Develop an outline

Outline

Most professional journals will post suggestions for the headings for articles in their journal. Those headings should be significant sections in your outline. Check the submission guidelines of the journal that is interested in reviewing your article. Most journals tend to be similar and will include the following:

Title

Abstract

Introduction/Background

Previous studies/articles on the topic

Description of how your article expands on what is already known

The goal/objective of what you have done

Your contribution

Design

Methodology

Number of subjects

If a research study, methodology, exclusion and inclusion criteria for subjects

Intervention and/or observation

Outcomes

Conclusion/ Discussion

Format

Every journal will describe a specific format for you to follow when you are writing your article. Three significant publishers, Lippincott, Wiley, and Elsevier, publish 45% of all the nursing journals listed on the website of nursing articles described by the nursing editors. Journal of Nursing Staff Development

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Generally, all the journals published by the same publisher have the same format guidelines. The structure of the article may vary depending upon the type of piece it is, i.e., research, clinical experience, opinion, and so forth. According to the results of a study by Nicoll, et al. (2018), half of the nursing journals use the American Psychological Association reference style.

Elsevier’s guidelines: https://www.elsevier.com/__data/promis_misc/cageogfasep.pdf.

Lippincott’s guidelines: http://authors.lww.com/.

Wiley’s guidelines: https://authorservices.wiley.com/author-resources/Journal-Authors/Prepare/index.html. Note that Wiley offers and editing service.