Instructions to Authors

Submission
Manuscripts must be submitted electronically using the e-mail address nursing.journal@lsmuni.lt. For all communication
after manuscripts have been submitted, e-mail correspondence will be used. The manuscripts will be reviewed
with due respect for authors’ confidentiality.
In order for an article to be published, all coauthors must sign the Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA) stating
that all copyrights are transferred to publisher in case the article is published. Authors’ signatures guarantee that their
article is original, does not interfere with copyright regulations, and has not been previously published, submitted, or
planned for submission to other journals, except in the form of a thesis or presentation.
After filling in and signing the CTA, the authors must upload its scanned image in JPG or PDF format during the
submission process.
Manuscripts must be accompanied by a cover letter, stating clearly why the work is considered suitable for publication
in the journal Nursing Education, Research, & Practice and explaining the importance of the study.

Manuscript format and style
All pages of the manuscript should be 12-point font size, double-spaced throughout with 2.5-cm margins and
numbered including references, tables, figures, and figure legends. Use of abbreviations should be limited; full terms
should be presented together with the first abbreviation. There should not be abbreviations in the title of the article.
Manuscripts must not exceed 20 pages, including abstract, text, references, tables, and figures.
The journal Nursing Education, Research, & Practice attaches importance to the use of correct, clear, readerfriendly
English. Manuscripts should be written in either American or British English. In case of poor language, the
manuscript can be sent back to authors for correction.
Manuscripts must not contain the same information as manuscripts under review, accepted, or published. This restriction
does not apply to results published by the authors as abstracts, letters to editors, or contributions to symposia,
provided that the manuscript submitted adds significantly to the previously published contribution.

Manuscripts must include:
• Title page (title of the article and author information)
• Abstract and key words
• Text
– Introduction
– Methods
– Results
– Discussion
– Conclusions
• Acknowledgments (if appropriate)
• List of references
• Tables and figures

Title page
The title page must include:
A concise title (no more than 150 characters including spaces) should indicate the focus of the article;
A short running title (running head) (50 characters with spaces maximum) for use as a page header;
Author information indicates for each author: full names (not initials) and academic degree(s); each author’s name
should carry a superscript number, assigned in ascending numerical order, to indicate an institutional affiliation;
Institutional affiliations of all authors, which should be presented in the same order as the numbers in the authors’
superscripts, and should include department, institution, city, country;
Name, mailing address, phone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of the corresponding author.
Source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, or all of these.
The number of figures and tables that belong to the manuscript.

Abstract and Key Words
A structured abstract must not exceed 250 words and should describe the new and important aspects of the article.
It should be intelligible to the non-specialist without reference to the text. No citations are allowed in the abstract.
Abbreviations must be kept to a minimum; non-standard abbreviations should be explained in brackets. The abstract
must be organized under the following four subheadings (not as undivided text):
• Purpose of the article without detailed background;
• Design (type of study, sample, setting, data collection);
• Methods (instruments, interventions, measures, procedures, types of analysis; details of statistical tests and
other irrelevant information should not be given);
• Results (should summarize the most actual findings);
• Principal conclusions (present a brief statement directed to the stated objective);
• Key words. Up to 5 keywords or phrases that capture the main topics of the article should be displayed at the
end of abstract. Unhelpful or unqualified terms should be avoided.
The Lithuanian author(s) should also provide the abstract and key words in Lithuanian according to the same requirements
and principals as for English one. Lithuanian abstract must not be shorter than 250 words and not exceed
500 words.

Text

Introduction
The introduction should give a brief and clear account of the background of the problem and the rationale of the
article. It should not include data or conclusions. The final sentence should clarify the objective of the article.

Methods
This section should describe the participants (age, gender, and other relevant characteristics should be given), the
study design (type of study, sample, setting, dates of data collection, etc.), and how it was performed (e.g. inclusion/
exclusion criteria, ethical considerations, etc.). References for the study design and statistical methods should be to
standard works when possible (with pages started). Statistical methods should be given in sufficient details to allow a
knowledgeable reader to verify the reported findings. Specify the computer software used.

Results
The major findings obtained during this study should be presented in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and
figures in this section. They should be presented clearly and concisely. The derivates and absolute numbers should be
used for presenting numeric results. Do not repeat the data in the text, tables, and figures; do not duplicate data in
tables and figures.

Discussion
Discussion should present a brief (normally not exceeding one-third of the total length of the manuscript) and
pertinent interpretation of the results against the background of existing knowledge and should include comparison
with similar studies, limitations of the findings and potential directions for future research. Details of data given in
results section should not be repeated.

Conclusions
In a separate section, the conclusions should summarize the major findings of the study together with possible
implications for clinical practice. Speculation and unqualified statements should be avoided.

Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments should state sources of support in the form of grants or funding, equipment, etc. Other appropriate
acknowledgments, for example, to other scientists for their help or advice, may be included.

References
Should be based on Vancouver system and on “Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical
journals” (JAMA 1997;277:927-34). All citations in the text must be listed in the references and all references should
be cited in the text. References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in
the text, followed by any in tables or figure legends. Reference citations should not appear in titles, summary, and
conclusions. The list of references for scientific article should include only those references that are important to the
text and be limited to 30 references; for review article limited to 70 references. It is recommended that mostly last
five-year publications would be referenced.

Paper in a journal
1. Parkin DM, Clayton D, Black RJ, Masuyer E, Friendl HP, Ivanov E, et al. Childhood-leukaemia in Europe after Chernobyl: 5
year follow-up. Br J Cancer 1996;73:1006-12.

When journal article is referenced, up to six authors should be listed. If there are more than six authors, only the
first six should be listed followed by “et al.”.
If article is not in English, the title should be presented in original language, and English translation should be
given in parenthesis:

1. Malinauskienė V, Gražulevičienė R. Socialinių darbo veiksnių įtaka miokardo infarkto rizikai tarp 25–64 metų Kauno vyrų.
(Social status and risk of myocardial infarction among 25–64 years old male population in Kaunas.) Medicina (Kaunas)
2000;36:217-25.

Chapter in a book
1. Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. p. 465-78.

Monographs and books
1. Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996.
2. Norman LJ, Redfern SJ, editors. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996.

Journal article in electronic form
1. Morse SS. Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis [serial online] 1995 Jan-Mar [cited 1996 Jun 5];
1(1): [24 screens]. Available from: URL: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/eid.htm.

PhD thesis
1. Rokaitė R. Maisto alergenų įtaka ir dietoterapijos reikšmė atopiniu dermatitu sergantiems vaikams. (The influence of food allergens and the value of diet therapy for children with atopic dermatitis.) [dissertation]. Kaunas: KMU; 2006.

Tables
Tables should not be embedded in the text, but should be presented on a separate page and uploaded separately.
Tables should be numbered with Arabic numerals in the order of citation in the text, and a brief descriptive title should
appear above each table. Tables should normally be self-explanatory. Each column should have a heading, and the
units of measurement should be given in the heading. Numbers up to four digits should be written without spaces;
longer numbers should be spaced in 3-digit groupings, without commas.
Explanatory matter and necessary information should be placed in footnotes (explain all nonstandard abbreviations),
and for footnote use superscript letters (not symbols). Use asterisks to indicate statistical significance.

Figures
All figures (graphs, charts, photographs, and illustrations) should be of good quality and given on separate pages.
All figures should be numbered with Arabic numerals in the order of their citation in the text and should include a
brief title. For figures supplied in parts, please use A, B, C, etc. to label the parts of the figure.
In addition, the journal requires all figures to be provided in electronic format (preferred file formats are TIFF
and JPG).
The legends for all figures should be typed out on a separate page with Arabic numerals corresponding to the figures.
The legends should explain the figures in sufficient detail that they could be understood without reference to the
text. Symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters used to identify parts of the illustrations should be identified and explained
clearly in the legend.

Review articles and theoretical analysis that are not focused on an empirical study, not exceeding
5000–8000 words, should present an update of recent developments in a field being discussed. Preparation of a review
article follows the standard format for research articles, with respect to text style, tables, figures, figure legends, and
references. A structured abstract up to 250 words describing the need and objective of a review article, methods used
for gathering and analyzing data, and main conclusions is required, although the subheadings stipulated for research
articles do not apply. For those articles, an organizing construct may be started instead of a design. Up to 70 references
should be included.

Case Reports should consist of clinical cases highlighting uncommon conditions or presentations and should
provide information regarding new or unusual aspects of nursing practice, education or management, which contribute
to the existing knowledge. Preparation of case reports follows the standard format for research articles, with respect
to text style, figures, tables, and references. The text should not exceed 2000 words and should be divided into the
following sections: summary (50 words), introduction, case report(s), and discussion. Number of references should be
limited to 10 most recent.

Review process
Once submitted, manuscripts will be quality checked by the editorial office before being sent for double-blind
peer review. This process takes one month on average from submission to the initial decision. On acceptance, after any
required changes have been made, proofs will normally be sent electronically within 2 weeks, with a request to correct
and return them within 5 days. Extensive corrections cannot be made at this time. The paper will then be accepted for
publication. These timings are provisional, and do not include author delays.