Findings from the INANE Member Survey on Student Papers Submitted to Nursing Journals

Editor Workgroup

Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, FAAN American Journal of Nursing

Julia M. Cowell, PhD, RN, APHN-BC, FAAN The Journal of School Nursing

Jamesetta A. Newland, PhD, FNP-BC, FAANP, DPNAP Nurse Practitioner

Jacqueline K. Owens, PhD, RN, CNE OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing

Charon Pierson, PhD, GNP, FAAN, FAANP Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners

August 2015

Objectives Discuss issues around student papers submitted to journals as part of a course assignment.

Compare and contrast problems and strengths of student papers compared to other submissions.

Background2014 INANE annual meeting: Many editors frustrated over multiple queries and poorly written student papers

Nurse Author & Editor has addressed student writing 6 times in 2 yearsStudent Partners: The Write Idea for Scholarly Collaboration by Janice E Hawkins; June 2015, 25(2)

Converting a DNP Scholarly Project into a Manuscript by Heather Carter-Templeton, March 2015, 25, (1)

Student Faculty Authorship: Challenges and Solutions by Jessica Nishikawa, Estelle Codier, Debra Mark, & Maureen Shannon; December 2014, 24(4)

Student Assignments and Writing for Publication by Michelle Cleary, Violeta Lopez, Debra Jackson, & Catherine L Hungerford; June 2014, 24(2)

Let’s Talk about Getting Students to Write by Maureen Shawn Kennedy; March 2014, 24(1)

Four Rules of Writing by Roger Watson; March 2013, 23(1)

Background Graduate nursing students often encouraged or required to submit scholarly work for consideration for publication

Doctoral education, practice or research, distinguished by completion of project (AACN DNP Essentials, 2006)• Demonstrates synthesis of the student work• Groundwork for future scholarship (e.g., manuscript)• Tangible, deliverable academic product

Nurse Practitioner Core Competencies, Leadership Competency 6 (Thomas et al., 2014) • Communicates practice knowledge effectively, both orally and in writing• Curriculum support: Scholarly writing, manuscript, and abstract preparation; and Structuring and

presenting persuasive arguments

Example 1: DNP Student Query

I am a DNP student at XXX College of Nursing at the University of XXX. On completion of my scholarly project, I would like to submit it for publication in the JAANP journal. I am writing to ask your advise about what category my article would fit into. My article is about patient's assessment of pain prior to and after ultrasound-guided knee arthrocentesis and intra-articular steroid injection in a rheumatology parctice [sic]. We perform musculoskeletal ultrasound in our practice and I wanted to assess patient's knee pain prior to ultrasound guided knee arthrocentesis and 2 weeks after. There are few articles on patient outcomes using ultrasound guided joint aspiration and injection. Would my article fall under the research or Quality improvement category? I appreciate your timely response. I am beginning to write my manuscript. I would like to submit it for publication next year. Thank you for your time

Example 1: Editor Response

I can't tell from your email if you have assessed 1 patient ("patient's knee pain" is singular) or you meant multiple patients (in which case it would be patients' knee pain). If you have assessed 1 patient it is a case study; if you assessed many patients using a research protocol, approved by your IRB, then it would be research. A QI project implies there was a situation in your practice that required improvement and you instituted a practice change and measured the outcome. I just can't give you any more specific advice – perhaps you should speak with your faculty adviser.

Example 1: Student Reply

I am sorry about the confusion. My study will be a convenient sample of 20-50 patients assessing their pain. My faculty advisor was the one who advised me to write you to see if the study would be a QI project or research study. I appreciate your advise and timely response.

Example 2: Master’s Student Query

To whom it may concern,

I am currently in the Masters of Nursing program at the University of XXX and I will be graduating late April. I need to submit my Capstone Project to a nursing journal and have chosen the American Journal of Nursing because it is a respected nursing journal with a large audience. The name of my project is Improving Nurse Perception of the Call Bell and focuses on increasing awareness of the importance of the call bell to the nurse. It is a relatively small study that uses Pre and Post-Interventional surveys with the intervention being an educational PowerPoint on the importance of the call bell. The paper is 18 pages in length including cover page and references.

The target date for submission is April 1 (depending on when the final draft is approved) and I would like to have a receiving letter from the editor by April 10th if possible.

Actions Nursing editor group: convened to further explore this

issue and implications for scholarly publishing

developed survey with closed and open ended questions

surveyed editors in January 2015 via the INANE listserv

GOAL: To create a document (e.g., a White Paper) providing guidance for student papers for faculty, students, and editors

Survey Content 3 Likert type/brief response and 6 open response questions considered: Frequency of submissionsEducational level of student authorsDescriptions of common problems Concerns with papers as course requirements• whether or not authors should identify the manuscript as a course requirement• how editors perceive the role of faculty• how editors address student submissions that fall short of journal standards

Summary of Numerical Results

Demographics: 53 total responses to survey by journal editors Range of responses to quantitative questions: 48-53

Choices: Never (5) Rarely (4) Occasionally (3) Often (2) Frequently (1)

Survey Questions: Likert Scale/Brief Response1. Does your journal receive student papers as submitted manuscripts?

2. Of the student papers you receive, are they written by:a. Doctoral Students (PhD, EdD, DNS)b. Doctoral Students (DNP, ND)c. Master’s Students (MS, MSN, MN)d. Baccalaureate Students (BSN, BS)e. Associate Degree Students (ASN, AS)

3. Thinking of the types of common problems that are encountered with student submissions, please rate the following :a. Poor quality of writing or use of languageb. Lack of detail or depth; superficialc. Inadequate or inappropriate sourcesd. Poorly organized; poor transitionse. Lack of adherence to appropriate formatf. Lack of evidence of expertise in the subjectg. Inappropriate topic for the Journalh. Inaccurate or missing key contenti. Other (describe)

Survey Questions: Results Q1

Survey Questions: Results Q2a

Survey Questions: Results Q2b

Survey Questions: Results Q2c

Survey Questions: Results Q2d

Survey Questions: Results Q2e

Survey Questions: Results Q3a

Survey Questions: Results Q3b

Survey Questions: Results Q3c

Survey Questions: Results Q3d

Survey Questions: Results Q3e

Survey Questions: Results Q3f

Survey Questions: Results Q3g

Survey Questions: Results Q3h

Questions & Summary of Narrative Results

Q1. Describe other common problems you encounter with student submissions. (n = 38)

Q2. Are there any additional problems you think are important related to the process of requiring submission of papers by students as course requirements?

(n = 44)

Questions & Summary of Narrative Results

Q3. Should authors identify a manuscript as a requirement for a course or a product of the graduate program?

(Yes/No option + open-ended response box)

(n = 20 Yes; 21 No; 10 Unanswered; and 18 narrative responses)

Q4. How have you addressed student submissions that do not meet journal standards for publication – internally (to editorial staff) and externally (to authors)?

(n = 46)

Questions & Summary of Narrative Results

Q 5. What is the role of faculty if they are going to assign submissions of papers by students as a course requirement?

(n = 45)

Q6. Are there any additional issues you think are important related to student submissions?

(n = 28)

Emerging Themes & Subthemes

Submissions Fail to Follow Author Guidelines

Characteristics of Student Submissions

Lack of Professional Behavior from Students

Lack of Professional Behavior from Faculty

Editor Responses to Student Submissions

Faculty as Mentors Teaching Scholarly Writing Teaching Manuscript Preparation Faculty Challenges Program Requirement to Submit Manuscript

Submissions Fail to Follow Author Guidelines

Manuscripts exceed word count

Technical details missing (e.g., copyright, bio sketch, tables, figures, permissions)

Outside the scope of the journal, not appropriate to journal features

Characteristics of Student Submissions

Lack of appropriate referencing (e.g., poor quality, references limited to nursing sources only, outdated references, “unintentional" plagiarism, too many references)

Excessive focus on quotes, theory, review of literature

Literature reviews that draw few or no new conclusions, often not cutting edge content

Papers written as assignments that do not consider the reading audience

Characteristics of Student Submissions

Awkward or poor writing (e.g., lacks clarity, lack of flow due to cut/paste from sources, inappropriate focus or scope, lack of logical progression of ideas, superficial development ideas, inability to synthesize)

Inexperience with research (e.g., small sample sizes, not yet meaningful research, local interest only)

English as second language concerns

Editors divided as to whether or not students should have to self identify with submissions; quality of paper is more important than whether or not it was a required student submission

Lack of Professional Behavior from Students

Submit school project with faculty signature pages for university approval or cut/paste from thesis or project

Failure to follow through with publishing process (e.g., revisions or response to editor queries)

Provide only student email which may expire upon graduation – unable to reach author

Lack of Professional Behavior from Faculty

Require submission but provide minimal supervision of writing and submission process; editors expected to do the work of review and often feel faculty have not done adequate pre-submission work to help students create polished, publishable papers

Fail to screen/review papers prior to submission, set up students for failure Unethical authorship practices:• Take co-authorship when acknowledgment is more appropriate; no authorship unless faculty actually writes (COPE

guidelines) • Put student authors in an uncomfortable position when asked about specific contribution of faculty co-author• Editors question whether or not faculty use co authorship with student papers to satisfy tenure requirements?

Encourage mass submissions by a single class (e.g., direct all students to submit DNP papers to one journal regardless of paper quality; likely only a couple are publishable)

Editor Responses to Student SubmissionsINTERNAL (TO EDITORIAL STAFF)

Set a standard and stick to it - review all submissions to the same standard

Discourage "over fixing" submissions

EXTERNAL (TO AUTHORS)

Provide feedback to authors:• Return manuscript for author to address journal

guidelines as needed• Use template response letter to address concerns

and customize accordingly• If possible, provide detailed feedback (sometimes by

phone call) and require revise/resubmit before sending to peer review

• Instruct students to share feedback with professors

Editors made many comments about supporting students as they pursue publication

Faculty as Mentors A few editors responded that they receive papers with clear evidence of faculty mentoring; most noted the need for faculty to provide more mentoring

Editors see the role of faculty to: Include a professional (ethical) obligation to help students write Require high standards and quality Identify publishable student papers from all submissions Invest a personal time commitment

Need for careful faculty review and feedback for students

Faculty as Mentors: 4 Subthemes

1. Teaching Scholarly Writing

2. Teaching Manuscript Preparation

3. Faculty Challenges

4. Program Requirement to Submit Manuscript

Subtheme #1: Teaching Scholarly Writing

Make writing instruction part of coursework throughout program (e.g., content, depth, organization, grammar, language, format)

Consider a stand alone course or workshop for graduate-level students

Require students to peer review using a selected journal’s format

Require practice:◦ Multiple writing assignments faculty feedback before writing for submission◦ Help students understand and author different types of scholarly writing as appropriate (e.g., research

reports, quality improvement/projects, case studies)

Design process to help students learn about scholarly writing and the difference between a school paper and a publishable paper

Subtheme #2: Teaching Manuscript Preparation

Need for faculty experience and guidelines to help them: Teach the publication process (e.g., query letters, journal match, single submission, author guidelines,

peer review, revisions and commitment to process, rejection) Assist with converting class papers to manuscript format Guide student to review and select appropriate journal Read student papers, critique, edit, assist with revisions Assure that student writes in a scholarly tone, meets journal standards, and follows author guidelines Help students understand value of rejection comments to guide future publications

Do not encourage students to submit low level and/or well known information no matter how well written or organized

Subtheme #3: Faculty Challenges

Has faculty published or been a reviewer?

Not knowledgeable [about publication process]

Not experienced enough [writing and/or mentoring?]

Skills and competence in scholarly writing?

Not willing to work with students

Not willing to or cannot invest time and effort

Insufficient number of faculty to mentor students

Subtheme #4: Program Requirement to Submit Manuscript

Faculty should take responsibility for quality of paper – reflection on academic program

Requiring students to write papers has value, but only encourage students with a publishable paper to submit to journal

If a requirement, advocate for sufficient number of faculty to mentor students and provide other supports

Is a manuscript a realistic goal given the length of the program or coursework?

Do not make a blanket rule for submission of manuscript as requirement for course or graduation

Discussion About Findings: Your Thoughts?

Discussion Objectives:1. Identify at least 3 strengths and 3 challenges for editors related to student papers submitted

for publication2. Describe appropriate roles of students, faculty, and editors in the publication process3. Examine the pros and cons of mandatory submission of student papers as part of a course

assignment

Do you have specific suggestions related to creation of a White Paper on this topic?

Do you have ideas about dissemination to educate faculty regarding student submissions?

References American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2006). The essentials of doctoral education for advanced nursing practice. Retrieved from: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/publications/position/DNPEssentials.pdf

Thomas, A., Crabtree, M.K., Delaney, K., Dumas, M.A., Kleinpell, R., Marfell, J,…Wolf, A. (2014). Nurse practitioner core competencies content: A delineation of suggested content specific to the NP core competencies. Retrieved from:

http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/nonpf.site-ym.com/resource/resmgr/Competencies/NPCoreCompsContentFinalNov20.pdf