An examination of retracted articles in nursing literature.

INTRODUCTION: The output of scholarly publications in scientific literature has increased exponentially in recent years. This increase in literature has been accompanied by an increase in retractions. Although some of these may be attributed to publishing errors, many are the result of unsavory research practices. The purposes of this study were to identify the number of retracted articles in nursing and reasons for the retractions, analyze the retraction notices, and determine the length of time for an article in nursing to be retracted. DESIGN: This was an exploratory study. METHODS: A search of PubMed/MEDLINE, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Retraction Watch databases was conducted to identify retracted articles in nursing and their retraction notices. RESULTS: Between 1997 and 2022, 123 articles published in the nursing literature were retracted. Ten different reasons for retraction were used to categorize these articles with one-third of the retractions (n = 37, 30.1%) not specifying a reason. Sixty-eight percent (n = 77) were retracted because of an actual or a potential ethical concern: duplicate publication, data issues, plagiarism, authorship issues, and copyright. CONCLUSION: Nurses rely on nursing-specific scholarly literature as evidence for clinical decisions. The findings demonstrated that retractions are increasing within published nursing literature. In addition, it was evident that retraction notices do not prevent previously published work from being cited. This study addressed a gap in knowledge about article retractions specific to nursing.

Curriculum Evaluation and Alignment of Core Ideals: Application of a Values-Based Framework.

ABSTRACT: Curriculum evaluation, including alignment of concepts, is an ongoing challenge for nurse educators. Nursing curricular frameworks encompass varied concepts, guided by professional standards. This article examines a conceptual model, the Globe Framework, for BSN generalist practice including initial development, implementation, and evaluation. Evaluation at one school, driven by new AACN Essentials in 2021, spans from 2008 to 2020, reviewing three data points: meeting minutes, master syllabi from baccalaureate coursework, and accreditation documents. Challenges included merging two nursing departments with collaboration to reach consensus. Framework strengths include local practice environment values and multiple concepts. Findings and recommendations can inform nurse educators as they consider program evaluation and upcoming accreditation standards.

Research on Predatory Publishing in Health Care: A Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND: Predatory publishers and their associated journals have been identified as a threat to the integrity of the scientific literature. Research on the phenomenon of predatory publishing in health care remains unquantified. PURPOSE: To identify the characteristics of empirical studies on predatory publishing in the health care literature. METHODS: A scoping review was done using PubMed/MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Scopus databases. A total of 4967 articles were initially screened; 77 articles reporting empirical findings were ultimately reviewed. RESULTS: The 77 articles were predominantly bibliometric analyses/document analyses (n = 56). The majority were in medicine (n = 31, 40%) or were multidisciplinary (n = 26, 34%); 11 studies were in nursing. Most studies reported that articles published in predatory journals were of lower quality than those published in more reputable journals. In nursing, the research confirmed that articles in predatory journals were being cited in legitimate nursing journals, thereby spreading information that may not be credible through the literature. CONCLUSION: The purposes of the evaluated studies were similar: to understand the characteristics and extent of the problem of predatory publishing. Although literature about predatory publishing is abundant, empirical studies in health care are limited. The findings suggest that individual vigilance alone will not be enough to address this problem in the scholarly literature. Institutional policy and technical protections are also necessary to mitigate erosion of the scientific literature in health care.

A Bibliometric Analysis of Review Types Published in the Nursing Scientific Literature.

Reviews in the nursing scientific literature have steadily expanded in scope and range. This has resulted in a variety of terms used to describe these reports found in bibliographic databases, creating confusion. This study investigated the status of reviews in the published nursing literature, including: (1) number of reviews; (2) conventions related to naming and description; (3) publication location; and (4) areas of clarity and inconsistency. Eighty-five percent of reviews (n = 5893) included in this study adhered to an identified review strategy, complete with a clear approach. The remainder (n = 981, 15%) did not. Authors of reviews must follow the identified protocol for their review type and share all relevant information including standards and rigor. Editors and peer reviewers need to possess up-to-date knowledge on methodologies associated with specific review types.

Nursing Students' Covid-19 Induced Stress: Promoting Mindfulness and Resilience.

Nursing education to prepare students for practice traditionally includes teaching knowledge and developing clinical judgment in the physical classroom, laboratory, and clinical setting. The Covid-19 pandemic presented challenges previously unseen in academia. An abrupt shift to online learning was associated with higher levels of stress and anxiety. In response, the faculty at a mid-sized, rural, four-year private university in the Midwest incorporated mindfulness and resilience practices into courses to promote coping mechanisms for use throughout nursing school and in future practice, and surveyed students to determine the degree to which they used the mindfulness and resilience strategies provided. This article describes the implementation of the strategies, survey results, and lessons learned to inform use in the future.

How to identify predatory journals in a search: Precautions for nurses.

ABSTRACT: Nursing journals offer important content on new practices and approaches to care. Unfortunately, predatory journals that use unsavory publication practices have emerged. This article shares guidance to help nurses effectively appraise information and their sources, distinguish predatory from legitimate journals, and conduct due diligence.

Addressing Nursing Scholarship: A Framework for Currency and Number of References.

BACKGROUND: Timeliness and number of references in written work is often a topic of controversy. Decisions about choice of references become complex when there is little recent published information or a great deal of important historical work on a topic. PURPOSE: The study aim was to develop a framework to guide authors to determine the number and currency of references to support their writing. METHODS: This study used a descriptive design with three steps: review of journal author information for guidance about reference currency (n = 247); correspondence with journal editors (n = 27); and a survey of nurse educators (n = 44) regarding currency and number of references in written assignments. RESULTS: Findings affirmed that recent literature is vital for nursing scholarship. Numerical guidelines offered were not based on identifiable consensus or rationale. Historical perspectives published over 5 or 10 years earlier are valued, even sometimes required. For a clinical paper, citation of the most current literature is viewed by editors and educators as essential, and may suffice. CONCLUSION: Based on the findings of this study and our search of the literature, we developed three decision making algorithms for searching the literature and selecting references by currency and number.

Exploring the Accuracy of Cited References in a Selected Data Set of Nursing Journal Articles.

Accuracy of cited references in scholarly publications gives credit to original authors and offers information for readers to access sources for additional review. Errors in this foundational information can, at a minimum, create confusion and additional burden for consumers; at worst, these errors can make it impossible to locate the original work. For systematic and other types of reviews, finding relevant studies is critical for comprehensiveness and accuracy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of cited references in a curated data set of 100 articles from 100 different nursing journals. From these articles, a sample of references for analysis (n = 666) was created. From this total, only 8 references (1.3%) could not be retrieved at all. Small numbers of references (≤3%) had errors in the author name, journal title, article title, or year, but these did not prevent retrieval. These small numbers suggest that use of current technology including electronic databases and reference management software has improved overall accuracy in reference lists. An unexpected finding was the discovery of enhanced reference lists for online articles at publisher sites. These provide at least 1 and as many as 5 direct links to cited articles, thus increasing accuracy and ease of retrieval. Implications for authors, editors, and publishers are discussed.

Capturing Nursing History With Creative Writing: Two Exemplars.

Florence Nightingale formally documented much of the early history of the nursing profession, a goal that remains important today to guide our practice. Many nurse scholars have published detailed accounts of historical research. Story-based narratives can be especially effective to describe the contributions of individual nurses in a way that resonates with nurses and lay readers. Two nurses, Terri Arthur and Jeanne Bryner, have successfully disseminated stories of nurses through creative writing. This article describes their journeys to capture nursing history using historical narrative, poetry, and reflective prose.

A bibliometric analysis of articles identified by editors as representing excellence in nursing publication: Replication and extension.

AIMS: To analyse subsequent citations of 91 articles identified by editors as reflecting excellence in nursing literature and in a companion dataset of 82 other articles from the same journals; and to compare the concepts of reach, persistence, and dissemination in these two datasets. DESIGN: A quantitative bibliometric analysis and qualitative thematic analysis were done between February-June 2019. DATA SOURCES: In all, 91 articles nominated by editors comprised the first dataset. A companion dataset was created by selecting articles (N = 82) from the same journals. REVIEW METHODS: Articles were assessed for type, focus, discipline, total number of authors, and geographical location of the first author. Scopus was searched to obtain bibliographic information and subsequent second- and third-generation citations for all indexed articles. RESULTS: For the articles selected by the editors, 76 were indexed and 43 (56.5%) were cited at least once, resulting in 333 citations in the second and third generations. For the companion articles, 38 (of 78) were cited, with 175 subsequent citations. These findings are congruent with the prior study. CONCLUSION: Articles in nursing journals are being read and cited. The concepts of persistence, reach, and dissemination are supported and their use in bibliometric analysis is warranted. IMPACT: This novel research highlights the global and interdisciplinary impact of a unique set of articles representing nursing and nursing specialty areas. All the articles in the virtual journal and companion dataset were from nursing journals, but dissemination was to other disciplines, primarily medicine. Findings from this replication study continue the effort to document the rigour of content in the nursing literature; support its use to inform policy and practice at all levels; and offer evidence of excellence in content to inform nursing curricula.

Plagiarism in Predatory Publications: A Comparative Study of Three Nursing Journals.

PURPOSE: This study compared three known predatory nursing journals to determine the percentage of content among them that was plagiarized or duplicated. A serendipitous finding of several instances of plagiarism via duplicate publications during the random analysis of articles in a study examining the quality of articles published in predatory journals prompted this investigation. DESIGN: The study utilized a descriptive, comparative design. All articles in each journal (n = 296 articles) from inception (volume 1, number 1) through May 1, 2017, were analyzed. METHODS: Each article was evaluated and scored electronically for similarity using an electronic plagiarism detection tool. Articles were then individually reviewed, and exact and near exact matches (90% or greater plagiarized content) were paired. Articles with less than 70% plagiarized scores were randomly sampled, and an in-depth search for matches of partial content in other journals was conducted. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. FINDINGS: The extent and direction of duplication from one given journal to another was established. Changes made in subsequent publications, as a potential distraction to identify plagiarism, were also identified. There were 100 (68%) exact and near exact matches in the paired articles. The time lapse between the original and duplicate publication ranged from 0 to 63 months, with a mean of 27.2 months (SD =19.68). Authors were from 26 countries, including Africa, the United States, Turkey, and Iran. Articles with similarity scores in the range of 20% to 70% included possible similarities in content or research plagiarism, but not to the extent of the exact or near exact matches. The majority of the articles (n = 94) went from Journal A or C to Journal B, although four articles were first published in Journal B and then Journal A. CONCLUSIONS: This study found a substantial level of plagiarism via duplicate publications in the three analyzed predatory journals, further diluting credible scientific literature and risking the ability to synthesize evidence accurately to inform practice. Editors should continue to use electronic plagiarism detection tools. Education about publishing misconduct for editors and authors is a high priority. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Both contributors and consumers of nursing literature rely on integrity in publication. Authors expect appropriate credit for their scholarly contributions without unethical and unauthorized duplication of their work. Readers expect current information from original authors, upon which they can make informed practice decisions.

Findings From the INANE Survey on Student Papers Submitted to Nursing Journals.

Nursing students are often encouraged or required to submit scholarly work for consideration for publication but most manuscripts or course assignment papers do not meet journal standards and consume valuable resources from editors and peer reviewers. The International Academy of Nursing Editors (INANE) is a group of nurse editors and publishers dedicated to promoting best practices in publishing in the nursing literature. In August 2014, editors at INANE's annual meeting voiced frustrations over multiple queries, poorly written student papers, and lack of proper behavior in following through. This article describes the findings of a survey distributed to INANE members to seek feedback about submissions by students. Fifty-three (53) members responded to an online anonymous survey developed by the INANE Student Papers Work Group. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics for Likert-type questions and content analysis of open-ended questions. Quantitative data revealed that most editors reported problems with student papers across all levels of graduate programs. Six themes emerged from the qualitative data: 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; and faculty as mentors. These themes formed the basis for recommendations and strategies to improve student scholarly writing. Overall, editors endorsed supporting new scholars in the publication process but faculty engagement was integral to student success.

Disaster evacuation for persons with special needs: a content analysis of information on YouTube.

Disaster preparedness is more complex for persons with chronic illness, who may require specific planning to address unique needs. Research suggests that advance preparation and evacuation during a disaster leads to better health outcomes. Individuals access, and rely on, health information via online sources. The purpose of this descriptive qualitative study was to examine information that persons who may have special needs receive from an Internet based free sharing source, YouTube, related to disaster evacuation procedures. A content analysis of 51 clips using the Health Literacy Skills Framework revealed themes related to quality and region. Findings suggested concerns such as errors, minimal information about management of conditions during evacuation, and lack of diversity.

Web-based networking in CNS education.

PURPOSE: An important component of the clinical nurse specialist (CNS) educational program involves anticipatory guidance for students assimilating the CNS role. This article describes a strategy for facilitating this transition through online discussion about CNS practice among students and experienced CNSs. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS: Six students in the final semester of their CNS program and 5 CNSs from across the country used the WebCT platform to participate in an online learning experience. This article outlines the process of structuring an online discussion, soliciting an expert panel, and preparing the participants. Students' concerns and panelists' responses are presented. CONCLUSIONS: Themes that emerged from students' questions to the panelists were certification and title protection; developing a career trajectory, including tips for interviewing and negotiation; and current and future trends in CNS practice. Benefits to participants are described, as well as suggestions for using Web-based discussion in other applications.

Take a chance on nursing mentorships. Enhance leadership with this win-win strategy.

Mentoring in nursing traditionally occurs at the master's or doctoral level, but the mutual career enhancement gained by such an alliance can be experienced at all stages of a nursing career. This article presents e-mail examples to illustrate antecedent relationship factors and the progression of phases in a mentorship between a clinically experienced RN and a doctorally prepared nursing professor. Application of this concept from a business model reveals parallels to nursing and blends perspectives from both disciplines. Also discussed are perceptual and tangible outcomes of mentorships and strategies to foster this positive approach.