Guidelines for Authors

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GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS
Imprint seeks high quality articles that reflect timely issues in nursing, nursing school, nursing education, global health issues, and health care. Nursing students, faculty, and leading experts are all invited to submit articles, and are encouraged to contact the editor or managing editor about what to submit and when. Manuscripts are considered for the General Articles, Features, Letters to the Editor, or Columns and Department categories. Imprint does not accept academic or clinical school papers, or graduation speeches. Imprint does accept poetry. All submissions are acknowledged by the managing editor via email or hard copy postcard.

Deadlines and Word Count

Deadlines are as follows:

The length for feature or general articles is 1200-1500 words. The length for columns is 800-1000 words, except for the Write On (letters) and poetry columns (see p.4)

Query Letters
We strongly encourage authors to discuss potential manuscript ideas via e- mail or phone with the editors in order to best tailor them to our readers and to make sure a manuscript on the same topic hasn't been accepted recently.

Query letters should include a paragraph describing the proposed manuscript, its projected length, how the topic will be treated or approached, an outline, a short biographical sketch indicating the author's credentials and qualifications for writing the manuscript, and the author's contact information (email, street addresses, and day and evening telephone numbers). We do consider completed manuscripts without a prior query. Manuscripts published elsewhere or submitted simultaneously to another journal will not be reviewed.

Review Process
All materials are subject to review by the editors. Initial review usually takes 6 to 8 weeks, although expedited reviews are provided for manuscripts with time-sensitive data. Authors who believe their manuscripts are time-sensitive should contact the managing editor before submitting the manuscript. Imprint staff will inform the author of the manuscript's status as soon as possible. A manuscript may be accepted or rejected, or we may ask the author to make revisions before a final decision can be made. Authors who do not receive notice of the decision on a manuscript eight weeks after submission may contact the managing editor for an update on the manuscript's status. Rejected manuscripts are not returned to authors. Authors who submit original artwork or photographs that are to be returned upon rejection or publication of the manuscript must include a self-addressed stamped envelope suitable for safe return mailing of the materials.

All authors of accepted manuscripts are asked to sign and return to the Managing Editor a copyright release form insuring that: they are the sole author(s) of the manuscript; they are releasing the copyright of the manuscript to NSNA/Imprint; the manuscript has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere; the manuscript is original.

Manuscript Preparation and Submission
Manuscripts must be typed, double spaced, on only one side of the paper, with a one-inch margin on all sides, and be sure all pages are numbered. Include a cover letter including your name, address, phone number, and e- mail address. We accept email and hard copy submissions. Send email submissions as word attachments to jonathan@nsna.org. For hard copy submissions, include a copy of the manuscript and include all your contact information.
All accepted manuscripts become the property of NSNA and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without the permission of NSNA.

Style and Editing
We encourage a writing style that is inviting, useful, informative, and lively, with use of headings and subheadings throughout the manuscript. Refer to yourself as "I," rather than "the author" and the reader as "you." Imprint has an informal easy to read style that is conversational in tone, rather than academic. All copy must conform to our editorial style, and this typically involves editing, rewriting, and condensing. We make every effort to retain content, and we send all authors edited copy prior to publication for their review. As time permits, we integrate author’s corrections into the final copy, but this is at the editor’s discretion.

References
Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their references and for correct text citation. All statistics and factual information must be referenced. All direct quotes, including those from government sources, online publications, and publications that are in the public domain, must be presented as such with quotations and appropriate citations. Treating direct quotes otherwise will be considered plagiarism. Plagiarized manuscripts will be rejected.

Imprint uses the American Psychological Association (APA) style for references. (See http://www.apastyle.org/ for general references, and www.apastyle.org/elecref.html for online references.) With this format, references must be listed alphabetically by author's last name and include all elements of formal citation. The reference format for APA style is described in the 5th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , a large reference book that contains hundreds of guidelines on how to format references, statistics, tables, punctuation, and grammar. It also contains writing tips and instructions about how to format manuscripts. You may also find a copy of the Publication Manual in your school library, at a local bookstore, or online.

In the text, the author's name(s) and date of publication are in parentheses immediately following the reference.

Examples of APA Style:

Journal article:

Fine, M. A., & Kurdek, L. A. (1993). Reflections on determining authorship credit and authorship order on faculty-student collaborations. American Psychologist, 48, 1141-1147.

Book:

Nicol, A. A. M., & Pexman, P. M. (1999). Presenting your findings: A practical guide for creating tables. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Book chapter:

O'Neil, J. M., & Egan, J. (1992). Men's and women's gender role journeys: Metaphor for healing, transition, and transformation. In B. R. Wainrib (Ed.), Gender issues across the life cycle (pp. 107-123). New York: Springer.

Online reference
Article in an Internet-only journal:

Fredrickson, B. L. (2000, March 7). Cultivating positive emotions to
optimize health and well-being. Prevention & Treatment, 3, Article 0001a. Retrieved November 20, 2000, from http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume3/pre0030001a.html

Please note that there are several reference styles for online references, depending on whether the source in an online journal only, on online article based on a print source, or a stand-alone document with no indicated author or date. Refer to www.apastyle.org/elecref.html for formatting information.

APA style calls for a list of References at the end of the article instead of a Bibliography. All references cited in the article must be listed alphabetically by author's last name in the list of References. All manuscripts accepted for publication are checked for factual accuracy of content and references. Authors must submit copies of source materials for fact checking during the editing phase. If the article is submitted electronically, the background source material can be sent in hard copy to the attention of the managing editor with a cover note explaining the article it accompanies.

Photos
Hard copy photos accompanying articles may be submitted in black and white or color and must be in good condition, with identifying captions on the back, and contact information for whom the photo should be returned to. Electronic photos may be emailed to jonathan@nsna.org, but must be high resolution files (300 dpi for 5x7 image), with captions provided in the body of the e- mail . Images copied from web sites, or images that are 75 dpi or lower, are not acceptable quality and will not be considered. Generally, a high-resolution image will be over 500K as a file size. We accept JPEG or TIFF files. Please do not send PPF photo files or photos embedded in Word or other word processor documents. NSNA requires a photo release form before publishing any photos of identifiable individuals, as well as a photographer’s release if the photos are not by the author. For more information, email: jonathan@nsna.org.

Criteria Used in Accepting Articles for Imprint

Imprint Columns Open for Submissions or Suggestions for Topics
Frequency: Every Issue or Every Other Issue
(Note: some columns are written by NSNA Board members. Please check with Director of Communications, jonathan@nsna.org, before submitting.

Write On - Letters to the Editor
Letters to the editor responding to articles in Imprint or nursing issues.
(Suggested length: between 200-400 words max.)

Legislation/Education
Informational columns focusing on current NSNA resolutions and the legislative process.

Happenings
State and local chapters report on projects and activities in which they are participating to promote member recognition and networking. Submissions to the "Happenings" reporter through the NSNA office are encouraged, along with photos highlighting student activities. (See photo guidelines re: permission to publish.) Or, submit articles directly to the Happenings reporter on www.nsna.org or visit Happenings Reporter.

Up Close
Highlights outstanding NSNA members. Readers are invited to submit names for consideration to the Up Close reporter through the NSNA office, or directly to the Up Close reporter on www.nsna.org . Click on Publications/Imprint/Up Close reporter.

Reflections
Human interest stories about emotional or life-changing experiences with patients or other nursing school experiences.

Poetry
Creative poetry dealing with a poignant nursing or nursing student issue.

Submit Manuscripts to:
Jonathan Buttrick / Director of Communications
National Student Nurses Association
45 Main Street, Suite 606
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Tel: 718-210-0705 ext. 104
Email queries and electronic submissions to: jonathan@nsna.org