Since Nursing was launched in 1971, your opinions have been key to the journal's success. To this day, what you say in your responses to surveys and in your correspondence with us helps shape each issue.
When you send us a letter or e-mail message commenting on, criticizing, or questioning something in the journal, it circulates among our nurses, editors, and designers so everyone on staff knows what our readers are saying.
Although we read every letter and e-mail message, we can't publish them all, but we do print excerpts from many of them each month, edited for clarity and space. When we get a lot of correspondence on one topic, we publish a sampling in proportion to the views expressed. The most interesting, well-written, thoughtful, or humorous letters often get the nod.
But even if we don't print your letter, you can be sure your voice has been heard and your influence felt. For example, a few of our covers have generated a hailstorm of criticism. In our effort to design interesting, inviting, and intriguing covers, we occasionally publish provocative ones. We never intend to offend, but if we cross the line, you let us know.
We rely on your letters to keep us on our toes. If you write questioning the accuracy of a published piece, we follow up with the author and print a correction, clarification, or response if appropriate. We're not afraid of criticism; in fact, we think it's healthy. We welcome controversial viewpoints and vigorous dialogue among our readers. So when many of you joined the debates generated by our Issues in Nursing articles such as "Where are the Men?" (July 2003) and "RN Education: A Matter of Degrees" (March 2004), we took an unusual step of devoting several editorial pages to your comments, pro and con.
We also welcome new, edgy ideas. Through your letters, you keep us in touch with what's happening at bedsides across the continent. We recognize that what may seem a radical concept now could be a part of mainstream practice in a few years.
Nursing2004 is all about giving you what you want from a nursing journal. It's also a platform for you to voice what you see as improving our profession or holding it back. Keep sending us your letters and e-mail messages; we're listening.
I hope to hear from you soon!!
Cheryl L. Mee
The editors of Nursing2004 want to know how we're doing and how we can serve you better. Drop me a line at [email protected] or write me c/o Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 323 Norristown Rd., Suite 200, Ambler, PA 19002-2758.