The University of Pennsylvania
Journal of Nursing Doctoral Student Scholarship

About the Journal

The Journal of Nursing Doctoral Students Scholarship is a scholarly publication dedicated to the development of doctoral student scholarship and the advancement of nursing science. This journal is peer reviewed by doctoral students, edited by doctoral students, and targeted towards health practitioners, educators, scientists, and students. This journal has both a professional and an educational mission. To serve the profession, each issue features articles that represent diverse ideas, spark intellectual curiosity, and challenge existing paradigms. Doctoral students will have an opportunity to explore and analyze issues and ideas that shape health care, the nursing profession, and research around the world. To fulfill its educational mission, doctoral students will be trained in the editorial and administrative tasks associated with the journal’s publication and assist in preparing original manuscripts for professional publication. This journal will be evidence of the scholarly development of nurse scientists.

The Journal of Nursing Doctoral Students Scholarship does not aim to compete with highly ranked and established journals in the field; rather it provides a venue for doctoral students to share their thoughts, opinions and scientific contributions. Some student work, such as concept or theoretical analysis papers, do not fit well with research focused publication sources seeking data-based research reports. To bridge this gap and share outstanding ideas with the rest of the scientific community, we invite you to submit research briefs, concept or theoretical analyses, systematic, or focused literature reviews and any other manuscripts produced by you during your doctoral studies.

Article Types Accepted for Submission

The journal accepts a wide variety of manuscripts, including the ones listed below. If you have a question about a manuscript type, please contact us at: jndss@nursing.upenn.edu
Word count is restricted for the introduction to conclusion and does not include abstract, figures/tables, and references. All article types are allowed 3-5 tables/figures. All articles need to include a section on the implications for nursing.

Article Type	Word Count	Abstract required
Research reports using any methods including historical, quantitative, qualitative, mixed, and multi methods	5000	Yes
Evidence synthesis reports	5000	Yes
Research briefs reporting pilot or feasibility studies	2500	Yes
Methodological Articles	5000	Yes
Case studies in education, leadership, and other topics relevant to the scope of the journal	5000	Yes
Commentaries	2500	No
Book and Media Reviews	2500	No
Theory and Concept Analyses	5000	Yes
Letters to the editor	2500	No

Abstract Format

Please include the following headings in your structured abstract (250 words):

Introduction
Methods
Results/Findings (whichever is most appropriate for your research)
Conclusion

Peer Review Process

All manuscripts submitted will undergo an initial assessment by the editorial team to determine their suitability for publication. Submissions will then be subject to a double-anonymized peer review process, in which authors and reviewers remain anonymous. Manuscripts will be reviewed by at least two individuals.

Editors are not involved in the review or decision-making process for papers that they have authored themselves, papers authored by family members or close colleagues, papers in which they have a conflict of interest, or those related to products or services in which they have a financial or personal interest.

Authors are responsible for anonymizing their manuscript in order to remain anonymous to reviewers during the peer review process. Authors should check for self-references in the text that would reveal their identity and affiliation to their institution, remove those references and insert the phrase “Anonymized for Review”. Since the journal allows posting of preprints, however, please note that if authors share their manuscript in preprint form this may compromise their anonymity during peer review.

Open Access

The journal operates under a Diamond Open Access model. As such, this journal does not charge submission fees, and published content is available to readers without any subscription barriers. Authors who are accepted for publication in JNDSS are required to license their work as CC-BY in accordance with the journal’s Creative Commons licensing policy. Please see the author agreement form here.

Preprint Policy

This journal accepts articles that have been previously published on preprint servers. Authors are welcome to post the submitted version of their manuscript to a preprint server at any time. If the manuscript is accepted and published in this journal, authors are encouraged to update the preprint with a citation and link to the published version.

Data Sharing and Data Availability

This journal does not require data sharing.

Clinical Trial Registration

Our journal adheres to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Clinical Trial guidelines. Please refer to this source: ICMJE Clinical Trial recommendations .

Data Protection

By submitting a manuscript to or reviewing for this publication, your name, email address, affiliation, and other contact details the publication might require, will be used for the regular operations of the publication.

Funding

Please list all funding sources in the Acknowledgements section of your manuscript. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their funder designation. Please check the Open Funder Registry as a resource: https://www.crossref.org/services/funder-registry/.

Generative AI Statement

Authors must disclose use of generative AI (GAI) tools (e.g., ChatGPT) in the Methods or Acknowledgements section of their manuscript. These tools may be used for language editing, such as improving spelling, grammar, and general editing. The author is fully responsible for the accuracy and originality of the content. The final decision about whether use of GAI tool is permissible in a submitted manuscript or published article lies with the journal’s editorial team utilize the templates below to describe your GAI use.

AI Technology was not used
I, Last Name, First Name, hereby confirm that this manuscript is the result of my own (and my coauthors’) independent scholarly work, and that all material from the work of others has been fully acknowledged. No content generated by AI technologies has been used in this assessment.
AI Technology was used
I, Last Name, First Name, hereby confirm that this manuscript is the result of my own (and my coauthors’) independent scholarly work, and that all material from the work of others has been fully acknowledged. I acknowledge the use of AI tool used (name, version and developer on select date) in the process of extent and purpose of AI use for this manuscript. The prompts used include prompts used. I confirm that the AI-generated content was not used verbatim. The content generated by AI was (explain how the output from the AI tools was used, e.g., brainstorming, proofreading, grammar correction).

Preparing your Submission:

Main Text File

Manuscripts should be uploaded as a single document, containing all text, tables, and figures. Should your manuscript reach revision stage, figures and tables must be provided as separate files. Please ensure that all identifying information, including author names and affiliations, acknowledgements, or explicit mentions of author institution in the text, are only included in the non-anonymized manuscript upload.

The main text file should be in Word format and include:

Title Page

A brief, informative, running title that contains major key words. The title should not contain any abbreviations.
Ethical statements including GAI statement, funding, conflict of interest disclosure

Abstract structured

Introduction, Methods, Results/Findings, Conclusion
Up to seven keywords

Main Body

Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion (include a section about implications for nursing), Conclusion

Figures/Tables & Figure/Table Legends

Include all figures/tables and their legends in the main text file.

APA Formatting

This journal uses the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition) reference style.

Submitting Your Manuscript

Once the submission materials have been prepared following the Author Guidelines, manuscripts should be submitted online through the submission portal.

Please title your anonymized manuscript as 'Lastname_Anon' and your non-anonymized manuscript as 'Lastname_Nonanon'.

When submitting on REDCap, please double check all answers. As we are a teaching journal, we will allow up to two rounds of revisions for information collected on the REDCap form (e.g., spelling of authors’ names, incorrect email addresses, funding discrepancies). However, after two rounds of feedback and revisions, if there are remaining errors, the manuscript will be rejected.

For help with submissions, please contact: jndss@nursing.upenn.edu

ORCID iD

Authors are required to include their ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) iD when submitting a manuscript. ORCID provides a unique identifier that ensures proper attribution and identification of an Authors’ work across systems and databases. Linking your ORCID iD will enhance the visibility of your research.

Reproduction of Copyrighted Material

Authors are responsible for obtaining proper written permission to reproduce any copyrighted material that are not original or covered under fair use. If excerpts from copyrighted works owned by third parties are included, credit must be provided to the copyright owners in the contribution.

The author must obtain written permission to reproduce the material “in print and other media” from the copyright owner, and for supplying the Journal of Nursing Doctoral Student Scholarship with that permission upon submission.

Journal Guidelines for Inclusive Language

Please review the following resources to promote inclusive language in your writing.
https://c4disc.pubpub.org/guidelines-on-inclusive-language-and-images-in-scholarly-communication.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/opn.70021

Apothecary jar with cinchona bark [2025]. Source: Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing.

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