Congratulations to Advances in Neonatal Care (Advances) on their 20th anniversary! Advances has been identified as the number 1 benefit of membership in the National Association of Neonatal Nurses (NANN) year after year, and for good reason. All nurses, especially neonatal nurses who care for the most vulnerable of neonates, are hungry for more knowledge and strive to provide the best evidence-based care to neonates and their families. Advances, the official journal of NANN since 2001, provides the latest in research, highlights best practices in neonatal nursing care, outlines new approaches to care, and stimulates critical thinking in its readers.
Our peer-reviewed journal provides a venue for dissemination of information to a wide audience of not only neonatal nurses, but to all healthcare providers that provide care to well, ill, and premature neonates. In addition, Advances provides an opportunity for both experienced and young researchers and clinicians to hone their writing skills.
Advances supports the novice author via instruction, feedback, and mentorship along every step of the publishing path. The journal supports participants from NANN's annual Research Summit by publishing many of their studies. In addition, workshops on writing for a professional journal have been held at the last several NANN annual meetings and will continue to be offered, as many conference attendees have participated. These presentations have also led to authors having their work published in Advances as well as other venues.
Together, the leadership of NANN and Advances meet quarterly to develop strategic plans for the journal as well as to anticipate and meet future needs of the membership and the neonatal nursing community. NANN utilizes the journal to provide information to the membership regarding association news, advocacy activities, white papers, position statements, new guidelines, and many other topics. Standards of care are disseminated through Advances and are available to nurses practicing not only across the United States, but also the world.
The reach of our journal goes well beyond our membership, as it is indexed in Medline and PubMed and has many university library and institutional subscribers, in addition to international nurses and other healthcare professionals. In addition to being indexed, the peer-reviewed journal achieved an Impact Factor of 1.244 in 2018, which was higher than the other 3 neonatal nursing journals Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing (1.219), Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing (1.133), and Neonatal Network (0.55).1 This impact factor measures the importance of a journal based on the frequency of article citations.
Contributors to the journal mirror our membership, with participation from clinical nurses, advanced practice nurses, clinicians, researchers, and faculty. Many submissions come from interdisciplinary teams, collaborating to bring new knowledge and approaches to readers. International contributors have expanded NANN's boundaries, illuminating issues faced around the world. The voice of the parent and family is also represented in Advances pages. In recent years, efforts to engage younger members of the neonatal profession have led to the addition of a clinical nurse to the editorial board, development of an online version of the journal, and forays into social media to highlight important topics.
As neonatal nurses, we should feel great pride as we reflect on the contributions of Advances to the knowledge base of neonatal nursing over the last 20 years. We are grateful for the dedication and skill of our past and current editors, Dr Madge Buus-Frank, Dr Catherine Witt, Dr Debra H. Brandon, and Dr Jacqueline M. McGrath, all past and present editorial board members, content editors, publication and editorial staff, and contributing authors, which are too numerous to individually name. Through their efforts, knowledge has been advanced, neonatal nursing as a profession has grown and flourished, and countless infants and their families have received outstanding, evidence-based care with improved quality of life and outcomes. As you know, 2020 is the Year of the Nurse and we can't imagine a better time to celebrate the meaningful and impactful contributions of so many talented and generous neonatal nurses. Happy 20th Anniversary Advances, we are proud to be your partner in improving neonatal care in the United States and world and look forward to many years of continued collaboration!
-Joan Rikli, MBA, MSN, RN, CPNP-PC, NE-BC
Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, Grand Rapids, Michigan
President, National Association of Neonatal Nurses
[email protected]
-Gail A. Bagwell, DNP, APRN, CNS
Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio
President-Elect, National Association of Neonatal Nurses
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