Barbara Resnick, PhD, APRN, BC, FAANPDonna Fick, PhD, RN

Pamela Cacchione, PhD,CRNPChristine Kovach, PhD, RNKitty Buckwalter, PhD,RN

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The purpose of the Discussion is to state your interpretations and opinions, explain the implications of your findings, and make suggestions for future research.

Its main function is to answer the questions posed in the Introduction, explain how the results support the answers and how the answers fit in with existing knowledge on the topic.

The Discussion is considered the heart of the paper and usually requires several writing attempts.

The organization of the Discussion is important.

Make it short and sweet-clearly and fully stating, supporting, explaining, and defending your take home points.

Care must be taken to provide a commentary and not a reiteration of the results.

Side issues should not be included.

Organize from specific to the general: your findings to the literature, to theory, to practice.

Use the same key terms and the same point of view as the introduction.

Begin by re-stating your hypothesis-then summarize whether this was supported or not.

Explain how your results relate to expectations and the literature.

Address all the results relating to the hypotheses/questions, whether or not the

findings were statistically significant. Describe the patterns, principles, and

relationships shown by each major finding and put them in perspective.

Discuss and evaluate conflicting explanations of the results.

Discuss any unexpected findings.

Identify potential limitations andweaknesses and comment on importance of these to your interpretation of the results. Summarize concisely the principal implications of the findings. Provide recommendations (no more than two) for further research. Explain how the results and conclusions of this study are important and how theyinfluence our knowledge or understanding of the problem being examined.

Professionally acknowledge individuals and organizations that were important in making your study possible. Avoid being "gushy" or overly flip.

  Feel free to acknowledge the help of this

project: The University of Maryland Online Dissemination and Implementation Institute funded by the University of Maryland and the John A. Hartford Foundation.

2012 NAHRS Selected List of Nursing Journals

www.nurseauthorandeditor.com

Beall’s List of Predatory Open-Access Publishers

Hartford list of geriatric focused nursing journals

JAMDAJAGSJAPAAnnals of Behavioral Medicine

Journal of Nursing Administration Journal of Professional Nursing Medical Care Medical Ethics Translational Behavioral Medicine Journals focused on cardiology; acute care;

oncology; dermatology; orthopedics etc.

1. Clinical issues for all types of nurses2. Research/scholarship for all nursing or

health care topics3. Specialty focus-clinical and/or research4. Education5. Management

Measure of citations Total number of citations received by a

journal in a given year to articles published in the previous two years divided by total number of citable items in that two year period

Many journals are not included in ISI database

Right audience Right level Right time-special issue or topic overdone? Right style-word limits, journal guidelines

May want to pick 2-3 journals and rank

Stick to format type of manuscript that journal publishes

Read the guidelines◦ Ask the managing editor….particularly if

something does not make sense

Look for ‘lengthy words’ & replace with simpler words/phases.

Simplify sentences of more than 20 words Shorten paragraphs of more than 8

sentences Delete unnecessary punctuation Use consistent terms Minimize abbreviations Run spell/grammar check

Write in active voice where the subject comes before the verb. Example:

“The nurse injected the patient”, rather than

“The injection was given by the nurse”

Past tense for events of the past (e.g., previous research)

Present tense when giving instruction

Future tense for events yet to occur

CopyrightAuthorshipPlagarism

The author(s) or author’s employer is usually copyright holder, unless and until you transfer the copyright to someone else in a signed agreement (e.g. publisher)

Assigning your rights matters: An author who has transferred copyright w/o retaining these rights must ask permission

The copyright holder controls the workTransferring copyright doesn’t have to be

all or nothing

Types of copyright agreements, licenses vs transfer: Varies between journals—CHECK POLICY

Enables owners of intellectual property to retain copyright in journal article, but publisher retains commercial publishing and journal compilation rights

Allows articles to be published and made freely available for online access, enables owners of intellectual property to retain copyright

Authors relinquish copyright Open Access Journals—may not require copyright

transfer

Authorship=responsibility for published article

Reflects significant contribution in 2 or more areas• Conception/design• Execution• Data analysis & interpretation• Manuscript preparation and revision

PI=overall responsibility for all pubs from a project, but ALL authors review final ms & accept responsibility for the work

ALL 3 Must Be Present:

Substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of dataDrafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual contentFinal approval of the version to be published

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Acquisition of fundingThe collection of dataSupervision of the research groupFinancial or technical assistanceSite acquisition◦Acknowledgement of the above is appropriate

Standards vary by field/discipline (author order conventions)

Open discussion—all authors—written agreement

Weigh contributions. If equal across multiple papers may rotate authorship

Each author provides written statement of contributions

As appropriate and consistent with guidelines for authorship:Include students as authorsStudents can/should include dissertation

committee members

Discuss authorship/expectations at project beginning.

Determine authorship & order at onset of paper development

Discussion should include what to do if an author “drops out”

Evaluate performance prior to submissionDeceased authors should be listed with

footnoteIf authorship dispute emerges after

publication (e.g. name added or withdrawn), editor contacts corresponding author to establish veracity

It is UNETHICAL to submit the same or similar material in different journals

The principle is distributive justiceMost journals consider only work not

published elsewhere For some journals authors must provide

copies of all related materials/publications

“Is there anything…that would embarrass you if it were to emerge after publication and you had not declared it?” Lancet, 1998

That is, by not disclosing interests the validity of the results would be undermined as well as the integrity of the author(s).

Evidence of “competing interests/loyalties”

Be prepared…if you are not familiar with the webpage or the journal and the electronic submission process it may take an hour or two.

After submission be prepared to wait for a few months!

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Consider yourself lucky if you are invited to revise and resubmit!◦Expect to make revisions

Follow ALL reviewers’ suggestions

Provide a cover letter with each of your responses

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Receive feedback from the editor Summarize how reviewers’ comments were

addressed Justify suggestions not followed Contact editor with questions

Copy the review and respond to each item directly in paragraph form

Do not simply indicate in a one sentence letter that all reviewer comments have been addressed.

Do not try and skip any comment You may disagree with comments – just

provide a rational for why you disagree and what you are doing instead.

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Carefully read the entire manuscript

Answer author queriesMeet the return deadline

Submit your full manuscript for review by October 31st (yes, Halloween!) and let us know if you want to get your manuscript into the Geriatric Nursing Supplement or where you plan to submit.

Feedback will be provided in terms of reviewer comments on the paper and further information/recommendations on the submission process.