Journal clubs are valuable to motivate new nurses to write for publication, because they help prospective nurse authors to gain confidence in their own ideas. Journal clubs are frequently used in medical and nursing education and management practice to summarize current literature (Linzer, Flarey), however these clubs can also encourage new nurse authors. If you are a Dean, Faculty Development Director, Nursing Director, Research Coordinator, Clinical Nurse Specialist, or Inservice Director, you probably want to motivate colleagues in your department to write for publication. Developing a journal club which reviews articles or books for writing style as well as content is a good way to motivate these nurses to develop their own publication ideas. Many members eventually see “their” good ideas in print when another author publishes that idea. This supports them that their ideas are indeed good, and encourages them to write and submit a manuscript on their next idea. The clubs are very effective in encouraging staff nurses, middle managers, graduate students, and new faculty to write for publication, since they are motivated to attend the journal club for synthesis of the latest literature. Yet, at the same time an experience coordinator can encourage them in their own publishing efforts. Journal clubs must be well organized and directed in order to be successful with on-going interest of members. From my experience with journal clubs, the following recommendations can make these group meetings effective in encouraging nurses to develop unique ideas for publication. Journal Clubs can help the nurse author to develop timely topics. In developing a journal club which has the secondary purpose to encourage authors, select a well established nurse author to serve as the group's coordinator. This facilitates a mentoring relationship with the club's members. Membership should be open to all nurses interested in developing their writing skills. To enhance learning and group interaction, limit the club to eight members. If a large number of nurses express a desire to participate, then form several different clubs with a different focus for each one such as the review of critical care, psychiatric, surgical, staff development, education, management, or other specialty publications. Conduct a writing skills workshop for the club members. The content should include topic development, literature review, thesis statement, writing styles, outline development, and the use of charts and graphs. In one session, describe the publication process. This includes a description of author queries, peer review process, journal guidelines for manuscript preparation, nursing journal opportunities, role of the editorial board, acceptance process, and coping with rejection. When possible, a “hands-on” writing lab will also help the members overcome that initial fear of manuscript development. One of the most effective means of learning to write for publication is learning to critique and analyze articles. By performing a critical analysis of published works, aspiring authors can not only learn excellent writing skills, but begin to establish high standards for quality manuscript development. Such standards may then be applied to their own work. The critical analysis of articles needs to be systematic and focused. The coordinator may want to conduct the initial reviews as a teaching method for the group. The group should then be encouraged to take over the process while the coordinator assumes the role of facilitator and mentor. The method of presentation can be varied. Each member may present an article to the group, or the group may critically review the articles together. Each article should be reviewed not only for content, but also for writing style and organization. While journal clubs teach nursing content and skills in critical thinking, they can also teach writing skills for publication. Most members will notice that they can “at least do as well as what is already published,” thus increasing their motivation and confidence to publish their own ideas. — Dominick L. Flarey RN,C PhD MBA CNAA, is Associate Administrator for Nursing Services at the Youngstown Osteopathic Hospital, Youngstown, Ohio, (216) 744-9362. Now that many authors use computers to develop their manuscript, they seem very excited to use the page heading feature. Many manuscripts are submitted with the authors name and article title on every page. In this day of blind reviews of manuscripts, the editorial office has to take off the names before sending it to reviewers. This takes considerable time and money and; slows down the review process for your manuscript. If you want to help speed the review process, put the article title, author names, addresses, and other contact information on a cover page which can easily be removed. — Barbara E. Bishop RN MN FAAN, Editor, MCN: The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing.