Nursing Doctoral Programs: DNP & PhD

The e-books and resources listed below offer practical guidance on academic writing for nurses, whether you're writing for a school assignment, or considering a submission for publication.

Writing as a Student

Writing for Publication

If you are writing a manuscript in which you describe the results of an original study, quality improvement project, or systematic literature review, it is important to be aware of any guidelines that exist to ensure the complete and transparent reporting of the information about your project. 

Searchable Registry of Reporting Guidelines

Select Reporting Guidelines

Tips & Tools

The following resources can help you identify a journal that might be a good fit for your paper.

Avoiding Predatory Publications

What is a 'predatory publication'?

“Predatory journals and publishers are entities that prioritize self-interest at the expense of scholarship and are characterized by false or misleading information, deviation from best editorial and publication practices, a lack of transparency, and/or the use of aggressive and indiscriminate solicitation practices.”¹

These predatory publications typically collect large article processing charges (APCs) without providing the peer review and editorial support that can be expected from a quality scholarly publication.
 
Checklist to evaluating a journal²

• Check that the publisher provides full, verifiable contact information, including address, on the journal site. Be cautious of those that provide only web contact forms.
• Check that a journal’s editorial board lists recognized experts with full affiliations. Contact some of them and ask about their experience with the journal or publisher.
• Check that the journal prominently displays its policy for author fees.
• Be wary of e-mail invitations to submit to journals or to become editorial board members.
• Read some of the journal’s published articles and assess their quality. Contact past authors to ask about their experience.
• Check that a journal’s peer-review process is clearly described and try to confirm that a claimed impact factor is correct.
• Find out whether the journal is a member of an industry association that vets its members, such as the Directory of Open Access Journals (www.doaj.org) or the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (www.oaspa.org).
• Use common sense, as you would when shopping online; if something looks fishy, proceed with caution.

1. Grudniewicz, A., Moher, D., Cobey, K. D., Bryson, G. L., Cukier, S., Allen, K., ... & Lalu, M. M. (2019). Predatory journals: no definition, no defence.
2. Declan Butler, Butler, D., & others. (2013). The dark side of publishing. Nature, 495(7442), 433–435.

Resources for Evaluating Journals