Creative Nursing

Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Creative Nursing

This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.

This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Please read the guidelines below, then visit Creative Nursing’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/creativenursing to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. Remember, you can log in to the submission site at any time to check on the progress of your paper.

Sage disseminates high-quality research and engaged scholarship globally, and we are committed to diversity and inclusion in publishing. We encourage submissions from a diverse range of authors from across all countries and backgrounds.

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Creative Nursing will be reviewed.

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

As part of the submission process, you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights to all material in the work, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.

Prior Publication and Preprints

You will be required to warrant that you are submitting the work for first publication in Creative Nursing, that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere. Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that Creative Nursing will consider submissions of papers that have been posted on preprint servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines), and include the DOI of the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in Creative Nursing. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to Creative Nursing's author archiving policy. If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper.

If you have any questions about publishing with Sage, please visit the Sage Journal Solutions Portal.

Publishing Your Article in Creative Nursing

1. What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.2.1 General Guidelines
1.2.2 Manuscript Types
1.2.3 Special Statement/Guidelines for Reporting of P-values
1.3 Issue Themes for 2024 - The Impact of Social Forces on Nursing and Health
1.4 Writing your paper
1.4.1 Make your article discoverable

2. Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.3.1 Third party submissions
2.3.2 Writing assistance
2.4 Funding
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
2.6 Research ethics and patient consent
2.7 Clinical trials
2.8 Reporting guidelines
2.9 Research data

3. Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.1.1 Plagiarism
3.1.2 Prior publication
3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving

4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
4.1 Formatting 
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Identifiable information
4.4 Supplemental material
4.5 Reference style
4.6 English language editing services

5. Submitting your manuscript
5.1 ORCID
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
5.3 Permissions

6. On acceptance and publication
6.1 Sage Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article

7. Further information
7.1 Appealing the publication decision
 

1. What do we publish?

1.1 Aims & Scope

Before submitting your manuscript to Creative Nursing, please ensure you have read the following journal description.

Creative Nursing is an international online peer-reviewed professional journal, published continuously for 41 years (initially as Primarily Nursing), and quarterly since 2007. We are a themed journal, with an overarching theme for each year and quarterly themed issues related to the year’s theme. Each issue of Creative Nursing brings readers insights into topics of interest to health-care professionals from various practice settings. Creative Nursing is edited by health-care professionals who love our professions and have a vision for their future. Article submissions from all walks of life are welcome and will receive respectful consideration. We strive to foster diverse perspectives and experiences, and invite contributors with unique insights, backgrounds, and expertise to join this inclusive dialogue. We especially welcome submissions from novice authors, and work with them to prepare robust, scholarly content. Articles accepted for potential publication undergo anonymous review by content experts in nursing or relevant related fields. The name of our journal reflects our historical origin as a publication about Primary Nursing, but we encourage and publish interprofessional articles from all health-care disciplines around the world.

Creative Nursing is a voice for innovation, insight, and authentic focus on those we serve. Our articles highlight creativity in caring for those we serve, in educating health-care professionals, and in addressing the structures that determine health and well-being. Our primary audience is nurses and allied health professionals worldwide, from newly graduated and early-career nurses to established practitioners, educators, and entrepreneurs in academia, health-care organizations, and independent practice.

Creative Nursing is published in English, but we welcome supplemental material in other languages and will work to include it whenever possible. We regularly accept for consideration international articles with English fluency issues, and work with these authors to achieve intelligibility and readability.

Our Core Target Fields are:

• Findings from studies and reports of projects that are generalizable to diverse practice settings.
• Manuscripts by advanced practice students and early-career nurses.
• Essays and opinion pieces on salient, sometimes controversial topics.
• Syntheses of thought leadership relevant to our issues’ themes.
• Articles of all types that focus on underrepresented, vulnerable, and/or marginalized populations.

1.2 Article types

Creative Nursing considers manuscripts on topics related to both the practical and theoretical aspects of health care, including:

• Original qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods studies
• Systematic and narrative reviews
• Scale development papers related to the current theme
• Theory development and evaluation papers related to the current theme
• Reports of quality improvement projects
• Interviews with clinicians and other experts in fields related to the theme
• Personal stories and first-hand accounts related to the theme (Submit under the category of Discussion Papers)
• Commentaries and opinion pieces of international interest
• Reviews of relevant books, articles, and other media
• Discussion papers
• Research Methods papers consistent with the year’s theme

1.2.1 General Guidelines

Reference Style: Creative Nursing uses American Psychological Association (APA) 7th Edition for formatting manuscripts and visuals. Manuscripts not adhering to these guidelines will be returned to the authors before editorial review, or may be rejected.

Title Page: The title page should contain all authors’ academic information, affiliations, highest earned credentials, contact information, and any other disclosures and acknowledgments. If the manuscript is accepted for publication, the authors will be requested to provide a photo for publication along with a biography (maximum 50 words) that includes choice of personal pronouns. 

Abstract: Each non-research manuscript should include an unstructured abstract of 150-200 words and up to 5 keywords.

Tweetable Abstract (Optional): The authors can also provide a 30-40 word tweetable abstract for social media promotions. 

Cover Letter: If the manuscript has been drawn from a previously published study, explain how the submitted manuscript is different from the previously published manuscript.  

Ethical Approval: Reports of original research must clearly state the name of the ethics committee and/or board and the approval number.

Predatory Publications: Authors should practice caution when citing sources and including studies in reviews. During editorial and peer review, citations from possibly predatory journals will be questioned, which may result in substantial revisions of the manuscript.

1.2.2 Manuscript Types

Original Research

Randomized Controlled Trials will be considered for review only if they have been registered.

Word Limit: Quantitative papers must be no longer than 6000 words in length, including abstract and reference list, with no more than 35 references.  Qualitative papers, including mixed methods studies, must be no more than 6000-7000 words including abstract and reference list, with no more than 35 references.

Abstract: Provide a structured abstract of no more than 150-200 words outlining the study’s background, purpose, methods, conclusions, and implications for practice. Do not include statistical measures in the abstract; rather, present results in simple language for a wide range of readers. Avoid sweeping statements about implications for practice in favor of relevant and clear implications. (For example, “Nurse managers can use the results to develop practice guidelines for improving quality of compassionate care in oncology settings.”). 

Quantitative Research: The manuscript should include a succinct overview of literature, problem statement, and description of conceptual and theoretical framework if used, methodology, methods, validity and reliability, discussion (including limitations), conclusions, and implications for research/practice/education. Instead of general headings for introduction and background, use headings which reflect the content presented. (For example, “importance of compassionate care”, “factors affecting nurses’ self-efficacy”). 

1.2.3 Special Statement/Guidelines for Reporting of P-values

The using of p-value thresholds to establish statistical significance has long been a standard practice  in academic research, including as a basis for  decision making. However, the American Statistical Association (ASA) has determined that reliance on p-values alone is not warranted and has the potential for abuse. The ASA has issued a statement on the use of p-values to determine statistical significance. We are providing direct quotes to emphasize ASA’s stance on this issue. 

• “P-values can indicate how incompatible the data are with a specified statistical model.”
• “P-values do not measure the probability that the studied hypothesis is true, or the probability that the data were produced by random chance alone.”
• “Scientific conclusions and business or policy decisions should not be based only on whether a p-value passes a specific threshold.”
• “Proper inference requires full reporting and transparency.”
• “A p-value, or statistical significance, does not measure the size of an effect or the importance of a result.”
• “By itself, a p-value does not provide a good measure of evidence regarding a model or hypothesis.” (Wasserstein & Lazar, 2016, p. 131-132).

Reference: Wasserstein, R. L. & Lazar, N. A. (2016). The ASA statement on p-values: Context, process, and purpose. The American Statistician, 70(2), 129-133. https://doi.org/10.1080/00031305.2016.1154108

In accordance with the ASA’s statement, Creative Nursing now requires authors of quantitative studies to adhere to the following guidelines for reporting p-values in their manuscripts. Manuscripts not following these guidelines will not be considered for peer review.

1. If presenting results in terms of statistical significance, use the p-value threshold 0f 0.005 for instead of 0.05. A p-value threshold of 0.005 have two advantages. First, a two-sided p-value of 0.005 corresponds to a Bayes Factor of approximately 14 to 26 compared to a Bayes Factor of 2.5 to 3.4 for p-value of 0.05 in favour of alternative hypothesis. Second, P-value of 0.005 can reduce the false positive rate to 5% compared to a false positive rate of 33% or above with a p-value of 0.05. Refer to the following paper for more details: Benjamin, D. J., Berger, J. O., Johannesson, M., Nosek, B. A., Wagenmakers, E. J., Berk, R., ... & Johnson, V. E. (2018). Redefine statistical significance. Nature Human Behaviour, 2(1), 6-10. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0224-0
2. DO NOT use the word “statistically significant” when reporting p-values of 0.05. Instead use the word “suggestive”. Put simply, p-value of 0.005 should be reported as “statistically significant” and p-values of 0.05 should reported as “suggestive”. 
3. Report p-values as continuous quantities (p=0.003 or p=0.005).
4. Report confidence intervals along with the p-value. However, discuss the upper and lower limits of the confidence interval and whether the limits have any practical implications, without consideration of the notion that the confidence interval contains the null value. Please note: confidence intervals are merely estimates and are subject to error. Therefore, use the following additional guidance (Point 4) when reporting confidence intervals and continuous p-values.
5. You can choose to report any of the following values along with your continuous p-values and confidence intervals.
   • Report Bayes Factor Bound (BFB) (1/[−e p log p]) indicates the upper bound largest ratio of data-based odds of an alternative hypothesis relative to the null hypothesis. For example, if you obtained a p-value of 0.01, it corresponds to a Bayes Factor of 1.60:1. This means that if both alternative and null hypothesis were considered equally plausible, there still remains a 38% chance that the null hypothesis is true. To understand how to convert p-values to BFB, please refer to the following article: Benjamin, D. J. & Berger, J. O. (2019). Three recommendations for improving the use of p-values. The American Statistician, 73(sup1), 186-191. https://doi.org/10.1080/00031305.2018.1543135
   • Report continuous p-values along with the false positive risk (FPR), which offers an assessment if the significant p-value obtained in your study is false positive. To estimate the FPR, please refer to the following article for guidance. Colquhoun, D. (2019). The false positive risk: A proposal concerning what to do about p-values. The American Statistician, 73(sup1), 192-201. https://doi.org/10.1080/00031305.2018.1529622. You can also use the online tool for using FPR: http://fpr-calc.ucl.ac.uk/
   • Estimate the Analysis of Credibility (AnCred) which after consideration of the width of confidence intervals and their bounds estimates the evidential weight in order to assess the credibility of significant and non-significant findings. The AnCred estimate is provided in the form of Critical Prior Interval (CPI) metric. Please refer to the following source for detailed description on how to estimate CPIs. Matthews R. A. J. (2018). Beyond 'significance': Principles and practice of the Analysis of Credibility. Royal Society Open Science, 5(1), 171047. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171047
6. Additionally, if possible we also encourage authors to consider Bayesian statistics for hypothesis testing rather than relying on frequentist statistics. However, we understand that a transition to Bayesian statistics in scientific community would be gradual. Therefore, we ask authors to adhere to our updated guidelines on reporting of p-values.

Qualitative Research: The manuscript should include a succinct overview of literature, problem statement, and description of conceptual and theoretical framework if used, methodology, methods, study rigor, discussion (including limitations), conclusions, and implications for research/practice/education.

When reporting qualitative designs, rather than saying that a qualitative approach was used, clearly state the methodology, such as interpretative phenomenology, descriptive phenomenology, descriptive qualitative, interpretative description, grounded theory, narrative research, and case study. Themes and sub-themes should be stated clearly and supported with sparingly used participant quotes using pseudonyms. Verbatim quotes should be edited for ease of reading. If the qualitative research was conducted in a language other than English, please include both the translated and the native language verbatim quotes whenever possible. Also, we recommend you provide a Supplemental File including participants’ quotes in the Native Language. “Thematic analysis” and “content analysis” are not accepted as study designs for qualitative research; these are methods for data analysis and should be stated as such.  Similarly, “focus group” is not a methodology, but a method of data collection, and should be presented as such. Thematic analysis should not be used for data analysis in phenomenology, grounded theory, discourse analysis, other specialized qualitative methodologies.

Mixed Methods Research: The manuscript should include a succinct overview of literature, problem statement, and description of conceptual and theoretical framework if used, methodology, methods, study rigor (use legitimation criteria), discussion (including limitations), conclusions, and implications for research/practice/education. Mixed methods manuscripts should provide a clear justification for using this approach, and a mixed methods research purpose/question and/or separate qualitative/quantitative and mixed questions for each phase. The integration of data must be made explicit; manuscripts lacking this evidence will be rejected. We are unable to publish mixed methods studies as two separate manuscripts. 

Systematic and Narrative Reviews

Word limit: Reviews must be no more than 6000-7000 words including abstract and reference list. 

Abstract: Provide a structured abstract of no more than 150-200 words outlining the background, review question, type of review, methods, conclusions, and implications for research/practice/education.

All systematic reviews should be reported in accordance with PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

When presenting specific types of reviews:

• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of quantitative studies and randomized control trials should be registered with PROSPERO. If not registered, provide the protocol as a supplementary file for editorial review.
• Critical reviews are only considered for review if they focus on developing frameworks, models, or policy guidelines and implications.

The main text of reviews should be structured using the headings: Introduction, Review Question, Design, Literature Search, Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria, Critical Appraisal (if applicable), Data Extraction, Data Analysis and Synthesis, Findings, Discussion (including Limitations), Conclusions, and Implications for Research/Practice/Education.

Scale Development

Word Limit: Scale Development papers should be no longer than 3000 words including abstract and reference list.

Abstract: Follow the abstract guidelines for quantitative research. If mixed methods design was used for scale development, follow the guidelines for mixed methods study and present the paper following the guidelines for mixed methods studies.

Scale development papers are only considered if they report the development of a new scale. We do not consider the publication of translated instruments. Scale development papers should provide a copy of the scale for readers and researchers We only publish scale development papers if the scale is provided for researchers’ use without charging any fee to the researchers.

Theory Development and Evaluation

Word Limit: Theory Development and Evaluation Papers should be no longer than 4000-5000 words including abstract and reference list.

Abstract: Follow the abstract requirements outlined under general guidelines.

Theory Development and Evaluation Papers are considered if they offer new insights into existing theories beyond basic analysis, and support the premises with adequate research. Critical appraisals of existing theories are also encouraged. We do not publish Grand Nursing Theories; only middle range and situation specific theories are considered for review.

Discussion Papers

Word Limit: Discussion Papers should be no longer than 5000 words including abstract and reference list.

Abstract: Follow the requirements outlined under general requirements.

Discussion papers may focus on contemporary issues relevant to nursing practice, education, or policy. These papers may present philosophical or ethical analyses of issues promoting international debate. The papers should be framed under the following headings: Abstract, Debatable Issue, Purpose, Background Analysis of the Issue (provide supporting literature), Discussion, and Implications for research/practice/education. These headings can be tailored to individual papers such as personal accounts of nursing specific issues or first hand accounts related to journal’s theme.    

Reports of Quality Improvement Projects

Word Limit: Quality Improvement Reports should be no longer than 3000 words including abstract and reference list.

Abstract: Follow the requirements for abstracts under general guidelines.

Quality Improvement Reports should describe innovative programs, implementation efforts, and evaluative strategies to improve the care provided to a specific population in a hospital, unit, or other health care facilities. The papers should be framed under the headings: Abstract, Context, Methods, Results, Discussion (including Limitations), Conclusions, and Lessons Learned or Implications for Practice.

Under context, provide details about the nature and type of setting, details of health-care personnel, and patient population. Under methods, provide detailed information about the type of innovation, how it was developed and implemented, intended and measured outcomes, and the effect of innovation on setting, practice, patient, and/or health-care personnel. The effect should be relevant to the purpose of the quality improvement project.  Lessons learned should include three to four points for a general audience discussing how the quality improvement efforts can be used in other contexts or how the implemented project changed the practice or issues at hand. 

Research Methods Papers

Word Limit: Research methods papers should be no longer than 5000 words including abstract and reference list.

Abstract: Provide a structured abstract of no more than 150 words outlining the need for new method, purpose, overview of method, conclusions, and contribution to nursing research/methodology.

Research methods papers should describe new methods developed during the design and conduct of research or application of research/philosophical/theoretical ideas from other disciplines to inform nursing research and practice.  The papers should be framed under the headings: Abstract, Background and Purpose, Overview of the Research Method, Application to an Exemplar Study (if the method was developed during a research project), Contribution to Nursing Research/Methodology, and Conclusions. These headings are flexible and can be tailored to the needs of the paper.

Under Background and Purpose, provide details existing methods and how this new method adds to the existing literature. Under overview of the method, provide detailed information about the type of research method, how it was developed and used, its potential benefits, and challenges to application. Contribution to Nursing Research/Methodology should include three to four points for a nurse researchers discussing how the new proposed method/s can inform nursing research/methodology. In this section, also note the relevance of the proposed methods to the year’s theme.

1.3 Issues Themes for 2024 - The Impact of Social Forces on Nursing and Health

Creative Nursing Vol 30 #1: Activism, Advocacy, and Allyship

Nursing’s voice is not being heard; how do we support, elevate, and empower that voice from bedside to boardroom? Activism goes beyond advocacy, involving tangible actions to bring change within nursing and society. The growing frequency and extent of legislation against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the US makes discussing this theme an urgent priority. How do we build nurses’ skills (business acumen, decision-making power, communication skills, policy making, institutional decision making)? Suggested topics include: the impact of nursing strikes on decision making for and within nursing; nurses’ involvement in politics; reforming health-care practices; and advocating for key issues. Deadline for submitting manuscripts for this issue is January 15, 2024.

Creative Nursing Vol. 30 #2: Social Media and Artificial Intelligence

The virtual environment can be a valuable tool for fostering health, or a destructive force undermining health. It can promote sharing of information and strengthen connections between people; it can also disseminate and prioritize misinformation and disinformation, enable moral panics, and affect individuals’ well-being and threaten their identity. Technology may determine our vocabulary and thus our own thoughts. The US Surgeon General’s report on social media’s ill effects on children calls out the dangers to health; the potential for AI running amok is being viewed as an extinction event. Suggested topics include: the impact of ChatGP and other AI-generated language models on nursing education; predatory publishing and conferences; how machine learning informs what we do and how it impacts policy; the effects of nurses’ use or misuse of social media on nursing’s image and professional identity; and the emotional impact of virtual health care on the patient and the health-care professional. Deadline for submitting manuscripts for this issue is March 31, 2024. 

Creative Nursing Vol. 30 #3: Social Violence

Social violence can take various forms including physical, psychological, emotional, and socioeconomic and cultural resulting in negative impact on society in general and specific population in particular. Suggested topics include: the necessity for the nursing profession to take a stand to stop gun violence, not adapt to it; impact of mass shootings and of domestic violence on health-care staff; protecting people from toxic street drugs; moral panics (vaccine panic, immigration panic, abortion panic, religious terrorism panic, gender-non-conforming panic). Deadline for submitting manuscripts for this issue is June 30, 2024.     

Creative Nursing Vol. 30 #4: Transforming Power Over to Power With

A culture’s dominant group also dominates nursing but may not reflect the values of the nursing profession, and institutional policies may be antithetical to nurses’ personal ethical practice. When one culture is considered superior to others and dictates the decisions for other groups, issues of epistemic injustice (particularly testimonial injustice) may lead listeners and readers to give a deflated level of credibility to a speaker’s or writer’s voice due to prejudices, biases, and sociocultural stereotypes. Decolonization is foundational to this discussion, but through the lens of the world’s population; the concept of colonialism varies widely among countries. Suggested topics include cultural hierarchies within organizations, within nursing leadership and management, and within nursing knowledge (most of current knowledge is from a Western perspective). Deadline for submitting manuscripts for this issue is  August 31, 2024.

1.4 Writing your paper

The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice on how to get published, plus links to further resources.

1.4.1 Make your article discoverable

For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

2. Editorial policies

2.1 Peer review policy

Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication.

Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:

• The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors.
• The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper.
• The author has recommended the reviewer.

The journal’s policy is to have manuscripts reviewed by two expert reviewers. Creative Nursing utilizes a double-anonymized peer review process in which the reviewer and authors’ names and information are withheld from the other. Reviewers may at their own discretion opt to reveal their names to the author in their review, but our standard policy practice is for their identities to remain concealed.

Creative Nursing operates a doubly anonymized peer review process in which the reviewer’s name is withheld from the author(s) and the author (s)’ name from the reviewer. The reviewer may at their own discretion opt to reveal their name to the author(s) in their review, but our standard policy is for both identities to remain concealed. On occasion, articles submitted to Creative Nursing may be subject to peer review by members of the Editorial Board, who are aware of the sources of all articles under consideration. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible, while maintaining rigor. Reviewers make comments to the author and recommendations to the Editor, who then makes the final decision.

The Editor or members of the Editorial Board occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in Creative Nursing. In these cases, the peer review process is managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor/Board member has no involvement in the decision-making process.

Creative Nursing is committed to delivering high quality, fast peer-review for your paper, and as such has partnered with Web of Science (WoS). WoS is a third-party service that seeks to track, verify, and give credit for peer review. Reviewers for Creative Nursing can opt in to WoS in order to claim their reviews or have them automatically verified and added to their reviewer profile. Reviewers claiming credit for their review will be associated with the relevant journal, but the article name, reviewer’s decision, and the content of their review is not published on the site. For more information visit the WoS website.

2.2 Authorship

Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors.

The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship. This is all those who:

(i). Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data,

(ii). Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,

(iii). Approved the version to be published, and

(iv). Participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. When a large, multi-center group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.

Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.

Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

2.3 Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.

Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.

Per ICMJE recommendations, it is best practice to obtain consent from non-author contributors who you are acknowledging in your paper.                                              

2.3.1 Third party submissions

Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

• Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input,
• Identify any entities that paid for this assistance, and
• Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

2.3.2 Writing assistance

Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company, and level of input, and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.

2.4 Funding

Creative Nursing requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.  Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. 

2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

It is the policy of Creative Nursing to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.

Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’. For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations here.

2.6 Research ethics and patient consent

Medical research involving human subjects must be conducted according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.

Submitted manuscripts should conform to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, and all papers reporting animal and/or human studies must state in the methods section that the relevant ethics committee or institutional review board provided (or waived) approval. Please ensure that you have provided the full name and institution of the review committee, in addition to the approval number.

For research articles, authors are also required to state in the methods section whether participants provided informed consent and whether the consent was written or verbal.

Information on informed consent to report individual cases or case series should be included in the manuscript text. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for patient information and images to be published was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative. Please do not submit the patient’s actual written informed consent with your article, as this in itself breaches the patient’s confidentiality. Creative Nursing requests that you confirm to us, in writing, that you have obtained written informed consent but the written consent itself should be held by the authors/investigators themselves, for example in a patient’s hospital record. The confirmatory letter may be uploaded with your submission as a separate file.

Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants.

2.7 Clinical trials

Creative Nursing conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrolment as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.

2.8 Reporting guidelines

The relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines should be followed depending on the type of article.

• CONSORT checklist for reports of randomized trials and cluster randomized trials
• TREND checklist for non-randomized controlled trials
• STROBE checklist for observational research
• COREQ checklist for qualitative studies
• SQUIRE checklist for quality improvement
• TRIPOD checklist for prediction model development and/or validation
• CHEERS guidelines for economic evaluations
• SPIRIT checklist for study protocols
• AGREE checklist for clinical practice guidelines
• PRISMA for systematic reviews
• PRISMA-ScR for scoping reviews

Other resources can be found at NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives.

2.9 Research data

Creative Nursing is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.

Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:

• Share your research data in a relevant public data repository
• Include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, use the statement to confirm why it cannot be shared.
• Cite this data in your research

Peer reviewers may be asked to peer review the research data prior to publication.

• Peer reviewers may be asked to assess compliance with the research data policy
• Peer reviewers may be asked to assess research data files

If you need to anonymize your research data for peer review, please refer to our Research Data Sharing FAQs for guidance.

3. Publishing policies

3.1 Publication ethics

Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.

3.1.1 Plagiarism

Creative Nursing and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism, or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of Creative Nursing against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

3.1.2 Prior publication

If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement

Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive license agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and license to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information, please visit the Sage Author Gateway.

3.3 Open access and author archiving

Creative Nursing offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

4.1 Formatting

The required format for your manuscript is Word.

4.2 Artwork, figures, and other graphics

For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.

4.3 Identifiable information

Where a journal uses doubly-anonymized peer review, authors are required to submit:

1. A version of the manuscript which has had any information that compromises the anonymity of the author(s) removed or anonymized. This version will be sent to the peer reviewers.
2. A separate title page which includes any removed or anonymized material. This will not be sent to the peer reviewers.

See https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/Manuscript-preparation-for-double-anonymized-journal for detailed guidance on making an anonymous submission.

4.4 Supplemental material

This Journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc.) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files.

4.5 Reference style

Creative Nursing adheres to the APA reference style. View the APA guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

4.6 English language editing services

Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit Creative Nursing’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

5. Submitting your manuscript

Creative Nursing is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/creativenursing to log in and submit your article online.

IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for Creative Nursing in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created.  For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

5.1 ORCID

As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent, and fair peer review process, Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.

The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this Journal. If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

5.2 Information required for completing your submission

You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

5.3 Permissions

Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.

6. On acceptance and publication

6.1 Sage Production

Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.

6.2 Online First publication

Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.

6.3 Access to your published article

Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

6.4 Promoting your article

Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.

The publication of each new issue of Creative Nursing is celebrated with a virtual launch event, in which authors present their articles, either in person in real time or via a video presentation. These events are recorded, archived on the journal web site, and available to all authors for use in their portfolios.

7. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Creative Nursing editorial office as follows:

Ahtisham Younas
Email: ay6133@mun.ca
Telephone number: +17099865033

7.1 Appealing the publication decision

Editors have very broad discretion in determining whether an article is an appropriate fit for their journal. Many manuscripts are declined with a very general statement of the rejection decision. These decisions are not eligible for formal appeal unless the author believes the decision to reject the manuscript was based on an error in the review of the article, in which case the author may appeal the decision by providing the Editor with a detailed written description of the error they believe occurred.

If an author believes the decision regarding their manuscript was affected by a publication ethics breach, the author may contact the publisher with a detailed written description of their concern, and information supporting the concern, at publication_ethics@sagepub.com