How to get published: seven easy steps

As a professional group, nurses, whether as academics or practitioners, are increasingly expected to contribute to the development of quality nursing care and service provision by disseminating the findings of research, sharing innovations in clinical practice or examples of best practice. Yet, many individuals find it difficult to write informatively about their practice or to translate the outputs of academic studies into accessible publications. However, in most instances, a lack of confidence remains a key obstacle as is the lack of familiarity with processes required in preparing a paper for publication. The aim of this paper is to discuss a series of progressive steps that must be followed when preparing a paper for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. The main body of the paper provides a detailed analysis on the importance of deciding what to write about, selecting a suitable journal, organizing the content and structure of a paper and using appropriate language to make the article more accessible to the audience. The discussion also explores the concepts of authorship order, peer-review process and how to respond to written reviewer's comments once the paper has been returned by the publishers. The paper concludes by stressing that success requires undertaking the necessary preparatory work, time, commitment and enthusiasm.