Aims and Scope

Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Sciences(JNMS) aims to promote communication among Nursing and Midwifery researchers worldwide. This journal publishes original works within the area of Nursing and Midwifery. It is an international journal with editorial and consultant contributors from various parts of the world, and is published quarterly. 

Guidelines for Authors 

Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Sciences(JNMS) is a Nursing and Midwifery journal that publishes original research articles, brief report, short communications, review articles, editorials, letters to editor, and case reports. Contributions in any of these formats are invited for editorial consideration following peer review by at least three experts in the field.  

Manuscript 

All manuscript must be submitted on-line through the paper neither was published already nor is being under review elsewhere. Authors are advised to write in clear and simple English and to have their article checked by colleagues before submission. Each of the following sections should start on a separate page: abstract, text, references, tables, and figures legends. Indent the first line of each paragraph. Abbreviation (except for measurements) and acronyms are discouraged. Use metric units whenever practical. All pages should be numbered, with the title page as page number one. Avoid footnotes in the text. The right margins of the text should be ragged rather than justified. Information identifying authors should be omitted from the manuscript pages, except for the title page (see below). Acknowledgments should be listed on a separate page. 

Submission Files 

Main submission file must be prepared in Microsoft Word document file format (*.doc). Please do not use sophisticated formatting and page styles, as these lead to some problem in file processing. If the references have been prepared using Endnote software or similar programs, please ensure to remove the reference manager links from the file before submission. Otherwise these references may not be visible under certain platforms. All tables must be present in the main submission file and they may not embedded as graphics. All figures, pictures, graphics or images must be submitted as supplementary files (see below). 

Title page 

The title page should include the main title, an abbreviated running title of 45 characters or fewer, a word count for the text, the full names and affiliations of each author, the name and complete address of the author to whom reprint requests or correspondence should be addressed, and if applicable, financial support information, including granting agency and grant number. The institutions listed should reflect the authors’ affiliations at the time that the work was done, rather than their present affiliation. 

Abstract 

An abstract should accompany each original article, review article. The abstract should be limited to 250 words for original or review articles and 100 words for short communication or case report. It should include the background and purpose, methods, results, and conclusion sections separately, except for review articles and case reports. It should describe the research purposes or motivation for the paper, the main findings or viewpoints and central conclusions. It should be factual, and give quantified findings in preference to descriptive language. It should contain no references or abbreviations. On the abstract page, authors should include a list of important keywords, which will be published with the paper and used for indexing. Key words should conform to the Medical Subject Headings used in Index Medicus (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html) if possible. 

Original Articles 

Original articles should be limited to 5,000 words. The paper should clearly describe the reason for undertaking the work, and present methods used and the results found in separate sections. Scientific interpretations based on the findings should be presented in a discussion section; a self critical / examination of the findings is encouraged. 

Original articles must use the following headins

Introduction: This should contain a description of the problem under investigation and relevant background information and published studies should be described concisely, and be cited appropriately.  

Materials and Methods: The methods, apparatus and procedures should be identified in sufficient details. Avoid redescribing methods frequently cited before; only relevant modifications should be included in the text. For experiments on humans, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accord with the standards of the ethics Committee of the institution in which the experiments were done. For drugs the generic name should be used. Trade names may appear in parentheses and should be capitalized.  

Results: This section should include the findings of the study. Data should not be repeated in both a Table and a Figure.  

Discussion: It should relate the results to previous works and interpret them not a simple recapitulate of the Results.  

Acknowledgments: This optional part should include a statement thanking those who assisted substantially with work relevant to the study. Grant support should be included in this section. 

Letters to Editor 

Letters to editor on any topic of interest to nursing and midwifery will be considered for publication. Letters should be double spaced and limited to 400 words, with 5 or fewer refrences and no table and figure. 

Brief Report 

Bief definitive reports of highly significant and timely findings. Advance should be 3.000 words long, with an abstract of no more than 150 word, a one-paragraph introduction, an abbreviated Materials and Methods section, Results and Discussion sections (Which may be combined) and no more than a total of 4 tables or figures. 

Short Communication 

Short Communications are treated like original articles, except that they should be limited to 1400 words, with an abstract of 100 words or fewer. 

Review Articles 

A review article is an analysis and collection of the current state of the research on a particular topic. It is not an original article with new data but represents: 

· The main people working in a field

· Recent major advances and discoveries

· Significant gaps in the research

· Current debates

· Ideas of where research might go next

Review articles are usually invited by the Editor, although we will consider unsolicited material. All review articles, even if invited, undergo the same peer-review and editorial process as original research reports. These articles do not include an abstract. The text is limited to 3000 words, with a maximum of 6 tables and figures (total) and up to 100 references. 

Editorials 

Unsolicited editorials will be reviewed for publication as short commentaries on topics of current interest to Nursing & Midwifery practitioners. Editorials should be 1,200 words or fewer. 

Case Report 

Case report is a detailed report of the assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation and follow up of an individual patient and contains: 1) unique cases that may represent a previously undescribed condition; 2) unexpected and important association of two or more diseases; 3) any other clinical observation based upon well-documented cases that provides important new information. 

References 

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of all references. These should be numbered sequentially as superscripts in order of their appearance in the text and listed in a separate section following the text, double-spaced. All authors and inclusive page numbers should be limited to published works; unpublished data or personal communications should be indicated parenthetically in the text. Numbered references should appear at the end of the article and should consist of surnames, and initials of all authors when six or less, when seven or more list the first six and add et al, Title of article, name of journal abbreviated according to Index Medicus style, year, volume, first and last page numbers, e.g. Parkin DM, Clayton D, Black RJ, Masuyer E, Fried L HP, Ivanov E, et al. Childhood leukaemia in Europe after Chernobyl: 5 year follow-up. Br J cancer 1990; 73:1006-l2. For books, names and initials of all authors, the full title, place of publication, publisher, year of publication, and page number should be given. 

References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in parentheses. References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure.  

Use the style of the examples below, which are based on the formats used by the NLM in Index Medicus.The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. Consult the List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus, published annually as a separate publication by the library and as a list in the January issue of Index Medicus. The list can also be obtained through the library's web site ( http://www.nlm.nih.gov ).  

References to papers or books accepted but not yet published should be designated as "in press"; authors should obtain written permission to cite such papers as well as verification that they have been accepted for publication. Information from manuscripts submitted but not accepted should be cited in the text as " unpublished observations" with written permission from the source . Avoid citing a "personal communication " unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communication should be cited in parentheses in the text. For scientific articles, authors should obtain written permission and confirmation of accuracy from the source of a personal communication.  

Articles in Journals  

1. Standard journal article  

List the first six authors followed by et al. Zinbarg RE, Barlow DH, Liebowitz M, Street L, Broadhead E, Katon W, et al. The DSM-IV field trial for mixed anxiety-depression. Am J Psychiatry 1994; 151:1153-62. 

2. Organization as author 

The Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. Clinical exercise stress testing. Safety and performance guidelines. Med J Aust 1996; 164 : 282-4.  

3. No author given  

Cancer in South Africa [ editorial]. S Afr Med J 1994; 84: 15.   

4. Article not in English  

 ( Note: Translate the title to English, enclose the translation in square brackets, and add an abbreviated language designator .)  

Zarghami M, Khalilian AR. [ Epidemiology of committing suicide in Kordkouy.] Pejouhandeh 2003-04; 8(5): 361-70 . Persian 

5. Volume with supplement  

Shen HM, Zhang QF. Risk assessment of nickel carcinogenicity and occupational lung cancer. Environ Health Perspect 1994; 102 Suppl 1: 275-82 

6. Issue with supplement 

Payne DK, Sullivan MD, Massie MJ. Women's psychological reactions to breast cancer. Semin Oncol 1996; 23(1 Suppl 2): 89-97. 

7. Volume with part 

Ozben T, Nacitarhan S, Tuncer N. Plasma and urine sialic acid in non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Ann Clin Biochem 1995; 32(Pt 3): 303-6. 

8. Issue with part  

Poole GH, Mills SM. One hundred consecutive cases of flap lacerations of the leg in ageing patients. N Z Med J 1994; 107(986 Pt 1): 377-8. 

9. Issue with no volume 

Turan I, Wredmark T, Fellander-Tsai L. Arthroscopic ankle arthrodesis in rheumatoid arthritis. Clin Orthop 1995; (320 ): 110-4.  

10. No issue or volume 

Browell DA, Lennard TW. Immunologic status of the cancer patient and the effects of blood transfusion on antitumor responses. Curr Opin Gen Surg 1993: 325-33. 

11. Pagination in Roman numerals  

Fisher GA, Sikic BI. Drug resistance in clinical oncology and hematology. Introduction. Hematol Oncol Clin North Am 1995 Apr; 9(2): xi-xii. 

12. Type of article indicated as needed  

Enzensberger W, Fischer PA. Metronome in Parkinson's disease [letter]. Lancet 1996; 347:1337.  

Clement J, De Bock R. Hematological complications of hantavirus nephropathy (HVN) [abstract]. Kidney Int 1992; 42 : 1285. 

 13. Article containing retraction  

Garey CE, Schwarzman AL, Rise ML , Seyfried TN. Ceruloplasmin gene defect associated with epilepsy in EL mice [ retraction of Garey CE, Schwarzman AL, Rise ML, Seyfried TN. In: Nat Genet 1994; 6: 426-31]. Nat Genet 1995; 11: 104.  

14. Article retracted 

Liou GI, Wang M, Matragoon S. Precocious IRBP gene expression during mouse development [retracted in Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1994; 35: 3127]. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1994; 35: 1083-8. 

15. Article with published erratum  

Hamlin JA, Kahn AM. Herniography in symptomatic patients following inguinal hernia repair [published erratum appears in West J Med 1995; 162: 278]. West J Med 1995; 162: 28-31.  

Books and Other Monographs  

16. Personal author(s ) 

Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996. 

17. Editor(s), compiler(s) as author  

Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editors. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996. 

18. Organization as author and publisher  

Institute of Medicine ( US). Looking at the future of the Medicaid program. Washington: The Institute; 1992. 

19. Chapter in a book

Mojtabai R. Acute and transient psychotic disorders and brief psychotic disorder . In: Sadock BJ, MD and Sadock VA, MD editors. Kaplan and Sadock's Comprehensive textbook of psychiatry. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 2005. Vol. 2. p. 1512-22 

20. Conference proceedings  

Kimura J, Shibasaki H, editors. Recent advances in clinical neurophysiology. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of EMG and Clinical Neurophysiology; 1995 Oct 15-19 ; Kyoto , Japan . Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1996. 

21Conference paper 

Bengtsson S, Solheim BG. Enforcement of data protection, privacy and security in medical informatics. In: Lun KC, Degoulet P, Piemme TE, Rienhoff O, editors. MEDINFO 92. Proceedings of the 7th World Congress on Medical Informatics; 1992 Sep 6-10; Geneva , Switzerland . Amsterdam: North-Holland; 1992. p. 1561-5.  

22. Scientific or technical report 

Issued by funding/sponsoring agency: Smith P, Golladay K. Payment for durable medical equipment billed during skilled nursing facility stays. Final report. Dallas (TX): Dept. of Health and Human Services (US), Office of Evaluation and Inspections; 1994 Oct. Report No .: HHSIGOEI69200860. Issued by performing agency: Field MJ, Tranquada RE, Feasley JC, editors. Health services research: work force and educational issues. Washington: National Academy Press; 1995. Contract No.: AHCPR282942008. Sponsored by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research.  

23. Dissertation 

Kaplan SJ. Post-hospital home health care: the elderly's access and utilization [dissertation]. St. Louis (MO): Washington Univ.; 1995 .  

24. Patent 

Larsen CE, Trip R, Johnson CR , inventors; Novoste Corporation, assignee . Methods for procedures related to the electrophysiology of the heart. US patent 5,529,067. 1995 Jun 25. 

Tables 

Tables should be typed double spaced, presented on separate pages after the references, and numbered in the order in which they are cited in the text. Table headers should be fully descriptive of the contents, and whenever possible should be comprehensible without reference to the text. Tables should supplement, not duplicate, the text. Use only horizontal rules 

Figures 

Each figure must be prepared and submitted as a graphic file (tiff image) with high resolution. Upon acceptance of the paper the authors must prepare and submit the figures in a high resolution format in accordance with the Pubmed Central preferred image file specification at 

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/about/preferred.html. For the details (see 

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/about/image_quality_table.html) of image file specifications 

please refer to the Pubmed Central documents. Failure to submit the required image format in time, may cause delay in the publication of the accepted papers. Keep wording on figures to a minimum, with explanations written in the figure legends. Legends for figures should be placed at the end of the main submission file. Figure legends should not be part of the figure proper. Line drawings and graphs should be professionally drawn and lettered; freehand or typewritten lettering is unacceptable. 

Copyright 

Authors must transfer copyright of their articles to the Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Sciences(JNMS), as pointed out at manuscript checklist. 

Reprint 

After publication, authors will receive one copy of journal containing their article. 

Conflict of interests and ethical consideration 

Authors must identify any potential financial conflicts of interest before the review process begins. Declared conflict of interest will not automatically result in refection of paper but the editors reserve the right to publish any declared conflict of interest alongside accepted. The following would generally be regarded as potential conflicts of interest: 

1. Direct financial payment to an author for the research or manuscript production by the sponsor of a product or service evaluated in an article. 

2. Ownership of shares by an author in the company sponsoring a product service evaluated in an 

article (or in a company sponsoring a competing product). 

3. Personal consultant with companies or other organizations with a financial interest in the promotion of particular health care products and services. 

4. In the case of researches on human subjects, inform consent and other ethical considerations should be mentioned in the "methods" section of the manuscript. 

5. All manuscripts from RCT researches should be registered and include their registeration number. An example of a valid registery for RCTs is (www.irct.ir).  

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. I as the corresponding author of this paper agree with all terms and conditions of the journal as is stated here. In addition I will be responsible for any damages and charges which may result from submission and publication of this paper 

2. In addition to be the submitter of this manuscript I am an author of this paper and my name is VI included in the authors list of the manuscript 

3. 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). In addition I will not submit my paper to another journal without sending a withdrawal notice signed by all authors and send by ordinary mail. 

4. If I decided to withdraw my paper, I will inform the editorial office of my decision in time before the editorial decision. Otherwise I agree to pay the cost of article processing as will be determined by the editorial office. 

5. The submission file is in Microsoft Word document filfe format (*.doc). The text is double-spaced; uses a 12-point font. 

6. The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the author guidelines, which is available in the journal web site under 'About' the Journal (http://journals.mui.ac.ir/ijnmr/about/submissions#authorGuidelines) 

7. Name of all authors are included in the full text of the article and also in the Article Metadata (step 2 submission). Any discrepancy between the names, number and order of the authors between the full text and the metadata in the step 2 submission may lead to initial rejection of the paper. 

8. Each figure is prepared as a tiff graphic file, and will be submitted as supplementary files. 

Peer Review Process 

All manuscripts are double-blind reviewed. Where appropriate, health services research statisticians review papers with statistical content. When the reviews are returned, the editor assigned to the paper reads the paper again and indentifies any further modifications needed before the paper can be accepted. Our policy like that of other journals is that the reviewer's role is to advice the editor but it is the latter who makes the final decision. 

Copyright 

Authors must transfer copyright of their articles to the Journals of Nursing and Midwifery Sciences(JNMS), as pointer out at manuscript checklist.