Abstract
This is the first issue of the Nordic Journal of Nursing Research, a further development of the Nordic journal known as Vård i Norden. As many of you may notice, the journal has changed noticeable in its appearance. The first obvious change is the design of the cover that seems to convey the sea connecting the Nordic countries and the waves that reach further out. The second change is the new web-site, NJNR.sagepub.com which contains important information about the aims and scope of the journal as well as instructions for authors wishing to submit articles for publication.
In this Editorial, I will give some background information, which I hope will be helpful for authors who may be considering a submission to the journal as well as to nurse researchers who are curious about research in the Nordic countries. The first journal of nursing research (Nursing Research) was published in 1952 in the US. Since then the number of journals has grown at a rapid rate the world over and play an important role in initiating research collaboration and institutional post-graduate exchange. International collaboration is ultimately significant in developing nursing science, improving practice and education. The aim of Vård i Norden, first published in 1981, was built on the value of Nordic collaboration in improving practice and nursing education. Now the journal takes a new step towards an international perspective.
Our ambition is that all publications will be in English, but for a time being articles that were accepted or submitted before 31 December 2014 in Swedish, Danish or Norwegian will be included in coming issues. However, all of these articles include an abstract in English, which enables contact with authors. These articles have also been peer-reviewed before being accepted for publication. In the current issue, there are 10 articles in English, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish.
The selection of a journal to submit ones research to is not always an easy process, not only for PhD students but also for experienced researchers. My advice is that this process should be guided by reflection on some fundamental questions, such as; what professionals do I want to reach with my research results? Should I submit my manuscript to a research journal with high impact factor? Does this mean that if I publish my article in a biomedical journal, it may not be read by nurses? To what extent does my publication contribute to improve nursing care and develop nursing science? How well does the peer review system evaluate my submission? Can I trust that an ‘accept’ or a ‘reject’ fairly and competently judges my research? Thus, it is not surprising that the question, ‘what is the impact factor of your journal?’ is raised by potential authors during this process.
In the present Editorial, I will respond to the question regarding the impact factor by briefly explaining what it is and what it measures. According to Wikipedia’s definition, the impact factor (IF) of an academic journal is a quantitative measure calculated to produce the average number of citations of recent articles published in scientific journals. The impact factor is calculated based on the average number of citations a journal receives and times an article is cited by other articles.1,2 It is frequently used as a proxy for the relative importance of a journal within its field; that is, journals with higher impact factors are deemed to be more important than those with lower ones. 1 According to my research experience, an impact factor is used by various research committees to evaluate the scientific merits of publication in areas that involve scientific competition; the higher the impact factor is – the closer a researcher is for example, to receive a research grant, a research chair or even having his or her doctoral dissertation approved.
Impact factors have a relative long history starting from 1975 for those journals that are presently indexed in the Journal Citation Reports. 2 It is not an automatic system that begins when a new journal is launched. It takes a few years of publications in order for a journal to be able to apply to be listed in one of the citation indices. Internationally agreed upon criteria must be met. 3
In an article published 2013 in Journal of Nursing Education, Marilyn Oermann & Julia Shaw-Kokot point out that although there is much criticism towards IF, it is still this measurement that is applied. This means that even the highest IF score in a nursing journal can be compared with the highest score in a medical journal. Compared to Nature, with an impact factor of 42.4, the impact factor of Birth: Issues in Perinatal care with an IF of 2,926 is low. 2 As Oerman and Shaw-Kokot point out in their article, the impact factor was originally developed for the use of selecting journals to be included in library collections, but has evolved as a measure for evaluating the quality of journals and the articles published within them. 3 However, we cannot draw the conclusion that a high number of citations of an article reflects excellent research; an impact factor does not reveal critique or a poor quality of specific research that is published. Thus, it stands to reason that the proprietors of a new journal need to be quite certain that it is of benefit to the field that it represents to be assigned an impact factor. Moreover, an IF does not guarantee that the aims and scope of a journal are achieved.
Regardless of whether a journal has an IF or not, it is my responsibility as the Editor of the Nordic Journal of Nursing Research to ensure that all published articles are of high quality and relevant to nursing care. This responsibility involves attracting submissions from nurse researchers and health care professionals whose publication can add to the journals quality. The Editorial Board members’ research competence as well as an intact peer-review process is fundamentally necessary.
In conclusion, I would like to introduce the topic for the Editorial in the next issue, person-centred care, a core concept increasingly becoming a focus in nursing research. David Edvardsson, Professor of Nursing and Director of the Austin/Northern Clinical School of Nursing, La Trobe University, has been invited to share his views on this concept. An example from his research is included as a reference. 4 I am also very proud to be able to welcome David Edvardsson to the Editorial Board representing Sweden. I am certain that his reflections on research focused on person-centred care will inspire our readers to submitted articles on this topic to our journal.