources:

Literature Reviews
Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG, The PRISMA Group (2009) Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement. PLoS Med 6(7) 

 

REPORTING GUIDELINES AND CHECKLISTS 

Centre for Reviews and Dissemination

Cochrane Collaboration

The Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre)

Joanna Briggs Institute

National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence

Social Care Institute for Excellence

RAMESES Publication Standards for Realist Syntheses

RAMESES Publication Standards for Meta-narrative Reviews

Reporting meta-ethnography

Guidelines for reporting noncomplex qualitative evidence syntheses

Rapid Evidence Assessment