Nursing Open AUTHOR GUIDELINES

1. GENERAL SUBMISSION INFORMATION
2. ARTICLE TYPES
3. PARTS OF THE SUBMISSION
4. SPECIAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
5. FILES TO SUBMIT SEPERATELY
6. PEER REVIEW PROCESS
7. APPEALS AND COMPLAINTS
8. AFTER ACCEPTANCE
9. Appendix 

1. SUBMISSION AND PEER REVIEW PROCESS

We are delighted you are choosing to submit to Nursing Open. 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.

New submissions should be made via the Research Exchange submission portal. You may check the status of your submission at any time by logging on to submission.wiley.com and clicking the “My Submissions” button. For technical help with the submission system, please review our FAQs or contact [email protected].

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

Nursing Open 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 they are 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.
• An ORCID ID, freely available at https://orcid.org.
• Statements relating to our ethics and integrity policies, which may include any of the following (Why are these important? We need to uphold rigorous ethical standards for the research we consider for publication):
• data availability statement
• funding statement
• conflict of interest disclosure
• ethics approval statement
• patient consent statement
• permission to reproduce material from other sources
• clinical trial registration

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 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/NOP2 and create a new submission. Follow the submission steps as required and submit the manuscript.

Preprint Policy:

Find the Wiley preprint policy here. This journal accepts articles previously published on preprint servers.

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.

Wiley's Preprints Policy statement for open access journals:

Nursing Open will consider for review articles previously available as preprints. You are requested to update any pre-publication versions with a link to the final published article. You may also post the final published version of the article immediately after publication.

Data Sharing and Data Availability

The Journal encourages and peer reviews 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 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.

The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining written permission to reproduce the material "in print and other media" from the publisher of the original source, and for supplying Wiley with that permission upon submission.

2.  ARTICLE TYPES

Carefully review the types of articles the Journal considers for publication in the chart below and all of the guidelines included throughout. The descriptions below are introductory; many article types have detailed information throughout these guidelines.

You will be asked to select an article type when you enter your submission into ReX (our manuscript management system) and it is important that you have prepared your paper as we have detailed here. Contact the editorial office ([email protected]) if you have any questions as you do this work.

ARTICLE TYPE	BRIEF DESCRIPTION                                                 (See Main Text Headers for specific and detailed information about what to include)	WORD LIMIT	FIGURES AND TABLES		REFERENCES: · Do not exceed limits. ·  Must be no older than 5 years from date of submission. · Use primary, not secondary, sources where possible. · All references must be in English.
RESEARCH ARTICLES	1. Reports original research, with methods, findings, and conclusions. 2. See all Research Article Types below to select the appropriate one for the development of instruments, methodological systematic reviews and concept analyses. 3. The “research methodology: discussion paper – methodology” article type may be appropriate for reporting methodology/methodological issues/analyses based on secondary data sources that do not meet the criteria for the systematic reviews.  4. Methodology papers are about research methods. All Research Articles must adhere to the relevant Equator research reporting checklist.
CLINICAL TRIAL (RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL)	Research studies that test how well new clinical approaches work in people. Each study to answer scientific questions and tries to find better ways to prevent, screen for, diagnose, or treat a disease. Clinical trials may also compare a new treatment or intervention to an existing   treatment or intervention. Clearly identify the rationale, context, and international relevance of the topic.  All Clinical Trials require prospective trial registrations. See abstract for more information.	8,000 maximum		Up to 10	25 or less. If you need to include more than 25 you may do so, and then you must address why in the title page where indicated.
EMPIRICAL RESEARCH MIXED METHODS	Mixed methodological studies may report any type of methodological research, for example: the application of an existing method in a new context, the adaptation of an existing method, the development of a new method, proof of concept or important feasibility work, or development and/or testing of a conceptual model or framework. Methodological issue to be of relevance to nursing and nursing research. We also welcome articles on intervention developments of relevance to nursing. These articles can be at the cutting edge of nursing science and there are validated methods to underpin methods development.	8,000 maximum		Up to 10
EMPIRICAL RESEARCH QUALITATIVE	Empirical research where the data is not in the form of numbers. Must use sound qualitative research approaches.	8,000 maximum		Up to 10
EMPIRICAL RESEARCH QUANTITATIVE	Quantitative research based on actual observation, experiment or self-report (such as survey).	8,000 maximum		Up to 10
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.	8,000 maximum		Up to 10
PILOT STUDY	In a Pilot Study a future study, or part of a future study, is conducted on a smaller scale than a Feasibility Study.  A Pilot Study can also include some feasibility questions. · Pilot Studies/Trials to 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 pilot. · A non-randomised pilot has similar aims but without randomisation of participants (Eldridge et al 2016).	3,000 maximum		1 table or figure
REVIEW ARTICLES	ALL REVIEW ARTICLES MUST ADHERE TO THE RELEVANT EQUATOR RESEARCH REPORTING CHECKLIST. SEE HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.
CONCEPT	A critical analysis of a concept. Preparing a concept analysis paper for nursing: · Conduct a literature review. · Identify key concept characteristics or attributes. · Identify concept antecedents and consequences and apply to a model case. · Identify concepts to study.	8,000 maximum		Up to 8	50 or less
DISCURSIVE PAPER	Demonstrates options and unique ideas; highlights arguments. · For and against arguments. · Demonstrate opinion about exact topic. Propositions and solutions to problems.	8,000 maximum		Up to 10	25 or less
REVIEW ARTICLES (All Other)	There are multiple types of literature reviews including qualitative meta-synthesis, integrative, systematic, umbrella and many more. If you have any questions about reviews the Journal publishes, send an inquiry to the editorial office: ([email protected]) We define literature reviews as systematic locations and evaluation of previous research on a focused topic. These reviews allow the authors to synthesize and place into context the research and scholarly literature relevant to the topic. We also welcome contributions that develop the discussion surrounding the preparation for doing a literature review and the complexities therein. FOR SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS: Systematic reviews need to search for trials in both the published and grey literature in order to help minimize the effects of publication bias in their review. FOR SCOPING REVIEWS: Include a table in the methods section that reports on the Patterns, Advances, Gaps, Evidence for practice and Research recommendations arising from the review (PAGER Framework). An editorial on the subject is linked here.	8,000 max		Up to 8	50 or less
ALL OTHER ARTICLE TYPES
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: DISCUSSION PAPER – METHODOLOGY	Taking primary research into research methods. Discussion paper -Critical analytical discussion using published sources addressing conceptual, philosophical, theoretical, methodological or professional phenomena of interest when it is clear that the content represents an extension of nursing knowledge and that the phenomena are relevant to the international nursing community.	8,000 maximum		Up to 10	25 or less. If you need to include more than 25 you may do so, and then you must address why in the title page where indicated.
POSITION PAPER	A statement by a representative group of experts agree to be evidence-based and state-of-the-art knowledge on an aspect of practice.	8,000 maximum		Up to 10
BRIEF REPORT	Short papers such as quality improvement or other smaller scale studies, innovation notes, current issues and some methods articles. Brief reports that include empirical findings to include a description of methods sufficient to allow replication of the work by other investigators. Include impact statement and reporting checklists for empirical research.	3,000 maximum		Up to 10
LETTER TO THE EDITOR	In narrative letter style, can be with or without author’s choice of headers. Reserved for discussion about published papers.	1,500 maximum		Up to 2	5 or less
EDITORIAL	BY INVITATION ONLY: Opinion on timely or general interest topics, or to provide an overview of an issue. Suggestions can be submitted to the editorial office for consideration at [email protected].	1,500 maximum		Up to 5	5 or less

 

3. PARTS OF THE SUBMISSION
   PREPARE IN ORDER AS DESCRIBED HEREA. TITLE PAGE 

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

1) a.  A brief informative title (maximum 20 words) containing as many of the keywordsfor your submission as possible.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. We require that you include the article type name at the end of the full article title as appropriate and applicable. Do not include the article type name in the title for Brief Reports, Commentary, Editorial, or Letter to the Editor. The article type name does not count towards the 20-word maximum. Some examples for reference:

“Experience of neuropsychiatric symptoms among females with mild cognitive impairment: Empirical Research Qualitative”

“Teaching the ideas of others: is there a problem?: Discursive Paper”

“Indigenous informal caregiving in dementia care: Integrative Review”

“Efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions in reducing pain in people with dementia: Systematic review and Meta-Analysis”

d. 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 less 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 Author 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. Twitter 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 here.
7) Conflict of Interest Statement
8) 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 Registryfor 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.

B. 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, Letter to the Editor, and Editorial the main text file to include the following information and/or headers:

1. Repeat the brief informative title (maximum 20 words) you included on the title page here.
2. 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.
3. Abstract:

The abstract format for all article types is structured, except these article types do not include abstracts: Brief Report, 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).

Review Methods

Data Sources (Include search dates)

Results (If statistical component is not minor e.g. more than basic descriptive statistics)

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” if such details are not necessary or don’t apply to your work and state why. Your paper will be unsubmitted and returned to you if this section is not included.

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.

 Implications for the Profession and/or Patient Care

 MAIN TEXT HEADINGS

Find your ARTICLE TYPE in the chart below and use all the Main Text File Headers indicated in your submission:

ARTICLE TYPES
QUANTITATIVE ARTICLE TYPES: CLINICAL TRIAL, EMPIRICAL RESEARCH – QUANTITATIVE, FEASIBILITY STUDY, PILOT STUDY	QUALITATIVE ARTICLE TYPE: EMPIRICAL RESEARCH - QUALITATIVE	CONCEPT REVIEW ARTICLE TYPES	DISCURSIVE REVIEW AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: DISCUSSION PAPER - METHODOLOGY ARTICLE TYPES	ALL OTHER REVIEW ARTICLE TYPES
USE QUANTITATIVE AND/OR QUALITATIVE MAIN TEXT HEADERS FOR THE EMPIRICAL RESEARCH MIXED METHODS ARTICLE TYPE
PREPARE THESE SUBMISSIONS ALONG WITH ASSOCIATED EQUATOR GUIDELINES
QUANTITATIVE	QUALITATIVE
MAIN TEXT FILE HEADERS
1 INTRODUCTION
2 BACKGROUND				2 THE REVIEW
3 THE STUDY	3 THE STUDY	3 DATA SOURCES	3 DATA SOURCES	3 AIM(S)
3.1 AIM(S) AND OBJECTIVE	3.1 AIM(S) AND OBJECTIVE
3.2 TECHNICAL TERMINOLOGY USED TO DESCRIBE THE AIM (IF ANY)	3.2 TECHNICAL TERMINOLOGY USED TO DESCRIBE THE AIM (IF ANY)
3.3 PRIMARY, SECONDARY, OR OTHER OBJECTIVES (IF APPLICABLE)	3.3 PRIMARY, SECONDARY, OR OTHER OBJECTIVES (IF APPLICABLE)
4 METHODS/METHODOLOGY	4 METHODS/METHODOLOGY	4 OVERVIEW OF THE CONCEPT	4 OVERVIEW OF THE ISSUE(S)	4 METHODS/METHODOLOGY
4.1 DESIGN	4.1 DESIGN			4.1 DESIGN
4.2 INSTRUMENT WITH VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY	4.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK			4.2 SEARCH METHODS
4.3 SAMPLING AND RECRUITMENT	4.3 SAMPLING AND RECRUITMENT			4.3 INCLUSION AND/OR EXCLUSION CRITERIA
4.4 SAMPLE SIZE AND POWER	4.4 SAMPLE SIZE AND POWER			4.4 SEARCH OUTCOME
4.5 QUALITY APPRAISAL	4.5 POPULATION AND SAMPLE			4.5 QUALITY APPRAISAL
4.6 DATA ABSTRACTION	4.6 DATA ABSTRACTION			4.6 DATA ABSTRACTION
4.7 POPULATION AND SAMPLE	4.7 INCLUSION AND/OR EXCLUSION CRITERIA			4.7 SYNTHESIS
4.8 INCLUSION AND/OR EXCLUSION CRITERIA	4.8 DATA SOURCES/COLLECTION
4.9 DATA SOURCES/COLLECTION	4.9 DATA ANALYSIS
4.10 DATA ANALYSIS	4.10 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
4.11 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS	4.11 RIGOR
5 RESULTS	5 FINDINGS	5 DISCUSSION	5 RESULTS	5 RESULTS
5.1 SUBJECTS	5.1 PARTICIPANTS
6. DISCUSSION	6 DISCUSSION	6 CONCLUSION	6 DISCUSSION	6 DISCUSSION
6.1 STRENGTH AND LIMITATIONS OF THE WORK	6.1 STRENGTH AND LIMITATIONS OF THE WORK
6.2 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH	6.2 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
7 CONCLUSION	7 CONCLUSION		7 CONCLUSION	7 CONCLUSION
REFERENCES (see Article Type chart for guidance)

 

FOR OTHER ARTICLE TYPES: MAIN TEXT FILE HEADERS:

BRIEF REPORT WITH EMPIRICAL FINDINGS:

Description of Methods             

Sufficient to allow replication of the work by other investigators.

Impact Statement

Reporting Checklist(s)

References

 POSITION PAPER

Unstructured Abstract

250 words or less; summary of the paper with major points.

Introduction

Concisely states the purpose and historical background that prompted creation of the paper.

Discussion

A review of the current state of knowledge on a particular subject. This section only contains information currently accepted as factual under existing scientific methodology and knowledge and is intended to present a balanced review of the subject by highlighting the current state of knowledge, areas of contention, and preferred methods of practice. Acknowledge and discuss mainstream and minority opinions. Do not include personal opinions, speculative theory, or information relative to a specific case cannot be included in this discussion).

Conclusion

States the major points supported by the paper.

References

COMMENTARY

Informal narrative style; can be with or without author’s choice of headers.

References

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Reserved for discussion about published papers. The Editorial Board reserves the right to accept or reject, edit, and condense letters for publication and to publish an author or editor response to letters.

If a Letter to the Editor is accepted for publication, the authors of the article you are writing about will have an opportunity to review their Letter and respond with a Letter to the Editor of their own in response if they wish. You will not be given another opportunity to respond to the author’s response to you.

Letter to the Editor undergoes review, but they do not need to have a full standard peer review. The Editor-in-Chief might choose to accept or reject the Letter themselves, or consult with board members, or send the letter out for full peer review. A Letter by article authors in response to a Letter to the Editor disputing their articles are usually accepted for publication after the same type of review described above.

If a Letter to the Editor is accepted for publication, the Editor-in-Chief will decide when and how it will be published.

References

EDITORIAL

See these sample editorials. The Journal welcomes editorials on a variety of topics. Submit your ideas to [email protected].

References

Henrietta Lacks and America’s dark history of research involving African Americans


4. SPECIAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

A. SPECIAL GUIDELINES FOR QUANTITATIVE INVERVENTION EVALUATIONS

1. 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.

a. 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.

b. Clinical Trial Registration
The Journal  has signed up to the All Trials Agreementand requires that clinical trials are prospectively registered in a publicly accessible database such as: http://clinicaltrials.gov/ and include clinical trial registration numbers in the title page for all papers that report their results. The journal requires that clinical trials, including feasibility and pilot studies are registered before the first site or participant is recruited*  in a publicly accessible database such as  http://clinicaltrials.gov/ and include clinical trial registration numbers in the abstract for all papers that report the protocol and their results.

* 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. We recommend you read Journal of Advanced Nursing, Journal of Clinical Nursing, and Nursing Open special Quantitative Interventions Editor Jane Noyes' editorials, 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 eligiblefor 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?


c. Feasibility and Pilot Studies
The UK National Institutes for Health Research defines feasibilityand 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).
  
  

2. Further Guidelines for Quantitative Intervention Evaluations
   
   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 TIDier checklist for the replication of interventions. You must also follow the chart below. 
   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.
   
   C. SPECIAL GUIDELINES FOR QUANTITATIVE 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.

D. 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:

5. FILES TO SUBMIT SEPARATELY A.    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. B.     TABLES (each table complete with title and footnotes). C.     FIGURE LEGENDS: Supply as a complete list in the text. Upload figures as separate files (see below). D.    FIGURES AND SUPPORTING INFORMATION Supply figures, supporting information, and appendices as separate files. 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. 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.

6. PEER REVIEW PROCESS

a. 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. 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.

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.

b. 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.

c. 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 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.

7. APPEALS AND COMPLAINTS

Appeals can only be made following peer review; there is no process of appeal against rejection at the initial Editor screening stage. Any appeal against a decision about a paper 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 and submitted to the Nursing Open 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 Nursing Open management team, led by the Editor, and informed by the reviewers’ assessments and subsequent editorial communications. You will be informed of the outcome of the appeal in writing, normally within 28 days. The decision will be final. 

8. 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

Nursing Open is an Open Access journal: authors of accepted papers pay an Article Publication Charge and their papers are published under a Creative Commons license. This journal uses the CC-BY/CC-BY-NC or CC-BY-NC-ND Creative Commons License. Note that certain funders mandate a particular type of CC license be used.

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, Nursing Open 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.”]


9. APPENDIX

Publication Charges

The Journal is Online Only. There is no charge for color 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) 

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