LAUSR

Exhilarated by the stimulating presentations at a recent conference of nurse editors from across the globe, I want to share with you some highlights that are especially relevant to new nurse authors who wish to contribute to the scholarly literature. The International Academy of Nursing Editors (INANE) gathers yearly to discuss “breaking news” in the publishing world and to find solutions to thorny issues that are arising. Among the topics covered this year were text recycling, transforming scholarly publishing through an equity and anti-racism framework, and challenges of the “infodemic” (the excessive amount of rapidly spreading information that all of us must sift through). One presenter (Carter-Templeton, 2021) reported the results of an ambitious bibliometric analysis of a half-century of nursing literature in the CINAHL database, to assess trends in the types of literature reviews being conducted (e.g., integrative, narrative, systematic). In some cases, article authors did not clearly name the type of review, prompting the presenter’s suggestion that the type should always be specified in the article title. Across a half-century, the most striking trend was growth in the number of systematic reviews, in which nurse authors or multidisciplinary teams are always assisted by librarians. Another trend is utilization of social media to increase reader engagement with published articles and increase citations. Some journals now have a social media director, and/or encourage authors to use Twitter or Linked In to call attention to their published journal articles. Presenters Waldrop and Dunlap (2021) reported a survey of the journals listed in the INANE directory, in which they found that 26% do not yet employ social media. At their own journal, which began to use Twitter in 2015, they did not conclude that use of social media made much difference. In contrast, in a riveting session by Cogan and Nickitas (2021), social media (Twitter in particular) played a huge role in amplifying the voice of nurses (Robin’s voice in particular) about gun violence in our schools. Robin is a school nurse in Camden, New Jersey, who grieves the loss of students to violence in her community. At Donna’s invitation, she wrote an editorial on gun violence that led to intensive media exposure (e.g., CNN), an influential speech for the group working on the Future of Nursing report, a meeting with Congresswoman Underwood, and op-eds for national newspapers and magazines. Truly, writing that editorial was life-changing for both Robin and Donna. I am reminded to invite more nurses to write guest editorials for IMHN. Inviting manuscript submissions was the focus of an interesting session, “Beyond Wishing and Hoping,” by Kennedy and Barnsteiner (2021). They shared ways that they solicit journal article submissions from attendees at nursing conferences. For example, they make rounds through poster sessions, leaving their journal business cards with presenters. Quite often, a poster presentation at a regional society such as the Southern Nursing Research Society may be a young scholar’s first foray into the larger community of scholars beyond their MSN, DNP, or PhD program. All of us who serve the nursing profession as editors realize how important it is to encourage and mentor our young scholars to submit their work for publication. This presentation reminded me of my own previous efforts to coax the poster presenters at psychiatric conferences such as APNA and ISPN to send me a manuscript later (most don’t, sadly). I appreciated the useful tips shared in this session, so don’t be surprised if you receive follow-up letters or emails after I visit your poster at future conferences. Nurse editors cheerfully take on responsibility to shepherd manuscripts through the maze of the peer review and publication process, and to guide neophyte authors to further strengthen their work if it is not yet publishable. Because editors at the conference say they still see DNP projects and PhD dissertations being submitted in toto to journals without modification for the reading audience of the journal, it is clear that some novice authors are not well guided by their faculty. The official journal of INANE, Nurse Author