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Author Guidelines

Thank you for considering Professional Nursing Today in which to publish your paper.

Original research papers will be published according to an electronic long, paper short policy. Please prepare a popular abstract of 600-800 words for inclusion in the hard copy. The rest of the article will only be available online at www.pntonline.co.za

Review articles are published according to a predetermined editorial plan and the majority of review articles are, therefore, commissioned contents. All these articles undergo the standard peer review of the journal. Please contact the Editor, if you wish to submit a review article to the journal. Review articles are published under the following headings:

  1. Editorial
  2. Letters
  3. Leadership/Management/Professional Practice (ethical, legal)
  4. Awareness: articles on one of the upcoming health day topics according to the national health calendar. NGO news.
  5. Open Forum: typically the opinion articles that do not fit in any where else
  6. General Nursing
  7. Oncology Nursing
  8. Psychiatric nursing/ mental health
  9. Community Health/Primary health care/ Occupational health
    a. Chronic disease management
    b. Minor ailments
    c. Other clinical conditions
    d. Palliative Nursing/Home care
    e. Women’s health
    f. Adolescent health
    g. Men’s health
  10. Mother and Child Health
    a. Midwifery/Antenatal care/ Child Birth Educators
    b. Paediatrics
    i. Neonatology
    ii. Immunisation
    iii. Breastfeeding
    iv. Infant nutrition
  11. Infection Control communicable diseases
  12. Critical Care and trauma nursing.
  13. Theatre Nursing/Surgical disciplines
  14. Wound care/stoma care
  15. Conference Report/News from nursing organisations
  16. Case study
  17. Press releases


The following are basic guidelines for submitting an article:
All articles will be peer reviewed. Ensure that your manuscript “survives" the peer review by running your own internal review by a trusted colleague, a language expert and a potential reader

The following requirements should be met:

      * The article must be original
      * External sources must be given full acknowledgement
      * The copyright section on the reply form must be signed.

    We prefer online submissions at (Click on Information for authors, register, log in and CLICK HERE TO START THE SUBMISSION PROCESS). Alternatively, articles may be e-mailed directly to vicki@hypertension.org.za.

    Word processing: Typed in MS word, Times New Roman, font size 10, single spacing.

Author details
      *Name: Surname (lower case itals) INITIALS (upper case itals) comma, Qualifications (no punctuation, e.g. BSc(Nursing), not B.Sc.), Designation (Position, Hospital, Faculty, University) e.g. Smith JP, BSc(Nursing) Senior Lecturer, Dept of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stellenbosch
      * Correspondence to: Prof/Dr/Sr: First name Surname, e-mail address
      * For galley proofs: e-mail address, mobile phone number for SMS notification, office and fax numbers. Postal address for hard copies.

Images/figures/tables

      * Place images, figures and tables in the text where applicable (not at the end).
      * Numbers and names should be above the image/figure/table; abbreviations or footnotes below the image/figure/table.
      * Tables should be numbered in Roman numerals and bold (e.g. * Table I: Title of table not bold).
      * Figures: 1, 2, 3… should be numbered in Arabic numerals and bold (e.g. Figure 1: Title of figure not bold).
      * Images must be high/fine resolution, print optimised, 300 dpi resolution in jpeg or tiff format. Images must be originals; those from websites or scanned from text books are not acceptable.

Category and Length (excluding references)

      * Leadership/Management/Professional Practice, Open Forum, Awareness: 1200-1800 words
      * Letters: 400-600 words
      * Review articles: 2400-3000 words
      * Research articles: Abstract: 400-600 words (Background, Method, Results, Conclusion. This part will be featured in the hard copy), Body text: 2400-3000 words (Structured according to the same headings as in the abstract. This part will be published online only)
      * Case study: 1200 words (3 - 4 images) or small table.

Format

  1. Abstract
    100 - 200 words. Ensure that the main key words or terminology in the article are mentioned. The abstract will be used for international indexing and searching purposes and has replaced keywords. No reference numbers in abstract.
  2. Introduction
    a. Outline the objectives
    b. Convince the reader to read the article and of the importance of the topic .
  3. Body
    • Ensure that the objectives are met. Structure the headings according to the objectives
    • Write concisely, in the second person and in a narrative style. Don’t use “In my experience…"
    • Be challenging and provocative
    • Papers written according to the principles of evidence-based medicine are preferred
    • Consider including an algorithm to summarise an approach to a problem or condition
    • Include interesting boxes: see suggestions
    • Conclusions: Summarise the key points
    • Conflict of interest: Indicate, if any
    • Acknowledgement: Indicate, if any
    • References:
      The Vancouver Referencing System should be used.
      • References are listed in numerical order at the end of the article.
      • Reference numbers are inserted in superscript to the right of full stops and commas, e.g. .9 and to the left of colons and semi-colons, e.g. 9:
      • The following are sample references:
        a. London L, Baillie R. Notification of pesticide poisoning: knowledge, attitudes and practices of doctors in the rural Western Cape. S A Fam Pract. 1999;20(1):117-20.
        b. FDA Talk Paper: http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/2002/ANS01151.html (Accessed 04 October 2002).
        c. More sample references can be found at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html
      • Do not cross reference (i.e. do not use references from a review article’s reference list. If you state results from a published study, please use the original text as your source.
      • Do not use the MS Word “insert footnote" function. Simply place numbers within the text: 6 or 6,7,8 in superscript, e.g.6,7,8 (Select number in MS Word text > Format > Font > Tick superscript.)

    Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

     

    Submission Preparation Checklist

    As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

    1. The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
    2. The submission file is in Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
    3. When available, the URLs to access references online are provided, including those for open access versions of the reference. The URLs are ready to click (e.g., http://pkp.sfu.ca).
    4. The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
    5. The article has an abstract.
    6. The article has been language edited.
    7. The references are in Vancouver notation.
    8. The authors first and last names, current position, academic and professional qualifications and contact details have been included.
     

    Copyright Notice

    By submitting manuscripts to PNT, authors of original articles are assigning copyright to Medpharm Publications (Pty) Ltd. Authors may use their own work after publication without written permission, provided they acknowledge the original source. Individuals and academic institutions may freely copy and distribute articles published in PNT for educational and research purposes without obtaining permission.

     

    Privacy Statement

    The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

     


    This journal is hosted by: OpenJournals Publishing. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 South Africa License