JINR

Journal of International Nursing Research

Online ISSN: 2436-1348

Print ISSN: 2436-3448

Guidelines for Authors

Guidelines for Authors (PDF)
Guidelines for Reviewers (PDF)
Ethics Policies (PDF)

Aims and Scope

The Journal of International Nursing Research (JINR) is the official peer-reviewed and open-access scientific journal of the Japan Society of Nursing Research (JSNR) published online. JINR offers an excellent and prompt medium for the publication of research from all parts of the world. The purpose of this Journal is to publish advanced, evidence-based original research findings and clinical information on clinical practice, nurse education, and management in the field of nursing to broaden the knowledge of nursing professionals across the world. The journal is published twice a year (February and August).

Article Types

JINR publishes articles of different types. Once you have determined the appropriate article type, it is imperative that you read the Manuscript Preparation guidelines before submitting your manuscript:

1. Review Article

Review Articles provide a broad and comprehensive overview and updates on a specific field or topic in nursing science. These articles are generally submitted at the request of the editor.

2. Original Research

Original Research presents detailed studies, highlighting new and compelling findings that significantly impact on other nurse practitioners and researchers.

3. Practice Guidelines

Practice Guidelines are statements that include recommendations intended to optimize patient care; these are mostly informed by a systematic review of evidence and an assessment of the benefits and shortcomings of alternative care options.

4. Technical Report

Technical Reports present tips pertaining to nursing techniques for traditional/novel patient care.

5. Brief Report

Brief Reports may report on early clinical data or studies that are not sufficiently developed as Original Research but which have the potential to make a significant impact on research areas and/or patient care.

6. Letter-to-the-Editor

Letters-to-the-Editor are brief, constructive commentaries that can be submitted in response to a recently published article in JINR.

Manuscript Preparation

The Journal requires that all manuscripts be prepared in accordance with the latest edition of the APA Style. The authors must observe the following guidelines and best practices: Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/) by the International Committee of Medical Journals Editors (ICMJE) and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (a joint statement by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the World Association for Medical Editors (WAME), and the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA); https://doaj.org/apply/transparency/).

Authors wishing to include figures, tables, or text passages that have already been published elsewhere are required to obtain permission from the copyright owner(s) for publication and to include evidence that such request has been granted when submitting their papers. Authors must cite the source to use such materials in the corresponding figure or table caption, as required by the copyright owner(s).

If authors are non-native speakers of English, the manuscript must be edited by a native English speaker prior to submission, preferably one with a specialized knowledge of medical editing.
Manuscripts that do not follow the instructions below will be returned to the author for technical revision before undergoing peer review.

When reporting p -values in quantitative studies, appropriate statistical procedures should be taken, such as indicating the p -value in specific numerical values and specifying the effect size and the confidence interval (See https://doi.org/10.53044/jinr.2023-0050).

General Formatting

All articles should be written in English and correctly formatted according to the guidelines outlined below. All text should be double-spaced using Times New Roman in 12-point font.

The manuscript should be organized as follows:

Title Page

The title page should be prepared separately from the main document and must include the following information:

Abstract and Keywords

Manuscript should include an abstract of not more than 250 words, which will incorporate the following headings, depending on the article type:

The abstract, regardless of the article type, should contain three (3) to five (5) keywords.

Main Text

For each article type, authors must organize their content using the following formats:

References

References should be prepared according to the latest edition of the APA Style. Detailed guide and examples can be found here. Including AI-generated material as the primary source in the reference is not allowed.

Units of Measurement

Measurements of length, height, weight, and volume should be reported in metric units (meter, kilogram, or liter) or their decimal multiples. Temperatures should be in degrees Celsius. Blood pressures should be in millimeters of mercury. All measurements should follow the International System of Units (SI).

Use a capital letter “L” for liter in the units of measurements in the text, figures, and tables (e.g., g/dL, mg/dL, IU/L, and mEq/L).

Abbreviations

Define abbreviations at their first occurrence in the text and in each table and figure, and use the abbreviations consistently thereafter.

Names of Drugs, Devices, and Other Products

Do not use the specific brand names of devices and other products and services, unless it is essential to the discussion. Instead, please use a descriptive name.

Figures and Tables

Figures and tables must be cited in the text and numbered in the order they are cited. If any copyrighted or previously published material, edited or otherwise, is used in the manuscript, it is the author’s responsibility to obtain permission from the copyright owner(s) prior to making a submission. Also, the authors must cite the source and indicate the permission to use such materials in the corresponding figure or table caption, as required by the copyright owner(s).

Figure Legends
Legends must be prepared for all figures presented in the manuscript. Authors must list figure legends on a separate page after the references section.
Figures
Figures must be cited in order in the text using Arabic numerals. Figures should be submitted in the following digital format: JPEG (.jpg) or Tagged Image File Format (.tiff) at the minimum resolution of 300 dpi.
Tables
Tables must be cited chronologically in the text using Arabic numerals. Each appropriately numbered table should be prepared on a separate sheet. Tables are required to be in MS Word (.doc/.docx) or PowerPoint (.ppt/.pptx).

Supplementary Materials

Audio and video files or appendices of figures or tables can be published as “Supplementary Materials” to support your research information in the submitted manuscript. Supplementary materials are published exactly as they are submitted. Make sure all the track changes made in the file are removed before submission. Also, a descriptive caption should be provided for each file. Supplementary material should be cited in the text (e.g., Supplementary Table 1).

Article Type Abstract Main Text Tables/Figures References
Style Word Count Headings Word Count
Review Article Unstructured 250 max. - 6,000 max. ≤10 ≤100
Original Research Structured: Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusions 250 max. Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion 5,000 max. ≤10 ≤50
Practice Guidelines Unstructured 250 max. - 4,000 max. ≤10 ≤50
Technical Report Structured: Objective, Technical Report, Conclusions 250 max. Introduction, Technical Report, Discussion 2,000 max. ≤10 ≤15
Brief Report Unstructured 250 max. - 2,500 max. ≤6 ≤20
Letter-to-the-Editor Not necessary - 600 max. - ≤5

Clinical Trials

In accordance with ICMJE’s policy on trial registration, all clinical trials must be registered with a public trials registry before the time of first patient enrollment. ICMJE defines clinical trials as any research project that prospectively assigns people or a group of people to an intervention, with or without concurrent comparison or control groups, to examine the cause-and-effect relationship between a health-related intervention and a health outcome. Health-related interventions include, but are not limited to, those used to modify a biomedical or health-related outcome; examples include drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioral treatments, educational programs, dietary interventions, quality improvement interventions, and process-of-care changes.

JINR requires all clinical trials to be registered on databases that are accessible to the public at no charge, open to all prospective registrants, managed by a not-for-profit organization, have a mechanism to ensure the validity of the registration data, and are electronically searchable.

Submitted manuscripts must include the unique registration number in the abstract as evidence of registration. The name of the registration database must also be provided. For details regarding the required minimal registration dataset, please go to the ICMJE site. This journal accepts registration from the following list of registries as well as others listed at ICMJE site:

In reporting randomized clinical trials, authors must comply with the published CONSORT guidelines. The recommended checklist must be completed and provided to the journal at the time of manuscript submission. The recommended trial flow diagram should be presented as a figure.

Reporting Guidelines

Various reporting guidelines have been developed for different study designs. Authors are encouraged to follow published standard reporting guidelines for the study discipline.

Please access the EQUATOR (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research) network to determine the guideline that is most appropriate for your study.

It is extremely important that when you complete any reporting guideline checklist, you consider amending your manuscript to ensure your article addresses all relevant reporting criteria issues delineated in the appropriate reporting checklist. The purpose of a reporting guideline is to guide you in improving the reporting standard of your manuscript. The objective is not to solely complete the reporting checklist, but to use the checklist itself in writing your manuscript. Taking the time to ensure your manuscript meets these basic reporting needs will greatly improve your manuscript, while also potentially enhancing its chances for eventual publication.

Data Sharing

JINR encourages the authors of manuscripts like clinical trials to share their de-identified research data including, but not limited to, raw data, processed data, software, algorithms, protocols, methods, materials, study protocol, statistical analysis plan, informed consent form, clinical study report, and analytic code.

As required by ICMJE, all manuscripts that report the results of a clinical trial must include a data sharing statement with a link to the trial registration. The statement should include the following information:

The statement is published alongside their paper.

Online Manuscript Submission

Submitting authors should submit their manuscript files electronically via the JINR’s submission system, ScholarOne Manuscripts, to facilitate quick and efficient processing.

Simply log in to ScholarOne Manuscripts, and follow the onscreen instructions for all submissions. You will need to register before your first submission to JINR. The submitting author is required to register for a new ORCID iD or link an existing ORCID iD to the submission system. The co-authors must register their ORCID iD to the submission system prior to review process for publication. If the co-authors do not register their ORCID iD to the submission system for two weeks from the submission, the manuscript will be returned to the corresponding author by the Editorial Office.

All files must be submitted in the following order: (1) Title Page, (2) Main Document, (3) Figures (≥300 dpi), (4) Tables, and (5) a copy of the approval issued by IRB in English. The total size of the uploaded files should be within 100 MB. Upon submission, the manuscript will be automatically checked for plagiarism, and it can be sent back to the corresponding author for rewriting if the detected text overlap rate is determined to be 30 % or higher.

Notification of manuscript submission will be made via e-mail to all authors listed in the manuscript.

If you have any technical problems or questions related to the electronic submission process or uploading of your files, please contact our Support Desk.

ScholarOne Manuscripts Support Desk (Japan)

Phone: +81-3-3910-4517, E-mail: s1-support@kyorin.co.jp

Peer Review Process

General Peer Review Policy

Articles submitted to JINR are subject to a single-anonymized peer review process.

All submitted manuscripts are first assessed by the Editor-in-Chief, who makes a decision whether to send the paper for further review. The associate editors will assess the importance and originality of the research, suitability and interest to the readership of the journal, and the quality of the manuscript. The manuscripts that satisfy the screening criteria will be sent to two experts in the field of the study for peer review. The editors of JINR will review the peer review comments and make all decisions on the manuscript publication, which include acceptance, revisions and rejection. The peer review decisions made based on the editors’ judgment will not be rescinded once they are made. For complains and appeals, please check the JINR’s Ethics Policies.

JINR does not allow the re-submission of manuscript that has been previously denied publication, or has received “reject,” by JINR.

Editorial Role

JINR adheres to COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. Reviewers are not allowed to contact the authors directly before, during, or after the peer review process to discuss any information that is presented in the manuscript. Reviewers must keep the manuscripts and information obtained strictly confidential and must not, under any circumstances, publicly discuss or disclose the contents and any other information contained within the manuscript to a third party. The JINR’s Guidelines for Reviewers are available at the journal home page.

Editors and Journal Staff as Authors

Manuscripts submitted by editors, Editorial Committee members, or journal staff will follow the same process as outlined above. However, they are excluded from any editorial decision process of their own manuscript. The manuscript submitted by editors, Editorial Committee members, and journal staff of JINR should include a statement that declares their personal conflict of interest with the journal.

Revised Manuscript

It is expected that any manuscript receiving a revision decision will be fully amended according to the comments of both the reviewers and the editors. Authors must also include a detailed point-by-point response letter. Thereafter, authors should submit the revised manuscript within three (3) weeks from the date of prior decision. Revisions must be approved by all authors prior to submission of the revised manuscript.

Editorial Policy and Publication Ethics

Authorship/Contributorship

All authors listed in the manuscript must meet the following four contribution criteria as defined by the ICMJE in their Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals.

The corresponding author must ensure that a manuscript is read and approved by ALL authors prior to submission.

Contributors who do not meet all four criteria above should not be listed as authors. Guest or honorary authorship is strictly prohibited. Those whose contributions do not justify authorship may be acknowledged individually or together as a group under a single heading (e.g., “Acknowledgments”), and their contributions should be specified (e.g., “served as scientific advisors,” “critically reviewed the study proposal,” “collected data,” “provided and cared for study patients,” and “participated in writing or technical editing of the manuscript”).

Any authorship changes such as order, addition, and deletion of authors between the initial manuscript submission and the final decision should be discussed and approved by all authors by the end of the revision phase of the peer review process. Any request for such changes must be explained in writing and must be signed by all authors.

Adding, deleting, or changing the author names and their order is not permitted after the manuscript has been accepted for publication.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Assisted Tools/Technologies

In consonance with the COPE’s position statement, WAME’s recommendations, and ICMJE’s Recommendation, JINR does not allow artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted tools/technologies such as Large Language Models (LLMs), chatbots, or image creators to be listed as author or co-author. As described in the ICMJE, those tools cannot be responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the work, thus they do not meet the ICMJE’s criteria for authorship listed above. The authors (humans) are fully responsible for any materials of the submitted work, including the use of AI-assisted tools or technologies. AI should not be cited as an author. Authors (humans) are also responsible for plagiarism including such cases as in text and AI-produced images. Authors must disclose, upon submission and in the Materials and Methods (or similar section), any use of AI-assisted tools or technologies in the writing of a manuscript, production of images or graphical elements of the paper, or in the collection and analysis of data.

Exclusive Submission

Articles that have been previously published or are being considered for publication in another journal in any language will not be accepted. Submission of a manuscript implies that: the work described has not been previously published; it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; and its publication has been approved by all co-authors.

Secondary Publication

Secondary publication of material published in the Journal of Japan Society of Nursing Research may be considered for publication especially when intended to disseminate important information to the widest possible audience (e.g., guidelines produced by government agencies and professional organizations in the same or a different language). Secondary publication for various other reasons may also be justifiable provided the following conditions are met:

Authors must contact the JINR Editorial Office for consideration of possible secondary publication prior to submission of a manuscript.

Redundant or Duplicate Publication

Articles that are being considered for publication in another journal including advanced publications such as “in-press” or “E-pub ahead of print” articles in any language might be regarded as redundant or duplicate publication.

The author should notify the editor formally about all submission and the previous reports that could be regarded as redundant or duplicate publication of the same or similar work. Copies of such work should be included with the submission.

JINR allows submissions of manuscripts that have been previously posted on preprint server. Authors submitting preprints to JINR must state clearly in writing in the cover letter to the editors that the manuscript is a preprint. If the manuscript is accepted and published in JINR, authors must update the preprint listing with the full citation line in JINR and a link to the final published version.

JINR also allows submissions of manuscripts that have been previously posted on author’s institutions’ websites, including their institutional repository. In addition, if the manuscript is accepted and published in JINR, authors may post an author’ accepted manuscript version of the manuscript publicly on their institutions’ websites, including the institutional repository, provided that the following requirements are met:

Abstracts or posters presented at scientific meetings are not considered as previously published work.

Editorial actions should be expected if redundant or duplicate publication is attempted or occurs without such notification. Editorial actions may include the following: immediate rejection of the submitted manuscript; retraction of published work; published notice of violation, and revocation of publishing privileges.

Conflicts of Interest and Sources of Funding

The JINR’s conflict of interest (COI) policy requires that all authors of all manuscripts must disclose any financial relations, activities, relationships, and affiliations that exist, or have existed, which are related to the research presented, from the initial conception and planning to the completion of the research. This includes 1) any financial interest in or arrangement with a company whose product was used in a study or is referred to in an article, 2) any financial interest in or arrangement with a competing company, 3) any other financial connections, direct or indirect, or other situations that might raise the question of bias in the work reported or the conclusions, implications or opinions stated including pertinent commercial, governmental, private or other sources of funding for the individual author(s) or for the affiliated department(s) or organization(s), personal relationships, or direct academic competition.

Any possible COI related to the study presented in the manuscript must be disclosed on the title page under the heading “Conflicts of Interest” using the following examples for each author:

“A (author name) received honoraria from Z (entity name); B holds an advisory role in Y; C is an employee of Company X.”

If there are no COIs, the authors should state “The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.”

Submitting author must respond to any questions regarding the conflict of interest in the submission system.

All sources of funding from entities such as government or non-profit organizations, that are relevant to the study should be acknowledged on the title page under the heading “Sources of Funding.”

If the manuscript is accepted for publication, the disclosures will be published as they appear in this section.

Research Ethics

Misconduct and Breach of Publication Ethics

Proofing and Revision After Acceptance

After the acceptance of a manuscript for publication, the paper appears on the Journal’s webpage as advance publication. The galley proofs will be available to the authors for corrections of minor errors such as spelling errors. Any other corrections and revisions after the acceptance of a manuscript are not permitted unless requested by the Editorial Committee of JINR.

After publication, further changes, or corrections, can only be made in the form of an Erratum which will be hyperlinked to the original article.

Copyright

Copyright to articles and their contents published in JINR belong to the JSNR. However, JINR applies the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) to all works published by the journal. Anyone may download, reuse, copy, reprint, distribute, or modify articles published in the journal, if they cite the original authors and source, and the new material is shared under the same conditions. For for-profit or commercial use, written permission by the Editorial Committee of JINR is mandatory.

Charges

Article processing charge (APC) of US$700 or JP¥100,000 is billed upon acceptance of the manuscript for publication. The APC is waived if the FIRST AUTHOR is a member of the JSNR. Once your manuscript is accepted for publication in JINR, you will receive a confirmation e-mail that contains the instructions for making a payment. The submission fee must be paid via bank transfer or credit card. The APC is non-refundable.

For inquiries:

For further advise or inquiries about the journal please contact:

JINR Editorial Office:

jinr@kyorin.co.jp