Write for Us

Evidence-Based Nursing publishes articles in three categories. Follow the links for more information and how to submit each article type:

Authors who are looking to write for the EBN blog should read the How to Write a Great Blog guidance. Authors are encouraged to include their Twitter handles in their profiles on the submission system should they wish to engage with the editorial team on Twitter post-publication. A rapid response is a moderated but not peer reviewed online response to a published article in Evidence-Based Nursing; it will not receive a DOI and will not be indexed. Find out more about responses and how to submit a response.

Evidence-Based Nursing is looking for authors to write commentaries for the journal. Authors need not have a PhD, but they should have experience in writing papers. We are also happy to commission less experienced authors if you have a more experienced colleague you can write with. Authors will ideally be nurses or midwives, but other healthcare professionals may register their interest. The aim of a commentary is to discuss, in no more than 800 words:

1. The context of the problem addressed by the paper
2. A brief description and critique of the methods, results & conclusions
3. implications for practice
4. How the results fit in with what is currently known in the field

You can read free examples of a commentary on a research paper and a commentary on a systematic review. For more information on the structure, length and referencing for commentaries, please see our Guidelines for Commentaries. To register your interest, please fill in this form. Please note that personal data provided by you will be treated in accordance with BMJ’s Privacy Notice. You may also wish to use the language editing and translation services provided by BMJ Author Services.

Evidence-Based Nursing publishes three different types of Research Discussion article:

• Research Made Simple: These articles are an opportunity to publish an overview of a fundamental element of research. These primers should aim to make potentially complex research methods, approaches and concepts accessible to EBN readers. Articles should either focus on a specific approach to research (e.g. “What are Delphi Studies?”), particular concepts that are fundamental to understanding research (e.g. “What are Sensitivity and Specificity?”), or practical approaches to completing research (e.g. “Data collection in qualitative research”).
• Research Masterclass: These articles discuss a specific research method and then provide a detailed example of its use. This example could either be the author’s own published research, or could be another piece of published literature which provides an exemplar of nursing research which uses that approach. Approximately half of the article should focus on exploring and summarising the approach (e.g. constructivist grounded theory); the second half should discuss a case study of how that approach has been used effectively to develop the nursing evidence base. The primary research discussed in the masterclass must have been published previously, and the article should cite this publication. It will therefore be similar to a commentary, but with a very specific focus on the method (or one element of it).
• Research Opinion: These articles discuss a particular – and potentially contentious – issue related to nursing research. It is an opportunity for you to outline the issue, explore the different opinions within the research community, and to articulate your own view. You could look at broad issues (e.g. is qualitative research generalisable?), or more practical questions (e.g. are video-mediated research interviews an acceptable alternative to face-to-face?).

Word length: A research discussion article should be no more than 1500 words in length. This word length includes all text (including that within tables) and references, including text within tables. Referencing: In-text citations must be numbered sequentially as they appear in the text, and this should be mirrored in the reference list. Journals from BMJ use a slightly modified version of Vancouver referencing style available in Endnote. To register your interest, please fill in this form. Please note that personal data provided by you will be treated in accordance with BMJ’s Privacy Notice.

Evidence Based Nursing is keen to ensure we provide our readers with information about the evidence for nursing and midwifery education as well as clinical practice. One of the ways we do this is via our series Evidence for nurse education. Papers in this series provide a summary of a systematic review carried out in area relevant to nurse and/or midwifery education. If you are interested in contributing to this series please email: info.ebn@bmj.com with the subject line of “Evidence for education – proposed review”. Please attach a copy of the systematic review you propose to precis to your email. Please note that personal data provided by you will be treated in accordance with BMJ’s Privacy Notice. To register your interest, please email info.ebn@bmj.com. Please note that personal data provided by you will be treated in accordance with BMJ’s Privacy Notice.

Instructions for authors

1. Before starting to write your educational summary please:
   • a) Review the first two papers in the series, “Effectiveness of empathy education for undergraduate nursing students” and “Impact of COVID-19 on nursing students’ mental health: a systematic review and meta-analysis”. These are free to read and download.
   • b) Please also download the template for the educational summaries.
2. The first bullet point of the background and purpose section must include the citation for the systematic review you are precising (as indicated in the template).
3. Following the style used in the two examples and the template provided, summarise the systematic review using bullet points and plain English. Please remember to explain terms people may not understand.
4. Remember to include a title for the paper and ensure the information provided fits on one page of A4 (Times New Roman 12 or Arial 11).
5. When you have completed the educational summary, please submit via ScholarOne.
6. If you have any questions please email them to info.ebn@bmj.com.

Evidence-Based Nursing adheres to the highest standards concerning its editorial policies on publication ethics, scientific misconduct, consent and peer review criteria. The journal follows guidance produced by bodies that include the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).To view all BMJ Journal policies please refer to the BMJ Author Hub policies page.

We take seriously all possible misconduct. If an Editor, author or reader has concerns that a submitted article describes something that might be considered to constitute misconduct in research, publication or professional behaviour they should forward their concerns to the journal. The publisher will deal with allegations appropriately.

Articles are published under an exclusive licence or non-exclusive licence for UK Crown employees or where BMJ has agreed CC BY applies. For US Federal Government officers or employees acting as part of their official duties, the terms are as stated in accordance with our licence terms. Authors or their employers retain copyright. Open access articles can be reused under the terms of the relevant Creative Commons licence to facilitate reuse of the content; please refer to the Evidence-Based Nursing Author Licence for the applicable Creative Commons licences. More information on copyright and authors’ rights.

When publishing in Evidence-Based Nursing, authors choose between three licence types – exclusive licence granted to BMJ, CC-BY-NC and CC-BY (Creative Commons open access licences require payment of an article processing charge). As an author you may wish to post your article in an institutional or subject repository, or on a scientific social sharing network. You may also link your published article to your preprint (if applicable). What you can do with your article, without seeking permission, depends on the licence you have chosen and the version of your article. Please refer to the BMJ author self archiving and permissions policies page for more information.

During submission, authors can choose to have their article published open access for 2,300 GBP (exclusive of VAT for UK and EU authors). There are no submission, page or online-only colour figure charges.

For more information on open access, funder compliance and institutional programmes please refer to the BMJ Author Hub open access page.

The BMJ Publishing Group journals are willing to consider publishing supplements to regular issues. Supplement proposals may be made at the request of:

• The journal editor, an editorial board member or a learned society may wish to organise a meeting, sponsorship may be sought and the proceedings published as a supplement.
• The journal editor, editorial board member or learned society may wish to commission a supplement on a particular theme or topic. Again, sponsorship may be sought.
• The BMJPG itself may have proposals for supplements where sponsorship may be necessary.
• A sponsoring organisation, often a pharmaceutical company or a charitable foundation, that wishes to arrange a meeting, the proceedings of which will be published as a supplement.

In all cases, it is vital that the journal’s integrity, independence and academic reputation is not compromised in any way.

For further information on criteria that must be fulfilled, download the supplements guidelines. When contacting us regarding a potential supplement, please include as much of the information below as possible.

• Journal in which you would like the supplement published
• Title of supplement and/or meeting on which it is based
• Date of meeting on which it is based
• Proposed table of contents with provisional article titles and proposed authors
• An indication of whether authors have agreed to participate
• Sponsor information including any relevant deadlines
• An indication of the expected length of each paper Guest Editor proposals if appropriate