These author guidelines are designed to be followed by contributors to Nursing in Practice. If you have any questions regarding this document, then please speak with your commissioning editor.
Thank you for agreeing to contribute to Nursing in Practice and to make a difference to nursing practice.
Preparing your article
Your commissioning editor will give you a brief and word count for the article and some guidance on the style of piece that we expect you to write. If you are unsure about this, please speak with your commissioning editor.
Nursing In Practice is read by nurses in primary care, general practice and community care, and all articles should be written with our audience in mind, ie, general practice nurses, health visitors, nurse practitioners, community nurses, school nurses, etc.
You should adopt a clear, direct style and where appropriate leave the reader with clear ‘take-home messages’ to improve best practice. We are focused on day-to-day practice, and next steps to be implemented by our readers and shared with colleagues.
Please provide the name, job title and place of work of all authors.
If you have any competing interests, please make them known where you write your author credit.
Word counts do not include references/resources lists.
For a viewpoint/thought leadership/opinion article, please include a head and shoulders image of yourself/the author to be published with the article. (Please ensure that the image is at least 1MB in size, and a landscape format. Photos taken on a smartphone are good; please send as a large sized option).
You are welcome to submit pictures, figures or tables for publication within an article. If these do not belong to you, please ensure you have written permission from the relevant owner or rights holder before submitting them with the article. Nursing in Practice cannot publish images and figures taken from external sources without prior permission.
If submitting photos that include colleagues, it is vital that you have obtained clear permission from them to publish the image in the public domain. If this was not obtained upon taking the photo, please either seek permission from them, or not include the image.
If using photos of patients from a personal or clinical service photobank, it is vital that you have obtained permission from the patient to publish the image in the public domain. If this was not obtained upon taking the photo, you must either seek permission from the patient or not include the image.
Ensure any tables or figures are labelled, and that it is clear where in the article you would like the table or figure placed.
Related Article: Nurses ‘left out of critical decisions’ despite more chief nursing officer posts
You may wish to look for other articles already published by Nursing in Practice, for example at nursinginpractice.com
How many words should you write? For a viewpoint article, please write 600 to 1,000 words, depending on how much you have to say. A common format for a viewpoint article is: 1) A headline that invites interest 2) A line of introduction that gives an overview of the discussion 3) An opening line or section that clearly outlines the main point or call to action 4) The discussion/points of your argument – the main part of the article 5) A summary section at the end that returns to the main point or call to action and pulls together your argument.
An example of a Nursing in Practice viewpoint article:
Accuracy and conflicts of interest
It is your responsibility to ensure information contained within the article is accurate and, to your knowledge, factually correct. This applies particularly for clinical information, for instance ensuring you are using the latest guidelines and a range of resources to inform your writing.
Nursing in Practice will always credit the work of outside authors when their work is published and we expect all authors to prepare their own work and to declare any commercial or business influence that could affect the accuracy or tone of the article. At the bottom of each article, please include a statement of any/no competing interests. If there is no conflict of interest mentioned, we will assume you have none to declare and this information may be published alongside your article.
We will always credit the work of outside authors when their work is published and therefore we expect all authors to prepare their own work. While we recognise use of AI/machine learning as an aid to research, please do not use artificial intelligence software (such as ChatGPT) to write any part of the article.
Identifiable patient information
You must take responsibility for protecting the confidentiality of your patients. If you need to provide information or case studies to illustrate a particular point, do ensure that the patient cannot be identified from the information you have provided in the article. Methods you can use to protect patient identity include one or all of the following: changing the gender (if possible within the scenario); increasing or decreasing the patient’s age (if possible within the scenario); altering the social history from the real-life example; altering what was reported upon presentation (if possible within the scenario) and/or when referring to the patient in the text, use an initial different to that of their first name and surname.
Presentation and general house style
- Numerals one to nine should be written out with 10 and over typed as figures.
- Percent should be written as %.
- Unfamiliar terms, abbreviations and acronyms should be spelt out in full on first use followed by the abbreviation in brackets.
- Capitals should not be used for words like practice nurse or diabetes.
- Use single spacing between sentences.
Examples of clinical articles published by Nursing in Practice:
References
All references should be indicated by superscript numbers in the text [select setting], which correspond to the numbering in the reference list at the end of the article. Reference numbers should be written in digits, not Roman numerals.
Superscript numbers should be placed at the end of the sentence (always after the full stop). Example: Active immunity can be acquired by natural disease or by vaccination.1
Referencing format for a journal article
- [Surname] [First initial]. [Article title]. [Journal] [Year published];[Volume]:[Pages]
- Example: Young G. A nurse-led review of a child with asthma. Rev Infirm 2017;66:45-46
Referencing format for a book
- [Surname] [First initial]. [Book title]. [City]:[Publisher];[Year published]
- Example: Hutchinson D. Long Term Conditions: A Manual for General Practice Nurses. London:CreateSpace;2016
Resources
If you suggest the use of a website, programme etc. in your article, please include it in the resources list so that other nurses can find it.
- [Author/publisher]. [Title] [Website]
- The only punctuation is a full stop between the author and the title
Note: websites should be written without ‘http://www.’ at the beginning and should lead directly to the resource – rather than the publisher’s main website.
Example: Eisenstadt N. The Health Foundation health.org.uk/publication/impact-redesigning-urgent-emergency-care-northumberland
Submission and queries
Please send all submissions and general queries (unless otherwise agreed) to your contact in the Nursing in Practice editorial team:
Carolyn Scott, editor, [email protected]
Caroline Price, clinical editor, [email protected]
Megan Ford, deputy editor, [email protected]
Related Article: RCN Congress: FtP delays may compromise patient safety
Madeleine Anderson, news and features writer, [email protected]
What happens after submission?
1. Review
Nursing in Practice (NIP) reviews all the material it receives. The following checklist is used for the reviewers’ critical appraisal:
- Is the article suitable for NIP?
- What is the impact on readers and what are the implications for NIP?
- Is the discussion comprehensive?
- Does the article include relevant research, evidence and references?
- Is there critical analysis and evaluation where appropriate?
- Are the length, grammar, clarity, subdivisions, figures and summary information suitable?
- Any suggestions for improvement.
We may come back to you with questions or points for clarification.
The editor reserves the customary right to determine the priority and time of publication, style and if necessary to shorten material accepted for publication
2. Copyright
Copyright of the Nursing in Practice websites and all contents remains with Cogora Limited. By submitting an article to Nursing In Practice you confirm that all work is original and your own and agree that Cogora Limited shall hold full copyright for the article.
The company reserves the right to edit or republish the article without your further consent. In exceptional circumstances we may remove author bylines or use the article in promotional materials or external publications.
3. Publication
If there are no queries, we may go ahead and publish the article. Submission gives your permission to proceed to publication. It is usual practice for us to contact you with a link to the article to let you know that it is live.
If you are active on social media, please do share your article.
4. Honoraria and payment
In some circumstances, we may offer payment to authors, typically for longer clinical education modules. The honorarium offered is inclusive of VAT, and is offered per article, not per author. Payment is typically made within 28 days of publication (not submission). Please submit an invoice for the agreed fee along with your article, including bank name, account number, sort code and account holder name. Failure to submit this will result in a delay to your payment. An optional template invoice is available on request.
Explore Nursing in Practice
News, professional and clinical content: nursinginpractice.com
Virtual and live events: nursinginpractice365.uk
Clinical CPD modules: nursinginpractice365.uk
Related Article: Interview: Protection of ‘nurse’ title shows respect for profession
Clinical symptoms search: nursinginpracticereference.com
Cogora is a UK-based healthcare focused media group, with publications including Nursing in Practice, Pulse, The Pharmacist, Pulse PCN, Management in Practice, Healthcare Leader, Hospital Healthcare Europe and Hospital Pharmacy Europe, live and virtual events and bespoke medical communications.
© 2025 Cogora, 1 Giltspur Street, London, EC1A 9DD
Thank you for writing an article for Nursing in Practice.
