Publication Ethics

See the Author Guidelines tab for information for authors. Manuscripts submitted to American Nurse Journal (ANJ) must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication in another journal. Authors are required to sign agreements transferring copyright to HealthCom Media. Once a manuscript is published in ANJ, it becomes the property of HealthCom Media. There is no fee to authors for manuscript submission or publication.

American Nurse Journal (ANJ) policy on conflicts of interest/competing interests is in accordance with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ (ICMJE) Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals.

Conflicts of interest occur in publishing when an author, reviewer, or editor may have competing interests that could lead to biased information being presented in, or biased decisions made about, a manuscript. Conflicts of interest may be actual, potential, or perceived. Having a competing interest does not equal wrongdoing, but all involved should be comfortable that the publication is not affected by a conflict of interest and the process is transparent. Each author is required to submit their own Author Agreement and Conflict of Interest form to ANJ with each manuscript.

Author disclosure of a potential conflict of interest does not necessarily mean a manuscript will be rejected for publication. The executive editorial director (EED) and the editor-in-chief (EIC) use disclosure information to estimate the extent of any conflict of interest before making a decision about a manuscript. Author conflicts of interest are listed at the end of published ANJ articles. Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest allows readers to make a decision about possible bias in an article.

If a conflict of interest is identified after publication of an article, ANJ may publish a correction to the statement on conflict of interest that was included with the article and/or retract the article.

Peer reviewers are asked to disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest to the editor at the time they are asked to critique a manuscript or as soon as they recognize the possible conflict. If a conflict exists that would limit the reviewer’s ability to provide an unbiased and fair review of a manuscript, another reviewer will be assigned.

Editorial board (EB) members and the EIC complete conflicts of interest disclosures at the time of their appointment and annually thereafter. Relevant disclosures are included in the EB and EIC biographical information on the journal website.

The EED and EIC are recused from a decision-making role on a manuscript if a potential financial, professional, personal, or other conflict of interest exists. If the EED or EIC is an author or co-author of a manuscript, they will be recused from selecting peer reviewers for the manuscript.

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Disclosure of financial and non-financial relationships and activities, and conflicts of interest. https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/author-responsibilities–conflicts-of-interest.html

The purpose of a manuscript peer review is to provide feedback on manuscript clarity, relevance, accuracy, and completeness of information. Suggestions for improvement in these areas aid the author in strengthening the overall quality of the manuscript. Feedback from reviewers helps the executive editorial director (EED) and editor-in-chief (EIC) decide whether to accept as is, accept with revisions, or reject a manuscript for publication in the journal.

The EED, in collaboration with the EIC, conducts an initial review of each submitted manuscript. Based on this review, the manuscript may be returned to the author(s) for minor or major revisions or rejected without peer review. Common reasons for rejection at the initial review level include a topic inappropriate to the journal’s mission, scholarship does not meet acceptable expectations, or significant inaccuracies in the manuscript’s information or use of references.

When the EED and EIC deem a full feature manuscript ready, it undergoes a double-blind peer review. Double-blind means that authors do not know who is doing the peer review and reviewers do not know who the authors are. The journal maintains peer reviewer confidentiality throughout the review process and after publication decisions are made.

The EED or EIC select two or more peer reviewers based on areas of expertise. Peer reviewers, similar to authors, are held to a high ethical standard when conducting manuscript reviews. They are expected to be aware of and act ethically in recognizing and declaring any potential conflicts of interest, maintaining confidentiality, and reporting any recognized ethical concerns with a manuscript. Peer reviewers are provided with information on their qualifications, roles, and responsibilities; details on ethics in peer review; and tips on performing a constructive review. They are advised to read and follow the Committee on Publication Ethics Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. Peer reviewers are expected to provide courteous, objective, and constructive feedback for authors.

Authors are informed of the decision along with receiving the peer reviewer feedback and any additional comments from the EED and EIC based on the peer review. The EED and EIC reserve the right to edit reviews for clarity and removal of offensive or unethical content prior to sending the reviews to authors.

Some journal and website content, such as opinion pieces, blogs, news items, and interviews, may be reviewed by editorial staff for accuracy and not undergo peer review.

Committee on Publication Ethics. Ethical guidelines for peer reviewers. https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines/cope-ethical-guidelines-peer-reviewers.

The American Nurse Journal (ANJ) publishes authoritative research translated into practical evidence-based literature and relevant content to keep nurses up to date on best practices, help them maximize patient outcomes, prepare them to advance their careers, and aid professional and personal growth and fulfillment. The journal does not routinely publish original research.

ANJ’s policy on protection of research participants and patients is in accordance with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ (ICMJE) Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. Authors submitting research manuscripts should read the section on Protection of Research Participants on the ICMJE website. This section addresses patients’ right to privacy, informed consent, and human and animal rights as research participants.

Any research that included human participants or data obtained from human participants (eg, medical records) requires approval or exemption from an institutional review board (IRB) or independent ethics review committee. Authors must state in the methods section of the manuscript that an IRB or ethics committee approved the study or determined the study was exempt from approval and state why the exemption was granted. ANJ may request documentation of IRB or ethics committee approval or exemption prior to accepting submissions. If the author is unable to provide evidence of IRB or ethics committee approval or exemption, the submission will be rejected.

When reporting research that included human participants, authors should indicate in the methods section of the manuscript that informed consent was obtained from all participants and describe how consent was obtained. If informed consent was not required by the IRB or ethics committee, the author should provide an explanation for the waiver. Identifying information, including names, initials, patient ID numbers, or photographs should not be included in the manuscript unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that an identifiable patient is shown the manuscript to be published. Patient consent should be written and archived with the author(s). The author(s) should provide ANJ with a written statement that attests they have received and archived written patient consent.

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Protection of research participants. https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/protection-of-research-participants.html.

Data sharing and reproducibility
ANJ is primarily a clinical journal but does accept submission of manuscripts reporting on research that has clear clinical implications. Authors of manuscripts reporting clinical trial results should follow their supporting institution’s policies regarding data sharing. The ICMJE recommends that authors indicate in a written data-sharing statement whether individual participant data will be available, what data in particular will be shared, what other documents will be available (eg, statistical analysis plans, study protocol), when data will be available, and how access to the data will be provided.

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/clinical-trial-registration.html

American Nurse Journal (ANJ) follows International Committee of Medical Journal Editors Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals and Committee on Publication Ethics Guidelines regarding corrections in and retractions of published articles. Corrections are required when errors of fact are identified in a published article. Retraction will be considered if clear evidence exists that the findings or facts in an article are unreliable or seriously flawed whether from honest error or misconduct, inclusion of plagiarized material, or any identified unethical authorship practice.

Readers can submit comments, questions, or criticisms about published articles to the executive editorial director (EED) cmee@healthcommedia.com and editor-in-chief (EIC) (lillee.gelinas@unthsc.edu). The EED and EIC will respond within 30 days. The EED and EIC may ask the article author to respond to substantial criticisms of their work. In such situations, the correspondence author will be asked to declare any competing relationships or activities. In all instances, the EED and EIC will screen for inaccurate or libelous comments. The ANJ policy on corrections and retractions will be followed when deemed necessary.

Recent Corrections and Retractions

(Click the link for details on the updated content)

Corrections
May 2024 – Please note that the May 2024 editorial has been updated to reflect that the American Nurse Journal is recognizing Nurses Week with four sub-themes: education, teamwork and collaboration, quality bedside patient care, and compassion, https://www.myamericannurse.com/acknowledge-the-difference-you-make/,
https://www.myamericannurse.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Gelinas_May_2024.pdf

Breaking barriers: Nursing education in a wheelchair has been revised. Under Andrea’s story the first sentence has been corrected and states, “Andrea, a child of immigrants who identifies as a Black American women received a diagnosis for transverse myelitis at the age of 5.” The print version states incorrectly that the diagnosis was transverse mellitus. https://www.myamericannurse.com/breaking-barriers-nursing-education-in-a-wheelchair/

January 2023 – Nurses and preventative footcare, https://www.myamericannurse.com/nurses-and-preventive-foot-care/

April 2022 – Medication titration, https://www.myamericannurse.com/medication-titration/

Retractions
November 2020 – Curtin, Leah (2020). Pathological individualism. American Nurse Journal. 15 (11), 56.
Content from this publication was previously published without proper referencing, permission, or justification in the following:
Chittister, Joan (2020). Land of the free, home of the self-centered. National Catholic Reporter, September 17, 2020. https://www.ncronline.org/news/coronavirus/where-i-stand/land-free-home-self-centered

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Corrections, retractions, republications and version control. https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/corrections-and-version-control.html.

Committee on Publication Ethics. Retraction guidelines. https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines.

Complaints and concerns
Complaints and concerns about the ethical conduct of authors, peer reviewers, or editorial board members should be submitted to the executive editorial director (EED) cmee@healthcommedia.com and editor-in-chief (EIC) (lillee.gelinas@unthsc.edu). Such complaints or concerns may address breaches of confidentiality, misuse of privileged information, or undisclosed conflicts of interest. The EED and EIC will review the complaint and respond within 30 days. Complaints or concerns regarding the ethical conduct of the EIC or EED or publishing staff should be submitted to the journal publisher Gregory Osborne (gosborne@healthcommedia.com). The publisher will review the complaint and respond within 30 days.

Allegations of author misconduct
Author misconduct includes intentional fabrication, falsification, or omission of research data; breaches of confidentiality regarding research participants and patients; and plagiarism. All manuscripts are screened for suspected plagiarism using detection software. The EED and/or EIC is the contact person for allegations of author misconduct. The EED follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals and the Committee on Publication Ethics Guidelines for responding to allegations of author misconduct.

Misconduct detected in a submitted manuscript may result in rejection of the manuscript. Misconduct detected in a published article may result in a formal retraction of the article.

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Scientific misconduct, expressions of concern, and retraction.
https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/scientific-misconduct-expressions-of-concern-and-retraction.html.
COPE Council. COPE flowcharts and infographics – Suspected ethical problem in a submitted manuscript—English. Version 2, May 2021. https://publicationethics.org/files/ethical-problem-in-submitted-manuscript-cope-flowchart.pdf.
COPE Plagiarism in a submitted manuscript https://publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/plagiarism-submitted-manuscript-cope-flowchart.pdf

Authorship disputes
ANJ follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors definition on the role of authors and contributors. Any authorship disputes that arise should be addressed by the authors. Requests for changes in authorship (ie, addition of an author, deletion of an author, and/or revision of authorship order) after a manuscript is submitted must include the rationale for the change(s). All original and new authors must consent to the change in writing before it is made.

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Defining the role of authors and contributors.
https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html

American Nurse Journal (ANJ) Editorial decisions to reject a manuscript are final. However, if an author believes a conflict of interest influenced the decision, they may submit an appeal in writing within 30 days of receiving the decision. The appeal letter must clearly state the rationale for believing that a conflict of interest influenced the rejection. A conflict of interest may be considered if a reviewer or editor has competing interests that could lead to a biased review or decision about a manuscript. The executive editorial director (EED) and editor-in-chief (EIC) will review the appeal letter, editorial decision letter, manuscript, and peer reviewer evaluations within 30 days. If they determine that an appeal is warranted, the manuscript will be peer reviewed by two individuals not involved in the original review and who are not aware of the appeal. After this review, a new editorial decision letter will be sent along with the peer reviewer comments to the author within 30 days of completion of the second review. If the manuscript is rejected based on the culmination of reviews, further appeals will not be considered. Appeal letters should be submitted to the EED (cmee@healthcommedia.com) and EIC (lillee.gelinas@unthsc.edu). If an author believes bias or conflicts exist with the handling of the appeals process, they should contact ANJ publisher Gregory Osborne (gosborne@healthcommedia.com).

American Nurse Journal (ANJ) revenue sources include advertising, subscription fees, financial support from the American Nurses Association, and revenue for special supplements and other projects.

Requirements or restrictions for pharmaceutical product advertisements are consistent with Food and Drug Administration guidelines. Any advertisement can be rejected per the discretion of the executive editorial director (EED), editor-in-chief (EIC), the publisher, and the American Nurses Association.

It is the policy and practice of ANJ that advertising will not influence editorial decisions. Advertisements will not be placed within nor juxtaposed against editorial content related to the advertisement. Complaints or concerns regarding advertisements in the journal should be submitted to the Publisher (gosborne@healthcommedia.com), EED (cmee@healthcommedia.com) and EIC (lillee.gelinas@unthsc.edu).

Advertising disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the editorial and advertising material in American Nurse Journal are those of the authors and advertisers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or recommendations of the American Nurses Association; the Editorial Board members; or the publisher, editors, and staff of American Nurse Journal.

ANJ will at times consider manuscripts funded by sources other than the journal publisher. The EED and EIC have full responsibility for policies and practices to prevent the occurrence and/or appearance of bias in the content of such manuscripts. This includes all editorial decision making for acceptance, revisions, or rejection of the manuscript and selection of peer reviewers. All policies on authorship and disclosure of potential conflicts of interest are followed. The funding source is identified at the beginning of the article. The EIC will not accept direct or indirect remuneration from funding sponsors.

Content that is sponsored or supported by educational grants adhere to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors standards for Supplements, Theme Issues, Special Services, Sponsorships, and Partnerships. https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/supplements-theme-issues-and-special-series.html

To learn more about this organization, visit https://publicationethics.org

To learn more about this organization, visit https://www.icmje.org/recommendations

Publication Ethics

Recent Corrections and Retractions

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American Nurse Journal

Publication Ethics

Recent Corrections and Retractions

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