Publish an article with RCNi

Publish an article with RCNi to share nursing knowledge and best practice with the nursing community

Here we look at why nurses should publish their work, and how RCNi can help you do just that via one of our ten nursing journals or on our CPD learning platform, RCNi Learning. 

RCNi nursing journals

RCNi produces 10 nursing journals supporting nurses, nursing students and nursing associates to deliver the best possible care, keeping them informed of the latest clinical updates and providing evidence-based CPD material for revalidation.

Publish with RCNi

Author guidelines
 
RCNi online article submissions
 
Become a peer reviewer for RCNi

In the peer-reviewed section of our journals, we welcome submissions from new and experienced authors in a range of article types, including clinical updates, original research, literature reviews, service innovations and CPD articles.  We welcome shorter opinion articles too.

RCNi Learning offers 180 CPD learning modules to help nurses with their practice and revalidation requirements.  There are opportunities to write CPD modules or 'How-to' modules for this platform.


Why you should write for publication


To share knowledge
Writing for publication enables you to share your ideas, research and practice with the wider nursing community. In doing so, you are helping to expand the body of professional knowledge.

To improve practice
Nursing practice does not develop on its own. It needs practitioners like you to challenge, push and shape it. If you have shown that A works better than B, you should be sharing the evidence widely.

To develop personally and professionally
Publishing an article provides you with tangible evidence of your personal and continuing professional development (CPD).

To work towards revalidation
Writing for publication can support revalidation. Undertaking enquiry-based research is one of the CPD activities suggested by the Nursing and Midwifery Council. Publishing an article based on such research provides you with evidence that you can record, along with other CPD activities, in your RCNi Revalidation Portfolio.

To help your organisation
Health and social care service providers are under close scrutiny. Publishing evidence showing that the organisation you work for has an innovative, patient-centred and high-quality approach to care will help safeguard its reputation.

To prompt change
Opinions as well as evidence can be a catalyst for change. Sharing your views on a public platform can cause others to reflect, develop and grow. By writing for publication you can shape the debate or, better still, lead it.

To fulfil your professional duty
The Nursing and Midwifery Council Code states that, to practise effectively, you must ‘share your skills, knowledge and experience for the benefit of people receiving care and your colleagues’. Writing for publication provides that opportunity.


Why you should publish with RCNi
 

Impact on nursing practice
Each of our journals is read by thousands of nurses, nursing students and nursing associates. We have more than 100,000 subscribers across our titles, who access content online as well as in print. Our articles are discoverable through a range of abstracting and indexing services, which means that your article will have a real impact on nursing practice and patient care.

Publishing with us is one of the best and quickest ways of sharing your knowledge with the nursing community.

Content promotion
RCNi provides a range of daily and weekly email alerts to its entire subscriber and registered user database – an audience of more than 100,000 nurses and healthcare professionals across the UK. These alerts feature up-to-date content from across our journals and may promote your published article. Your article will also be promoted through a range of social media channels, including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Online publishing
Nurses are increasingly looking for quick access to relevant information online. Nursing Standard and RCNi’s specialist journals have a policy of continuous online publishing, whereby accepted peer-reviewed articles are published online as soon as the editing process is complete. That online version is the ‘version of record’: the final, most up-to-date and authoritative version of the article that other authors, students and researchers can cite.

Your article will be visible and shareable to subscribers as soon as it is online. It will also have a unique digital object identifier (DOI) number, which makes it easy to track and reference. Your article is also highlighted to subscribers based on their browsing history. Subscribers can save your article as a favourite so they can find it more easily when they return to the website.

While not all accepted articles are published in print, subscribers can download PDFs of all articles from the website.

All of RCNi's peer-reviewed content is submitted to a range of academic libraries including CrossRef, PubMed, British Library, Proquest, Ovid, Portico and EBSCO.  Your article will also appear in Google Scholar, which logs citations of your work in other articles.

Author support
Our experienced administration, editorial and production teams ensure that your article is handled professionally from acceptance to publication. The editorial and production staff work closely with you to maximise the impact of your article.

If you have never had an article published before, don’t worry – writing for one of our journals is not as difficult as it may seem and you will receive guidance and support. We are here to show you how to write a nursing article for publication, and we have created downloadable resources and examples that will guide you through the process from start to finish in our author guidelines section.

Independent peer review
Articles published in the peer-reviewed sections of our journals are subject to a robust process involving a panel of expert reviewers. Their feedback is communicated to you in a constructive way to ensure your experience of publishing with us is as positive and rewarding as possible. The peer-review process increases the credibility of your article among our readers, and in the nursing profession more widely.

Online submissions
Our online submission system enables you to track the progress of your article through the review process. Support for new users in accessing the online submission system is available from our administration department

How to publish a nursing article with RCNi
 

We have a wealth of information to guide nurses through the process of how to publish an article in one of our nursing journals.