We'd like to think that running the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing (JCN) is on autopilot after all these years, but we continue to make changes that we think will improve the quality of the manuscripts for readers, the ease of reviewing, and the publication experience for authors. This brief editorial summarizes our most recent changes.
We are very interested in helping readers put the articles they are reading into perspective. A few years ago, we asked authors to add a box summarizing "What's new?" to every article. This year, we will intermittently invite reviewers to write a commentary on a particularly interesting article. In this issue, we have also introduced a new feature: "Things you didn't know about[horizontal ellipsis]" We have written the first example, entitled "20 Things You Didn't Know About Heart Failure" to illustrate what we have in mind for this fun, new feature. It was challenging but satisfying to write. We hope that you will join us by writing on a topic that you know well.
Reviewers serve an essential and much appreciated role by judging the quality of the manuscripts submitted for publication. We never cease to be astounded at the time and effort donated by the scientific community as they serve this vital function. In an attempt to help reviewers, Jeanine Vezie, managing editor, has interviewed our 2 top reviewers for 2011-Sara Paul and GiaMudd-about how they do it. These audiotaped interviews are posted on the JCN Web site for your information. To reward reviewers, we now are offering continuing education credit for reviews submitted within the requested timeframe and scored 70 or higher on a 0-to-100 scale by the editors.
More options are now available for authors. Now, JCN will be publishing brief reports and study design papers. The brief report format may apply to pilot studies, negative trials, and reports of instrument validation studies from various countries. Please check the author guidelines posted on the JCN Web site for details about these new format options.
We hope that these changes will be useful and enjoyable. If you have ideas for other changes, please feel free to e-mail us with your thoughts.
Barbara Riegel
Debra K. Moser
Coeditors