Author Guidelines

Aims and Scope

The Journal of Renal Care (JORC), formally the EDTNA/ERCA Journal, is the official publication of the European Dialysis and Transplant Nursing Association – European Renal Care Association (EDTNA/ERCA). It publishes a broad range of peer-reviewed clinical, research and educational papers for health care professionals working in kidney care. The JORC seeks to provide content that is relevant to, and reflective of, the growing diversity of the renal care community.

The JORC only publishes papers that have direct implications for clinical practice and are of interest to an international audience. We welcome research papers, quality improvement papers, audits (using data no older than 5 years old) and literature reviews written in U.K. English (see for example Oxford English Dictionary). However, JORC does not accept Case reports, Research protocols and Pre-clinical/animal studies for publication.

Please read the instructions below carefully for details on the submission of manuscripts, the journal's requirements and standards as well as information concerning the procedure after a manuscript has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Renal Care. Authors are encouraged to visit Author Services for further information on the preparation and submission of articles and figures.

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

All manuscripts should be submitted online in U.K. ENGLISH at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jorc. All parts of the manuscript must be available in an electronic format. Full instructions and support are available on the manuscriptcentral and a user ID and password can be obtained on the first visit. Support can be contacted by phone (+1 434 817 2040 ext. 167), e-mail ([email protected]). If you cannot submit online or have a general query, please contact the Editor, Magnus Lindberg by e-mail:[email protected]

Authors should kindly note that submissions implies that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere except as a brief abstract in the proceedings of a scientific meeting or symposium. Therefore, the Journal of Renal Care will not consider for review submissions previously available as preprints.

The Journal of Renal Care employs a plagiarism detection system. By submitting your manuscript to this journal you accept that your manuscript may be screened for plagiarism against previously published works.

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, including, when necessary, sharing with the publisher (Wiley) and partners for production and publication. The publication and the publisher recognize the importance of protecting the personal information collected from users in the operation of these services, and have practices in place to ensure that steps are taken to maintain the security, integrity, and privacy of the personal data collected and processed.   

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, please see Preparing the Submission, below, for general guidance on writing and preparing your manuscript.       

ETHICAL GUIDELINES

The Journal of Renal Care adheres to the below ethical guidelines for publication and research.

Authorship: Authors submitting a paper do so on the understanding that the manuscript has been read and approved by all authors and that all authors agree to the submission of the manuscript to the Journal. All named authors must have made an active contribution to the conception and design and/or analysis and interpretation of the data and/or the drafting of the paper and informational authors should state their contribution on the title page on submission.

A suggested format for statement of authorship is
xx (initials of contributor): Principal Project Leader, conceived study, participated in design and coordination, read and approved the final manuscript.
xx: Participated in design and coordination, undertook interviews, helped to draft manuscript, read and approved the final manuscript.
xx: Analysed the data, helped to draft manuscript and approved the final manuscript.

Journal of Renal Care adheres to the definition of authorship set up by The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html. According to the ICMJE authorship criteria should be based on 1) substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data, 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content,  3) final approval of the version to be published and 4) Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. Authors should meet conditions 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Ethical Approvals: Where a submission reports on the collection of research data involving human subjects, it must be accompanied by an explicit statement in the Materials and Methods section identifying how informed consent was obtained and a declaration that, where appropriate, the study has been approved by the appropriate Research Ethics Committee or Human Subjects Review board. Editors reserve the right to reject papers if there is doubt as to whether appropriate procedures have been used.

Conflict of Interest: Authors are required to disclose any possible conflict of interest when submitting a paper. These can include financial conflicts of interest e.g. patent ownership, stock ownership, employment by dialysis/pharmaceutical companies, consultancies or speaker's fees from pharmaceutical companies related to the research/topic area. Authors should note that referees are asked to advise the Editor of any conflict of interest capable of influencing the author's judgment.


All conflicts of interest (or information specifying the absence of conflict of interest) should be included on the title page under ‘Conflicts of Interest’. This information will be included in the published article. If the author does not have any conflict of interest the following statement should be included: “No conflict of interest has been declared by the author(s).”

Source of Funding: Authors are required to specify the source of funding for their research when submitting a paper. Suppliers of materials should be named and their location (town, state/county, country) included. The information will be disclosed in the Acknowledgements section of the published article.

Note to NIH Grantees: Pursuant to NIH mandate, Wiley-Blackwell will post the accepted version of contributions authored by NIH grant-holders to PubMed Central upon acceptance. The accepted version will be made publicly available 12 months after publication. For further information, please see www.wiley.com/go/nihmandate

MANUSCRIPT FORMAT AND STRUCTURE

All manuscripts submitted to Journal of Renal Care should be written in U.K. English and be submitted in separate files: title page; main text file; figure(s). As papers are double-blind peer reviewed, please ensure that the main text file is completely anonymous, by removing author details and acknowledgments from the text.

The Journal of Renal care recognize that the recipients of healthcare are firstly people, which means that authors should NOT use terminology which defines the person by their condition such as CKD patients, HD patients, diabetics etc. For example, "patients receiving haemodialysis" is preferable to "haemodialysis patients" and “individuals with diabetes is preferable to “diabetics”. In addition, “adherence” is preferable to “compliance”. Never refer to people as 'sufferers' or 'victims' of a condition.

Please send your paper in Word format, font 12pt Calibri/Arial/New Roman.

The title page should contain:

• A short descriptive title of no more than 12 words. There must be no abbreviations in the title and do not use CAPITALS. The country in which the study was conducted should not normally be named in the title unless it is an essential element.
• A short running title of less than 50 characters
• All authors’ full names
• All authors’ institutional affiliations
• A statement on all named authors’ contributions
• Acknowledgements
• Conflict of interest statement

The main text file should contain:

• The short descriptive title , again
• A structured abstract: Each paper requires an abstract of up to 250 words outlining the content of the paper. Please do not use abbreviations in the abstract. The recommended headings for the Abstract are: Background, Objectives, Design, Participants, Measurements, Results, and Conclusions. Reports of qualitative research may substitute "Approach" for "Measurements" and “Findings” instead of “Results”.
  You also have the option to publish the abstract of your paper in your local language, in order to make your paper more accessible to readers in your own country. If you wish to do this please upload a separate Word copy of your abstract and select the file designation 'Abstract in local language’.
• Keywords List: Provide 3-5 in alphabetical order from a recognized source such as Index Medicus that recognizes the content of the manuscript.

The suggested format for the Paper is as follows, although it is recognized that these recommendations may not suit some qualitative methodologies. Wherever appropriate, the conventional structure should be used for clarity and easy reading. For empirical research, the JORC expects the headings: Introduction, Literature review, Material and methods, Results, Discussion, Implications for clinical practice and Conclusion. Please make sure that a section describing implications for clinical practice is included.

The manuscript should develop logically with additional subdivisions introduced using minor subheadings. The discussion should be comprehensive and cover the results and be supported by other work. Please specify the manufacturer and manufacturer’s address for all products mentioned. Any abbreviations should be spelled out in the first instance. Please include statistical methods and analysis if appropriate. To ensure completeness of content we ask that you include all information required by reporting guidelines relevant to your study. Please consult for example Equator network for details. Reports of randomized, controlled trials should follow the recommendations of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement. See http://www.consort-statement.org/consort-statement/ for the current CONSORT guidelines and checklist. Reports of observational studies should follow the recommendations of The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) Statement: guidelines for reporting observational studies. See http://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/strobe/. Reports of qualitative studies should follow the recommendations of the Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups. See http://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/coreq/

Word limits: Empirical research-quantitative non-experimental, quality improvement papers and audits have a word limit of maximum 3500 words (main text excluding abstract and list of references).

Empirical research- qualitative / mixed methods and literature reviews have a word limit of maximum 5000 words (main text excluding abstract and list of references).

Empirical research- experimental study have word limit of maximum 5000 words (main text excluding abstract and list of references).

Referencing: References should be in the modified Harvard style. In the text the authors' names should be cited followed by the date of publication, e.g. Smith (1993). If two or more works have the same originator and year, they are distinguished by lower-case letters given after the year. Where there are three or more authors, the first author's name followed by et al. should be written in the text, e.g. Williams et al. (1993). The reference list should be prepared on a separate sheet, listed in alphabetical order. The references should list the first three authors' surnames and initials, date of publication, title of article, name of journal or book, volume number or edition, editors, publisher and place of publication. In the case of an print journal article, page numbers must be included. Page numbers from books need only be included when referencing direct quotes or paraphrases.


Example of reference list:

Lewis T. & Hall J. (1992). Rhabdomyolysis and myoglobinuria. In Principles of Critical Care, (eds Hall J., Schmidt G. & Wood L.), Volume 2. New York: McGraw Hill.

Miles-Foxen E.H. (1980). Diseases of the ear, nose and throat. In General Surgery for Nurses (eds Ellis H. & Wastell C.), 2nd edn, pp. 442-481. Oxford: Blackwell Science.

Muller D., Harns P. & Watley L. (1986). Nursing Children: Psychology Research and Practice. London: Harper Row.

National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (2008) Early identification and management of chronic kidney disease in adults in primary and secondary care. NICE clinical guideline 73. http://guidance.nice.org.uk/CG73. Last accessed 01.12.11

Williams N. (2001). Patient resuscitation following major thermal trauma. Nursing in Critical Care 6, 115-121.

Illustrations: Figures, pictures, histograms, x-rays etc. should be in black and white sent electronically. Please save vector graphics (e.g. line artwork) in Encapsulated Postscript Format (EPS) and bitmap files (e.g. halftones) or clinical or in vitro pictures in Tagged Image Format (TIFF). Further information can be obtained at Wiley’s guidelines for illustrations: http://media.wiley.com/assets/7323/92/electronic_artwork_guidelines.pdf.

Each figure should have a legend (title) and all legends should be numbered consecutively. If all or parts of previously published illustrations are used, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder concerned. For publication of photographs containing children, written permission must be obtained from parents. Adults should give their own permission. It is the author’s responsibility to obtain these in writing and provide copies to the Publisher.

Tables and equations: Graphs and tables must be supplied electronically. The use of graphs rather than tables is recommended where possible. Each graph or table should have a brief, concise title. Column headings within tables should also be brief. Indicate units clearly. Equations should be supplied electronically. All symbols should be clearly identified either in the text or in a special paragraph. Tables should be numbered consecutively. The International System of Units (SI units) must be used (eg. mmol/L).

Biodata and photograph: The Journal of Renal Care, as part of its Journal style, includes the corresponding author’s Biodata and photograph on the first page of articles published by the journal (article categories that are exempt from this are ‘Continuing Education’ papers, Book reviews, and Letters to the Editor). As such, the corresponding author is required to include the Biodata at article submission stage. The Biodata is a short biographical account of the Corresponding author, listing a present professional affiliation, primary discipline/focus of their research, and other non-research-related professional pursuits. The photograph should be a passport sized digital copy preferably, or at least a scanned photograph.

ACCEPTANCE OF A MANUSCRIPT FOR PUBLICATION

All manuscripts are subject to blind peer review by at least two reviewers who have expertise in the topic area. Authors will be asked to nominate one reviewer at the time of submission. Once reviewed (usually within one month from submission) the author will receive notification of acceptance, required minor or major revision or rejection. All authors will receive constructive feedback on their paper.

AFTER ACCEPTANCE

Upon acceptance of a paper for publication, the manuscript will be edited by the Journal editor in terms of language and sense but not in terms of the content of the paper, such as methods or results. The edited paper will then be forwarded to the Production Editor who is responsible for the production of the journal.

Proofs: Page proofs will be sent to the corresponding author and should be returned within 3 days of receipt to the Production Editor. Significant textual alterations are unacceptable at proof stage without the written approval of the Editor, and they are likely to result in the delay of publication.

The corresponding author will receive the e-mail notification with a link and instructions for accessing the HTML page proofs online. Page proofs should be carefully proofread for any copyediting or typesetting errors. Online guidelines are provided within the system and no special software is required, as all common browsers are supported. Authors should also make sure that any renumbered tables, figures, or references match text citations and that figure legends correspond with text citations and actual figures. Return of proofs via e-mail is possible in the event that the online system cannot be used or accessed.

Early View Publication Prior to Print: Journal of Renal Care is covered by Wiley Blackwell's Early View service. Early View articles are complete full-text articles published online in advance of their publication in a printed issue. Early View articles are complete and final. They have been fully reviewed, revised and edited for publication, and the authors' final corrections have been incorporated. Because they are in final form, no changes can be made after online publication. The nature of Early View articles means that they do not yet have volume, issue or page numbers, so they articles cannot be cited in the traditional way. They are given a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which allows the article to be cited and tracked before it is allocated to an issue. After print publication, the DOI remains valid and can continue to be used to cite and access the article.


Offprints: Free access to the final PDF offprint of your article will be available via author services only. Please therefore sign up for author services if you would like to access your article PDF offprint and enjoy the many other benefits the service offers.

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. Authors should contact the journal’s Editorial Office with their name change request.

Copyright Assignment: If your paper is accepted, the author identified as the formal corresponding author for the paper will receive an email prompting them to login into Author Services; where via the Wiley Author Licensing Service (WALS) they will be able to complete the license agreement on behalf of all authors on the paper.

For authors signing the copyright transfer agreement

If the open access option is not selected the corresponding author will be presented with the copyright transfer agreement (CTA) to sign. The terms and conditions of the CTA can be previewed in the samples associated with the Copyright FAQs below:

CTA Terms and Conditions http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/faqs_copyright.asp

For authors choosing Open Access

If the Open Access option is selected the corresponding author will have a choice of the following Creative Commons License Open Access Agreements (OAA):

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License OAA

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial -NoDerivs License OAA

To preview the terms and conditions of these open access agreements please visit the Copyright FAQs hosted on Wiley Author Services http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/faqs_copyright.asp and visit http://www.wileyopenaccess.com/details/content/12f25db4c87/Copyright--License.html.

If your paper is accepted, the author identified as the formal corresponding author for the paper will receive an email prompting them to login into Author Services; where via the Wiley Author Licensing Service (WALS) they will be able to complete the license agreement on behalf of all authors on the paper.

For authors signing the copyright transfer agreement

If the Open Access option is not selected the corresponding author will be presented with the copyright transfer agreement (CTA) to sign. The terms and conditions of the CTA can be previewed in the samples associated with the Copyright FAQs below:

CTA Terms and Conditions http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/faqs_copyright.asp

If you select the Open Access option and your research is funded by The Wellcome Trust and members of the Research Councils UK (RCUK) or the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) you will be given the opportunity to publish your article under a CC-BY license supporting you in complying with your Funder requirements. For more information on this policy and the Journal’s compliant self-archiving policy please visit: http://www.wiley.com/go/funderstatement.

Open Access

Open Access is available to authors of primary research articles who wish to make their article available to non-subscribers on publication, or whose funding agency requires grantees to archive the final version of their article. With open access, the author, the author's funding agency, or the author's institution pays a fee to ensure that the article is made available to non-subscribers upon publication, as well as deposited in the funding agency's preferred archive. For the full list of terms and conditions, see http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-406241.html. For more information about Article Publication Charges please visit the Open Access page. 

Any authors wishing to send their paper open access will be required to complete the payment form available from our website at: https://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/onlineopen_order.asp. Prior to acceptance there is no requirement to inform an Editorial Office that you intend to publish your paper Open Access if you do not wish to. All open access articles are treated in the same way as any other article. They go through the journal's standard peer-review process and will be accepted or rejected based on their own merit.

Appeals

Authors may request the Editor to reconsider a rejection decision. These requests are considered appeals, but these must take second place to the normal workload. In practice, this means that decisions on appeals often take several weeks.

Following an appeal, the Editor will send the author's response and the original/revised manuscript to one or more of the original referees, or the Editor may ask one referee to comment on the concerns raised by another referee. On occasion, particularly if the Editor feel that additional technical expertise is needed to make a decision, the Editor may obtain advice from an additional referee.

Decisions are reversed on appeal only if the Editor is convinced that the original decision was a serious mistake, not merely a borderline call that could have gone either way. Further consideration may be merited if a referee made substantial errors of fact or showed evidence of bias, but only if a reversal of that referee's opinion would have changed the original decision. Similarly, disputes on factual issues need not be resolved unless they were critical to the outcome. All feedback to the Editor concerning the appeal will be forwarded to the author.