In 2009, as the new editor-in-chief of AJN, I sought a PhD-prepared editor to help the journal publish content on practice-oriented research and evidence-based quality improvement (QI). As a clinically focused scholarly journal, AJN needed someone who understood the needs of both the academic and practice settings. I had met Jane Barnsteiner years earlier and knew she was the ideal candidate for AJN's first research and QI editor.
Jane was well known as a leader in improving the quality and safety of health care, transforming educational curricula to prepare nurses for safe practice, and fostering the dissemination of scholarly work. She was also the inaugural editor of the first online peer-reviewed nursing journal, the Online Journal of Knowledge Synthesis for Nursing (now Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing).
At AJN, Jane's diligent networking and extensive contacts enabled us to publish research and QI articles in each issue, which increased the journal's standing and helped it gain significant recognition within health care publishing. During Jane's tenure, AJN's impact factor steadily increased to 2.7, its highest to date.
Helping nurses present their work is a central part of AJN's editorial mission, and Jane was all about encouraging new authors and researchers. Her thoughtful reviews were highly valued-even when we rejected papers, authors wrote and thanked her for her helpful feedback, which often enabled them to publish their papers elsewhere or in another format. Many nurses, myself included, have benefited from her wise advice. Jane's impact on the quality of AJN has been immeasurable.-Maureen Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, FAAN