How to Review for a Nursing Journal
Serving as a reviewer for a nursing journal is an excellent way to provide service to the nursing profession. You'll need some specific skills and qualifications, but review service is one way to promote the scholarly side of the nursing profession.
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Instructions
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Manuscript Reviewing in Nursing
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Get the educational and clinical credentials necessary. Reviewing manuscripts submitted to nursing journals typically requires at least a master's degree and significant experience in an area of nursing, like emergency nursing, nursing education, or research. Having credentials in one area does not automatically qualify someone to review other kinds of manuscripts.
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Publish your own journal articles and other scholarly materials. Most journals will only invite reviewers who have previously published journal articles or book chapters. Having the perspective of an author is essential when providing reviews, as the feedback given to authors is often used in the revision of a manuscript.
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Seek out reviewing opportunities. If you have written articles of sufficient quality, you may be invited to join the reviewer panel of a journal. In other cases, journals publish "calls" for journal article reviewers, to which you can submit your credentials. Also, if you have professional contacts who serve as article reviewers or on an editorial board, talk to them about opportunities.
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Provide high-quality journal article reviews. When an author submits a 15-page manuscript, providing only a few sentences in your review is inadequate. You have been tapped as a reviewer because of your expertise, so you should show this in your reviews. When providing specific criticisms of a manuscript, use scholarly sources to back up your points. Giving detailed feedback will help authors who plan to resubmit a manuscript to improve their work.
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Complete your reviews on time and stay in contact with the editorial staff. Authors expect timely feedback on their submitted articles, and editors expect the same from their reviewers. If you are going to be late with a review, let someone on the editorial staff know. Journal editors often communicate with each other, so you should consider your professional reputation when carrying out your professional reviewing service.
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Tips & Warnings
Being a good journal reviewer takes time. You can reasonably expect to spend 2 to 3 hours per article you review, if you are very comfortable with the subject of the article.
In order to build your reputation and expertise as a reviewer, the key is to publish your own work in a variety of journals.
You can often provide private feedback just to editors along with your review comments, which go directly to the authors. Consider what you want the authors to see versus what you want to communicate directly to the editor.
