Nursing in Critical Care – making a healthy progress

Abstract

Wishing all our readers a Happy and Successful New Year. In the first issue of Volume 14, we are delighted to provide some information about the journal and to advise you of some new developments planned for this coming year. The journal has enjoyed going from strength to strength, and this in no small part is because of the quality of the papers submitted to Nursing in Critical Care (NCR) and the tireless efforts of the review panel, the National and International Advisory Board members. We are particularly proud of the journal’s content that covers material for all critical care nurses at whatever stage in their career. Evidence from a recent BACCN survey conducted over 3 months ending October 2008 indicates that members (n = 49) who replied found the journal to be informative, valuable, credible and to reflect the realities of practice. As one individual commented: ‘The scope and breadth of clinical, professional and research papers in the journal are balanced and of adequate scholarship’. We are pleased to say that articles from the 2007 Volume of NCR were downloaded 80 651 times through Blackwell Synergy and other on line hosts. This represents a 35% increase in downloads on the previous year. Under another licensing agreement, articles from the journal were downloaded an additional 78 651 times. In addition, the total number of readers signed up to e-toc, a free email alerting service of published articles in the latest edition of the journal, has increased by 7% on the last annual figure. The total number of libraries with access to the journal has increased from 3695 in 2006 to 4767 in 2007. This represents a growth of 108%. Libraries with access through philanthropic programmes means that the journal reaches clinicians working in more than 100 of the world’s poorest countries. These figures reflect a particularly buoyant interest in the journal. We are indebted to Wiley for the continuing support and promotion of NCR to achieve this level of growth in circulation for the journal. As an outcome, if you want your research or practice development to be read by nurses in critical care both nationally and internationally, then NCR is well placed to ensure your message gets through to your peers both at home and at abroad. We are committed to keeping the journal dynamic, stimulating and relevant to our readership, and to this effect, we have commissioned a series of clinical papers from eminent clinicians and academics who are specialists on given subjects. Additionally, we are going to pilot a new series this year entitled ‘Revision Notes/essential principles’ and will be inviting leading scholars in the field to write notes to facilitate clinicians who teach new skills to junior colleagues. The first two subjects will be on cardiac monitoring and blood gases. We welcome any feedback on this new section to the journal, and you can provide this either by taking part in an evaluation at BACCN International Conference or by commenting to the editors. If you feel a specific area would be of particular interest to our readership, please do not hesitate to make this known to us. We wish to encourage authors to write about unusual critical care case studies that presented specific challenges for the nursing staff and demonstrate how those were resolved. For guidance on the approach and in particular on ensuring confidentiality, please see the guidance notes (Editors Note: NCR, 2007, Vol 12, No 4 p. 175) and the inaugural paper in this theme written by Maureen Coombs in the same edition (pp. 176–180). The journal is only as lively and stimulating as the papers that are submitted. We do encourage first-time authors to write for the journal and offer a variety of writing workshops, usually at the BACCN conference, but on request at regional meetings, to facilitate novice authors. If you would like to test out an idea for a paper you can submit an outline proposal to the editors for feedback and advice. It is only in the most exceptional cases that a paper is accepted without any changes, it is more usual that some revisions will need to be made to further enhance the quality of the manuscript. But our reviewers will provide clear and constructive feedback to guide you into what needs to be developed to achieve publishing standards. All authors are required to comply with our guidelines for the submission of papers set out in the front of each issue. We look forward to another exciting year for the journal and as always we welcome your comments, commentaries and contributions.