Year: 2015
Type: editorial
Abstract: Over the years I have been associated with research in nursing, as a clinical nurse, in professional leadership roles and in my association with this journal I have witnessed what I describe here as 'a swinging pendulum' where research in nursing has shifted over time from a primary focus on 'the nurse' to a focus on 'the practice of nursing' and now, importantly, occupying the middle ground.The focus on the nurse has included reports on the experience of being a nurse as well as the education, development and management of the nursing workforce.Research into the practice of nursing has focused on the art and science of nursing practice, from understanding the nursing contribution to human flourishing through to the generation of knowledge to inform nurses what interventions are most likely to work in certain conditions.Some 15 years ago, Traynor et al. ( 2001) described these foci of research activity in nursing as 'endogenous' and 'exogenous' research respectively.At JRN we recognise the essential complementarity of endogenous and exogenous knowledge in a professional-academic discipline such as nursing.A discipline that is perhaps best understood as one that is situated at the crossover between the STEM disciplines and social sciences, and one that draws on both the humanities and the creative arts as required (Bastow, Dunleavy and Tinkler, 2014).Therefore JRN does what it says on the tin.It reports on research in nursing, and it makes the connections between research, policy and practice explicit in order to inform decision making that impacts on health and wellbeing.A part of our strategy at JRN is to nurture and to celebrate research in nursing.As editors, we welcome opportunities to engage with potential new authors and reviewers and our readership.For example, over many years JRN has made a range of contributions to the RCN Annual International Nursing Research Conference, from sponsoring debates to awards for the best paper and the best poster presented each day of the conference.This longstanding event is organised annually by the Royal College of Nursing's Research Society.A society that can trace its roots back to a discussion group established initially outside of the RCN, by a small group of researchers in London in 1959.The annual conference was once described by a former JRN Editorial Board member as a proxy indicator of the contemporary circumstance of nursing research (White and Winstanley, 2003).
Source: Journal of research in nursing
Author: Ann McMahon
Language: English
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,900
OpenAlex ID: W4246088504