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Manuscript Submission Guidelines





 

 

GENERAL INFORMATION

The SouthernOnline Journal of Nursing Research (SOJNR) was launched in 1999 as a peer-reviewed electronic research journal of the Southern Nursing Research Society. The Board of Directors of SNRS recently evaluated the current journal and responded to the changing needs of the organization. During the next year, 4 issues of SOJNR will be distributed one of which will be abstracts form the Annual Meeting. SOJNR will continue to provide the membership a high quality journal that contributes to the knowledge base of nursing and present scientific evidence, clinical evidence based practice, clinical manuscripts, integrative and systematic reviews, and theoretical papers that improve the practice of nursing with each issue featuring topics of interest specific to one of the Research Interest Groups (RIGs).

PROCEDURES

Letters or e-mail messages of inquiry, prior to submission, are welcome but not required. Manuscripts should be sent to the SOJNR@resourcenter.com. The SNRS staff will forward all manuscripts to the assigned SOJNRedition editor. All manuscripts will receive a blind review by content experts. Decisions of acceptance for publication are based on blinded review which will occur within two months of submission. Reviewer comments will be sent by electronic mail to authors. SOJNR reserves the right to edit all manuscripts to style and space allocations. Authors will receive proofs for approval and are expected to promptly check the manuscript and reference citations carefully for accuracy. Publication of manuscripts will occur in the assigned online focused edition following copy editing and proofing.

AUTHOR AGREEMENT

It is understood that manuscripts and materials submitted to SOJNR were prepared specifically for SOJNR and that they have not been published previously in print or electronic format nor are they under consideration by any other publication or medium. Southern Nursing Research Society will have exclusive rights to the article, its reproduction and sale in all countries. All manuscripts will be considered on the understanding SOJNR and SNRS will have full rights to publish the article in all forms of electronic and print media, including compilations. Authors will be asked to grant written permission to publish and assign copyright to SNRS upon acceptance for publication. Authors will have permission to make copies, and distribute them to individuals or in classes but must give full attention to their original publication in SOJNR.

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

All manuscripts must be received in electronic format, as an email attachment. Email attachments may be sent as Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format files. Send to: SOJNR@resourcenter.com.

APA Style 5th Edition, with one variation: All guidelines given in the 5th edtion of the APA style manual must be followed, except for the section on References.

  • Reference citations: In the text, when citing references, instead of the APA style of (Author; Year), use a bold superscript number. In the reference list at the end of the article, follow APA guidelines. The sample page shows how citations are to appear in the text.
  • For users of EndNote™, we have provided the Style file that you may download (below) and put in your Styles folder within the EndNote™ folder. Follow the guidelines as exemplified on the sample page. Use articles on our website beginning with Issue 2, volume 3, as your guide.  If a reference is cited more than once, the original citation number will be repeated. If specific page numbers are necessary, as when using a direct quote, also include the page number following the superscript. For users of other bibliographic software, such as ProCite or Reference Manager, use the Numbered Style.
  • Borders, font size, and spacing: Set pages for 1-inch margins and double-spacing between lines. Use a 12-point font to ensure readability. Do not double-space at the end of a sentence; use a single space.
  • Length of manuscript: Limit full-length research reports to no more than 16 double spaced pages. Methodology articles should be no more than 8 double-spaced pages.
  • Tables and figures: Use tables and figures only when they make findings clearer and take less space than the same information provided in text. All tables must be prepared using the word processor's Table function, i.e. do not use Tabs or Columns to create tables. Align numbers with decimal points on the decimal point using the tab stop designed for decimals, which is typically found in the ruler. Tables must contain sufficient legends and notes to be free-standing. Click for example
  • Graphics may be submitted in any of the following formats: Photoshop, Illustrator, Canvas, JPEG (high quality), PICT, and GIF.
  • Underlining: Do not use underlines anywhere in the manuscript or references; underlines on the Internet indicate hyperlinks. For single letters, such as "n=300" or "p<.05" do not underline the single letter, rather it should be italicized. To emphasize a word, use bold or italic, but only when absolutely necessary.
  • Numbering: Number pages in the top-right header, using 9 pt. font, beginning with page 2.
  • Titles and Headings: Keep titles short and use headings to define the divisions of the article. Headers should be in bold (see current articles for examples). Subheadings should be italicized, flush left.
  • Abstract and Keywords: Provide a well organized, brief, and self-contained abstract of no more than 200 words. Provide up to eight keywords using CINAHL terms to aid in indexing the article.

In summary, key points to reinforce in the preparation of the manuscript:

  • Do not use tabs anywhere in the document
  • Do not use underlining anywhere in the document
  • When making tables, use the Table feature in your word processor. Do not use spaces, tabs, or the Column function to make tables.

ANONYMITY OF REVIEW

To assure blind review and anonymous referee of the manuscript, names and affiliations of the authors and acknowledgments should appear only on the cover page and should not appear anywhere else in the manuscript.

Subject Rights: All research reports involving human subjects or animals must contain an explicit statement that addresses institutional approval and protection of subject safety, rights and dignity.

CITATION INFORMATION

Right-click the link here and choose Save Target as... Download EndNote SOJNR Style

Save the file to the correct directory on your C: drive (typically with the program files within the program EndNote™, in the subdirectory marked "Styles"). Type the filename "SOJNR.ens" in the dialog box and save. You will be able to retrieve the style under the name of SOJNR whenever you use EndNote™ to write your manuscriptsand put the file "SOJNR.ens" in your Style folder within EndNote™. Use this style to automatically format all your citations.