Call for Submissions

The National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists (NACNS) is offering graduate student scholarships to qualified individuals submitting publishable papers to the editors of Clinical Nurse Specialist: The Journal for Advanced Nursing Practice. Four scholarships are available:

First place award-$1000 Second place award-$500 Third place awards (2)-$250 each

The winning manuscripts, selected by the journal's editorial board members and reviewers, will be published in the journal. If the quality of manuscripts does not meet acceptable standards, the editors will not award all of the scholarships.

Manuscript Criteria

The editorial board is interested in articles that illustrate CNS practice the 3 spheres of influence as delineated in NACNS's Statement on CNS Practice and Education-patients/clients, nursing practice, and organizations/networks. Manuscripts may include case studies, clinical research, or descriptive reports of innovative programs and care interventions. In an era where evidence is imperative, authors are encouraged to provide data to support the outcomes of innovative programs or interventions. There are no limitations regarding specialty area, practice setting, or patient population. Manuscripts should be written to the journal's target audience-master's-prepared clinically focused advanced practice nurses. Some manuscripts may specifically discuss theory; however, all manuscripts should include theoretical underpinnings of the innovation, strategy, argument, or discussion being presented. A more detailed call for manuscripts is available from the editorial office by e-mail at [email protected].

Eligibility

* The student must be enrolled in a graduate nursing program (master's or doctoral) and may submit separate manuscripts for a maximum of 2 awards (in different years).

* Each manuscript must have a faculty sponsor who has evaluated the paper for scholarship and applicability to CNS or advanced nursing practice.

* All submitted manuscripts must be typed or computer printed on 8 1/2" x 11" white bond paper, with margins of at least 1 inch, double spacing throughout, including separate pages for the title page, abstract, text, acknowledgments, references, tables, and legends for illustrations. Type the page numbers consecutively in the upper right-hand corner of each page beginning with the title page. For additional information concerning the manuscript preparation, refer to the Instructions for Authors section in the journal.

* The original and 4 copies, along with the author's biographic sketch, should be sent to the editor of the Clinical Nurse Specialist at 3969 Green St, Harrisburg, PA 17110. For more information, contact the editor, Janet Fulton, at [email protected] or contact the editorial office at 717-234-6799 or [email protected].

* The graduate student will be the sole author of the paper if it should be accepted for publication. Appropriate acknowledgments to the sponsoring faculty members will be given. No coauthored manuscripts will be eligible for awards.

* Criteria for judging manuscripts will be based on relevance of the content to advanced nursing practice, potential for contributing to the improvement or modification to advanced clinical practice, originality and creativity, writing style and grammar, clarity and flow of ideas, and use of supporting literature.

All submissions must be postmarked no later than December 31, 2002. Winners will be announced at the NACNS Annual Conference on March 27-29, 2003.