Practice is individual, research is local, knowledge is international
Article Outline
Welcome to our 23rd volume of Intensive and Care Nursing and a change in focus. The journal is now Intensive and Critical Care Nursing – subtitled the international journal of practice and research. This is to acknowledge the increase in author submissions from around the world and the effect of electronic access including both the submission process and downloading. In this era of globalisation it is important to remember that while our care remains tailored to our individual patient's needs there is also a need to explore the effect of that care through research and to publish our findings so that knowledge can be shared on an international basis. The result being that we may all learn from one another. This is imperative when we consider the effect of population shift, changing patterns of illness and the need to understand different cultural perspectives.
The journal was established in 1985 by Pat Ashworth, our Emeritus Editor, when the number of critical care journals accessible to nurses was very few. It is a measure of her singular commitment and enthusiasm as Editor of the journal for sixteen years that we have achieved the success we enjoy today. Although Pat is now retired she continues to work in Eastern Europe helping nurses overcome the difficulties associated with the lack of value placed on nurses and nursing and the significant financial constraints in healthcare provision. In the coming volume, we have invited our Editorial Committee members, and others, to provide an overview of the professional and clinical challenges facing nurses working in critical care and the different healthcare systems which exist across the world. Pat will be writing her own intriguing account in our April issue.
Alongside many aspects of our daily lives the journal has experienced seismic change over the past five years. In particular, the number of international authors submitting manuscripts has increased significantly. We now have regular contributions from Scandinavia, Australia and the United States of America (USA). More recently we have also received submissions from South America and Spain. In order to reflect the diversity of our growing international authorship we have been fortunate in having our invitations to join the Editorial Committee accepted. Recent appointments include Shelley Schmollgruber from South Africa, Sharon McKinley from Australia and Mary Jo Grap from the USA. We are also pleased that our International Advisory Board has members from Brazil, Spain, Italy and Germany to name but a few. It is our hope that in the near future we may be able to include new members from Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. Our panel of reviewers also reflects an increasing international perspective with around 33% being non United Kingdom (UK) residents.
The increase in the number of international authors predicates a need to support those whose first language is not English. To meet this need Elsevier have provided links to language editing services via their online author links at http://www.authors.elsevier.com. There are a number of sites including International Science Editing, Asia Science Editing and Edanz Editing. The first two do require an understanding of English as the information provided is in English. However, a key feature of the final link is a choice of language for instruction. Use of the language editing service is of course entirely voluntary. The journal does not mandate these services should be used they are suggested simply as a means of support. There are a number of other options for authors, for example going through the manuscript on a line by line basis with a colleague or seeking peer review at various stages in the development of the manuscript. The key issue is that the person chosen must be a native English language speaker so that the correct level of support can be enlisted.
The all pervasive effect of the internet has enabled a further seismic shift to occur. This time in the ease with which manuscripts can now be processed and also in the number of full text downloads made. We have experienced a 150% year on year increase in full text downloads since 2003 with an average of over 8000 full text downloads per month. Fig. 1 demonstrates the international spread of this phenomenon. The top five countries accessing the journal on line are the UK, USA, Australia, Sweden and Canada. It is interesting to note that in the period September to December 2005 the top ten downloads featured manuscripts with a specific clinical practice focus. These included central venous catheter management, enteral feeding, endotracheal suction, oral care and research into patient and nurse experience (Theaker, 2005, Williams and Leslie, 2004, Williams and Leslie, 2005, Day et al., 2002, Pryzby, 2005, Jones et al., 2004, Halcomb et al., 2004). However, also featured was an article from one of our recent series in research methods and design (Endacott, 2005). This reflects the clinical subjects of interest to nurses practicing on an individual level in critical care, the importance of studying the effect of what we do at that individual level from a patient perspective through research and the need to disseminate knowledge from an international platform.
Figure 1.
Geographical distribution of journal readership (2006).
But what does it really mean to be an international journal?
Dougherty et al. (2004) explored the international content of high ranking nursing journals in the year 2000. A total of 2581 articles were retrieved. Through analysis of title, authorship and journal they found that 29% had some form of international content. In particular a high proportion of these (70%) had an ‘international’ first author and 9% represented international co-authorship. Twenty journals featured international editorial boards and the international purpose of the journal was made evident in the mission statement of 13 of these. Using these characteristics ICCN can be defined as an international journal.
However, it is imperative that by ‘international’ we do not mean the continued export of ‘Western’ style knowledge. The dissemination of knowledge is a two-way process and we, in the West, have much to learn of familiar concepts being explored though the prism of different cultures. Of equal importance is the belief that in the West we have overcome certain difficulties or explored certain concepts to the point of exhaustion and that there is no value in re-visiting these using the experience of other countries and cultures. We cannot believe that critical care is an international concept and then not have the courtesy to acknowledge the experience and perspective of others.
It is with this thought that I wish to launch our 23rd volume and the hope that the future will bring an increasing international author and readership which will, as our aim states, ‘promote excellence in the care of critically ill patients by specialist nurses … to provide an international … forum … through the dissemination and exchange of research findings, experience and ideas …’
References
- . Suctioning: a review of current research recommendations. Intensive Crit Care Nurs. 2002;18:79–89
- . International content of high-ranking nursing journals in the year 2000. J Nurs Scholarsh. 2004;36:173–179
- . Clinical research 4: qualitative data collection and analysis. Intensive Crit Care Nurs. 2005;21:123–127
- . An insight into Australian nurses’ experience of withdrawal/withholding of treatment in the ICU. Intensive Crit Care Nurs. 2004;20:214–222
- . A survey of the oral care practices of intensive care nurses. Intensive Crit Care Nurs. 2004;20:69–76
- . Effects of nurse caring behaviours on family stress responses in critical care. Intensive Crit Care Nurs. 2005;21:16–23
- . Infection control issues in central venous catheter care. Intensive Crit Care Nurs. 2005;21:99–109
- . A review of the nursing care of enteral feeding tubes in critically ill adults: part I. Intensive Crit Care Nurs. 2004;20:300–343
- . A review of the nursing care of enteral feeding tubes in critically ill adults: part II. Intensive Crit Care Nurs. 2005;21:5–15
PII: S0964-3397(06)00139-X
doi:10.1016/j.iccn.2006.11.002
© 2006 Published by Elsevier Inc.
