David Barrett; Deputy Editor, Evidence-Based Nursing Journal

At Evidence-Based Nursing (EBN) journal we seek to promote high-quality research through the publication of commentaries, summaries and opinion pieces. The journal is dependent on contributions from nurses and the broader healthcare community, and we are always looking for new authors.

If you’re interested in writing for us, then there are a host of different ways to get involved…

Commentaries

The bulk of the journal’s material comprises commentaries on published research. Each month, the EBN editorial team selects a set of articles previously published in nursing and healthcare journals and reaches out to our author database to request commentaries on those articles.

The aims of a commentary are to summarize a selected research paper, to identify the key implications for nursing, to set the findings in a wider context and to critique the paper itself. Commentaries are no more than 800 words in length, and include a brief overview of the context of the article, a description and critique of the methods, results and conclusions, and an exploration of the implications for practice and research.

Commentaries can be on primary research papers – an example of which can be found here – or they can be on literature reviews (see example here). Full author guidelines for commentaries can be found on our website.

Research discussion articles:

EBN also publishes three types of research discussion article, each of which should be no more than 1500 words in length. For many years, we have published Research Made Simple articles. These are an opportunity for you to provide an engaging and simple overview of research methods, approaches or concepts. Research Made Simple articles should either focus on a specific approach to research (e.g. ‘What are Delphi Studies?’), particular concepts that are fundamental to understanding research (e.g. ‘What are Sensitivity and Specificity?’), or practical approaches to completing research (e.g. ‘Data Collection in Qualitative Research’).

From 2022, we will be launching two new types of research discussion article. First, there will be our Research Masterclass papers. These articles discuss a specific research method and then explore an example of its use, which must have been published previously in another journal (and could even be a piece of your own work). For example, you could choose to outline what is meant by constructivist grounded theory, and then use a piece of published research to demonstrate its application in practice. Research masterclasses are therefore similar to commentaries, but with a very specific focus on the method (or one element of it).

Next, there are our Research Opinion papers. These articles discuss a particular – and potentially contentious – issue related to nursing research. It is an opportunity for you to outline the issue, explore the different opinions within the research community, and to articulate your own view. You could look at broad issues (e.g. is qualitative research generalisable?), or more practical questions (e.g. are video-mediated research interviews an acceptable alternative to face-to-face?)

Evidence for Nurse Education

The final type of article published in EBN is ‘Evidence for Nurse Education’. These are short articles that provide a ‘bullet-point’ summary of a systematic review which links to nurse education. The summaries include the background of the review, the methods used, key findings, areas for future research, and take-home messages. An example focused on the impact of COVID-19 on nursing students’ mental health can be found here.

Blogs

If you’ve got something you want to write about linked to nursing practice and nursing research, but it doesn’t fit with our journal article types, then don’t forget that we also have a blog! This is the perfect opportunity for first-time or experienced authors to outline an issue of importance to the nursing profession. Our guidance on how to write a great blog can be found here.

Getting in touch

If you are interested in writing for us, or just want to discuss some ideas, we’d love to hear from you!

To join our pool of commentary writers, then please fill in this form. If you would like to write a ‘Research Made Simple’, ‘Research Opinion’ or ‘Research Masterclass’ article, please email info.ebn@bmj.com, outlining what type of article you are interested in writing, and on what topic. It’s the same email address if you are interested in producing an ‘Evidence for Nurse Education’ piece, but please also attach to your email a copy of the systematic review you propose to summarise.

If you’ve just got any general queries about writing opportunities with EBN, or want to discuss any ideas that you may have (including ideas for blogs), feel free to drop me a line directly – d.i.barrett@hull.ac.uk