Guidelines For Authors

The editors welcome contributions to CONNECT: The World of Critical Care Nursing covering any aspect of critical care nursing practice, research, education or management.

CONNECT is an on-line publication

• Articles will only be accepted by E-mail.
• All correspondence will be by E-mail.

Content of contributions

Critical care nursing is defined as the whole spectrum of skills, knowledge and attitudes used by practitioners in any setting where adults or children are experiencing acute and critical illness. Such settings include general and specialist hospitals, and the community. Critical care covers many specialities, such as intensive care, surgery, medicine, cardiac care, renal care, and neuroscience nursing.

CONNECT is an international, peer-reviewed journal.

The main purpose of CONNECT is to share good practice, so primarily the editors welcome articles that contribute to the development of clinical practice.

Articles may be submitted in one of a number of categories:

Main category

• Descriptions of developments in critical care nursing practice, management or education

Other categories

• Literature reviews.
• Reflections/narratives on practice.
• Analysis of topical issues in critical care nursing.
• Research reports.
• Meeting/conference reports.
• Letters.
• News items.
• This is my ICU. (see seperate guidelines)

Submission of articles

Enquiries about submission of articles should be made by E-mail to one of the editors:

Paul Fulbrook (Australia) p.fulbrook@mcauley.acu.edu.au
Lynne Harrison (UK) lharrison2@uclan.ac.uk
Birte Baktoft (Denmark) birte.baktoft@mail.dk
Violeta Lopez (Hong Kong) violeta@cuhk.edu.hk
Pat Moloney-Harmon (USA) Pmoloney@lifebridgehealth.org
Karl Øyri (Norway) karl.oyri@deltadigital.no
Ged Williams (Australia) ged.williams@maroondah.org.au

Articles for publication in CONNECT are only accepted electronically. They may be submitted via this web-site or directly by E-mail to: article@connectpublishing.com

Electronic Format

• All contributions must be sent electronically (see above), with the E-mail message heading: ‘Article for Connect’.
• All articles must be prepared using Word or Word Perfect software.
• The Word/Word Perfect file of the article must be clearly labelled with the name of the first author.

Word limit

There is normally an upper limit of 5000 words for an article. There is no lower limit.

Presentation requirements:

• Double-spaced lines.
• A4-size paper with wide margins.
• Page numbers.
• All figures and tables must be labelled, and should be referred to in the main text.
• Electronic photographs are accepted. For example, jpeg or bitmap files, but must be high resolution files of at least 300 dpi.
• Harvard style references are required (see below).
  Articles submitted with a different reference style will be returned immediately to the author(s) for correction and re-submission.

Article format

Language:

The language and spelling is English (UK).

Articles will not be rejected on the basis of poor use of English language. Wherever possible the editors and associate editors undertake to support writers to write more fluently.

Title Page

This should include:

• The title of the article.
• The author(s) full name(s), qualifications, job title(s), place of work, and country.
• An E-mail address for correspondence (to be published if paper is accepted).
• A statement that, in the event of publication, assigns the copyright of the article to Connect Healthcare Publishing Ltd.
• A declaration that the article is the sole work of the author(s).

Summary

Articles should start with a summary, of 4-6 bullet points, that briefly describes the main elements of the paper.

Key words

Authors should provide 4-6 key words that relate to the article. These will be used as search terms when the article is archived.

Writing in the first person.

Where it is appropriate, for example when describing personal experience, authors are encouraged to write in the first person.

References.

The modified Harvard System is requested, as in the following examples:

• Journal article
  Jones J, Wong C, Shoemaker C. (2000). Which critical care journal is best? Connect; 5: 267-272.
• Book chapter
  Jones T, Wong J. (1992). Writing for Publication, In: Hoover JE, Clinton W, Bush G, (eds.), Principles of Dissemination, Volume 2. New York: Political Publishing.
• Book
  Stephens ON, Rocket ER. (1986). Early Inventions. London: Blackpuddle.
• Internet site
  Bournemouth University 2003. Guide to Citing Internet Resources [online]. Available at:
  http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/using/guide_to_citing_internet_sourc.html#Introduction [Accessed 28 May 2003]

Ethical principles

• Writers are assumed to have followed sound ethical principles and to have preserved anonymity and confidentiality of patients, clients and staff.
• The use of gender neutral terms is encouraged.
• A statement regarding ethical approval must be made within all research articles.

Copyright

• It will be assumed that articles submitted for consideration have been submitted exclusively to Connect: The World of Critical Care Nursing.
• The editors retain the right to make minor modifications and edits in the manuscript.
• Where figures or other illustrations are reproduced, permission must be obtained by the author from the original publishers and authors. In such cases, an additional declaration that permission has been obtained must be included on the title page of the article.
• Papers that have been accepted for publication will become the copyright of the journal.

Proofs

Once an article has been accepted for publication, a proof copy in ‘pdf’ format will be supplied to the corresponding author.

Only minor corrections/modifications may be made at this stage.

Last updated 26 October, 2006 TOP | DISCLAIMER | FEEDBACK