Author Guidelines

General Manuscript Requirements

All manuscripts must be prepared according to the following requirements unless otherwise specified for the particular article type.

Language

Manuscripts should be written in clear, concise, and professional English.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that the manuscript has been appropriately edited for grammar, spelling, clarity, and readability before submission.

Page Layout

Manuscripts should be:

• Typewritten on A4-size paper

• Double-spaced throughout

• Prepared with 1-inch margins on all sides

• Numbered consecutively

• Submitted as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx), unless otherwise specified by the journal

Font

Use a standard, easily readable font throughout the manuscript. Authors should avoid unnecessary formatting, embedded text boxes, decorative fonts, or complex page layouts.

Line Numbering

Authors are encouraged to use continuous line numbering throughout the manuscript to facilitate peer review.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations should be defined at first mention and used consistently thereafter. Avoid unnecessary abbreviations, particularly in the title and abstract.

Units of Measurement

Use internationally accepted units of measurement, preferably the International System of Units (SI) where applicable.

Drugs and Products

Use generic names for medications whenever possible. If a proprietary product, device, instrument, software, or commercial product is essential to the manuscript, provide the manufacturer and location in parentheses at first mention.

For most Original Articles, manuscripts should be organized as follows:

1. Title Page

2. Abstract

3. Keywords

4. Introduction

5. Methods

6. Results

7. Discussion

8. Conclusions

9. Acknowledgments, if applicable

10. Funding Statement

11. Conflict of Interest Statement

12. Data Availability Statement, where applicable

13. Author Contributions

14. References

15. Tables

16. Figures and Figure Legends

The organization may differ for other article types.

The title page should contain:

• Full manuscript title

• Short running title, if applicable

• Full names of all authors

• ORCID iDs, where available

• Institutional affiliations

• Department, institution, city, and country

• Corresponding author's name

• Corresponding author's institutional address

• Corresponding author's email address

• Author contributions, where required

• Funding information

• Conflict of interest information

PJN encourages all authors to provide an ORCID iD.

For manuscripts undergoing blinded peer review, authors should upload a version of the manuscript that does not contain identifying information.

The blinded manuscript should not include:

• Author names

• Institutional affiliations

• Corresponding author information

• Acknowledgments that identify the authors

• Identifying information in file properties or embedded comments

• Other information that could reasonably reveal author identity

Author-identifying information should instead be provided through the appropriate OJS submission fields and/or a separate title page.

Original Articles and Systematic Reviews/Meta-analyses should generally include a structured abstract.

For Original Articles, the abstract should generally contain:

• Background

• Objective

• Methods

• Results

• Conclusion

The abstract should accurately reflect the contents of the manuscript and should not contain information that is not presented in the main text.

Avoid citations and unexplained abbreviations in the abstract.

Authors should provide 3–6 keywords that accurately describe the manuscript.

Whenever possible, authors should use standardized terminology, including Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms where appropriate.

Tables should:

• Be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are cited

• Have a concise and descriptive title

• Be cited in the text

• Be understandable without referring extensively to the main text

• Define abbreviations and symbols in table footnotes

• Avoid unnecessary duplication of information presented in the text

Tables should be created using the table function of the word-processing software rather than inserted as images.

Figures should be numbered consecutively according to their order of citation in the text.

Each figure should have an appropriate legend.

Images should be of sufficient resolution for publication. Authors should ensure that individuals depicted in photographs cannot be identified unless appropriate consent has been obtained.

Previously published figures, illustrations, photographs, or other copyrighted material require appropriate permission and attribution.

References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text.

PJN generally follows the Vancouver reference style.

References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered according to the point at which the table or figure is first mentioned in the main text.

Authors should verify all references for accuracy and completeness.

Whenever available, authors should provide DOI information for cited articles.

Authors should avoid excessive citation of their own work and should not manipulate citations for the purpose of increasing citation counts.

PJN requires authors to conduct and report research in accordance with applicable ethical principles, institutional requirements, and relevant national and international regulations.

Human Participants

Research involving human participants must have received appropriate ethics review and approval, or a documented determination of exemption where applicable.

The manuscript should identify:

• The name of the reviewing ethics committee or institutional review board

• Approval number or reference, where applicable

• Relevant approval date, where appropriate

Authors should state whether informed consent was obtained.

Patient Consent

For case reports, clinical images, identifiable information, or other material that could reasonably identify an individual, appropriate consent for publication must be obtained when required.

Animal Research

Research involving animals should comply with applicable institutional and national standards for animal care and use.

Secondary Data

Authors using publicly available, de-identified, or previously collected datasets should describe the relevant ethical considerations and permissions where applicable.

Where applicable, authors should confirm that informed consent was obtained from participants.

For publication of identifiable information, photographs, or other potentially identifying material, authors should obtain appropriate consent for publication.

The journal may request documentation of consent during editorial review.

PJN strongly encourages authors to use the appropriate reporting guideline for their study design.

Relevant guidelines may include:

Authors should submit the appropriate checklist and flow diagram when required by the relevant reporting guideline.

Clinical trials should be registered in an appropriate publicly accessible registry before or in accordance with applicable requirements for participant enrollment.

Authors should provide the trial registration number in the manuscript.

Systematic review protocols should be prospectively registered where appropriate, such as in PROSPERO or another recognized registry.

PJN encourages responsible sharing of research data where ethically and legally appropriate.

Authors should provide a Data Availability Statement indicating whether supporting data are:

• Publicly available;

• Available upon reasonable request;

• Available from a repository; or

• Not available because of ethical, legal, privacy, or other restrictions.

Patient-identifiable or confidential information must not be publicly disclosed.

All sources of financial support for the work should be disclosed.

The funding statement should identify the funding organization and, where applicable, grant or project number.

Authors should clearly indicate whether the funder had any role in:

• Study design

• Data collection

• Data analysis

• Interpretation

• Manuscript preparation

• Decision to submit the manuscript for publication

If there was no external funding, authors should state this explicitly.

All authors must disclose relationships or activities that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the submitted work.

These may include:

• Financial relationships

• Employment or consultancy

• Honoraria

• Research funding

• Intellectual property

• Patents

• Leadership or advisory roles

• Personal or professional relationships that could influence the work

If no conflicts exist, authors should state:

“The authors declare no conflict of interest.”

PJN may request additional disclosure where appropriate.

PJN follows the authorship principles of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Authorship should be based on all four of the following:

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;

2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content;

3. Final approval of the version to be published; and

4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Individuals who do not meet all four criteria should not be listed as authors but may be acknowledged for their contributions where appropriate.

PJN encourages authors to provide a statement describing individual contributions.

The CRediT taxonomy may be used to describe contributions, including:

• Conceptualization

• Methodology

• Software

• Validation

• Formal analysis

• Investigation

• Resources

• Data curation

• Writing – original draft

• Writing – review and editing

• Visualization

• Supervision

• Project administration

• Funding acquisition

Authors should disclose the use of artificial intelligence (AI) or generative AI tools in the preparation of a manuscript when such tools have been used.

AI tools must not be listed as authors.

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and ethical acceptability of the submitted manuscript, including material produced or assisted by AI.

AI tools should not be used to fabricate or manipulate data, results, references, images, or other research content.

Where AI has been used substantially in manuscript preparation, authors should provide an appropriate disclosure describing the tool and its purpose.

Manuscripts submitted to PJN must be original and must not have been published previously in substantially the same form.

Manuscripts must not be under consideration simultaneously by another journal.

Authors must disclose:

• Previous publications arising from the same study or dataset;

• Related manuscripts currently under consideration elsewhere;

• Preprints, where applicable;

• Conference abstracts or proceedings based on the same work.

PJN follows COPE guidance in assessing concerns involving duplicate publication, redundant publication, and overlapping manuscripts.

PJN does not tolerate plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, or other forms of research or publication misconduct.

Submitted manuscripts may be screened using appropriate plagiarism-detection or similarity-checking tools.

Text recycling should be transparent, justified, and appropriately cited.

Where concerns arise, PJN will follow applicable COPE guidance.

Authors should cite relevant and appropriate literature accurately.

Authors should not:

• Manipulate citations;

• Excessively cite their own work without justification;

• Request or add citations solely to increase citation counts;

• Cite sources that have not been consulted;

• Cite sources from predatory journals;

• Misrepresent the findings of cited studies

PJN uses a peer-review process designed to ensure that manuscripts are evaluated fairly and rigorously.

Manuscripts undergo an initial editorial assessment to determine:

• Relevance to the journal;

• Compliance with submission requirements;

• Scientific or scholarly quality;

• Ethical compliance;

• Originality;

• Appropriateness for peer review.

Manuscripts considered suitable may then be sent for external peer review.

The Editor-in-Chief retains ultimate responsibility for editorial decisions.

Peer reviewers are expected to maintain confidentiality, declare conflicts of interest, and provide objective and constructive assessments.

Possible editorial decisions include:

• Accept

• Minor Revision

• Major Revision

• Reject

Authors may be asked to respond to reviewer comments and submit a revised manuscript.

A revised manuscript should be accompanied by a clear response to each substantive reviewer comment.

Authors who believe that an editorial decision was based on a significant factual or procedural error may submit an appeal to the Editor-in-Chief.

Appeals should:

• Clearly identify the manuscript;

• State the specific reason for the appeal;

• Address the editorial or reviewer concern objectively;

• Provide evidence supporting the appeal.

Disagreement with an editorial decision alone is generally not sufficient grounds for appeal.

PJN will follow relevant COPE guidance in handling appeals and complaints.

PJN is committed to maintaining the integrity of the published scientific record.

When errors or concerns are identified after publication, the journal may publish:

• Corrections or errata;

• Retractions;

• Expressions of concern;

• Other appropriate editorial notices.

PJN follows applicable COPE recommendations when investigating and correcting the published record.

Authors, reviewers, readers, and other stakeholders may raise concerns regarding:

• Research misconduct;

• Plagiarism;

• Fabrication or falsification;

• Authorship disputes;

• Undisclosed conflicts of interest;

• Duplicate publication;

• Ethical approval;

• Peer-review misconduct;

• Other publication-ethics concerns.

Concerns should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief or the journal's designated editorial contact.

PJN will handle complaints and ethical concerns in accordance with applicable COPE principles and procedures.

Authors should review the journal's current copyright and licensing policy before submission.

Where applicable, authors retain copyright while granting PJN the necessary rights to publish and distribute the work under the journal's stated publishing license.

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted material belonging to third parties.

PJN respects the privacy of authors, reviewers, research participants, and other individuals whose information is processed through the journal.

Personal information collected through the journal's submission and peer-review system will be used for legitimate journal operations, including manuscript processing, peer review, editorial communication, publication, indexing, and archiving.

Authors must not include unnecessary personally identifiable information in manuscripts.

All manuscripts should be submitted electronically through the PJN Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform.

Authors should complete all required submission fields accurately.

The submitting author should ensure that:

• All authors have approved the manuscript;

• The correct article type has been selected;

• Author information is complete and accurate;

• The manuscript follows the appropriate formatting requirements;

• Required ethical statements are included;

• Funding and conflict-of-interest information is disclosed;

• Reporting checklists are uploaded where applicable;

• Figures, tables, supplementary files, and other required materials are properly uploaded;

• The manuscript is not simultaneously under consideration elsewhere.

Incomplete submissions may be returned to the author before editorial review.

Depending on the article type, authors may be asked to upload:

Required

• Main manuscript

• Title page or author information

• Author metadata

• Abstract and keywords, where applicable

Where applicable

• Reporting checklist

• Reporting flow diagram

• Figures

• Tables

• Supplementary files

• Ethics approval documentation

• Consent documentation

• Permission to reproduce copyrighted material

• Cover letter

• Other supporting documents requested by the journal

A cover letter is required for Original Articles, Systematic Reviews/Meta-analyses, and other substantial submissions.

The cover letter should briefly state:

1. The title of the manuscript;

2. The article type;

3. The principal contribution of the manuscript;

4. Why the manuscript is appropriate for PJN;

5. Confirmation that the manuscript is original and is not under consideration elsewhere;

6. Any important ethical, funding, conflict-of-interest, or publication considerations.

PJN reserves the right to return manuscripts that substantially exceed the prescribed limits or do not comply with the journal's Instructions to Authors.

Exceptions may be considered by the Editor-in-Chief when justified by the nature, quality, and significance of the manuscript.

Compliance with the stated manuscript requirements does not guarantee acceptance or peer review. All manuscripts remain subject to editorial assessment and, where appropriate, external peer review.

By submitting a manuscript to the Philippine Journal of Nursing, the submitting author confirms on behalf of all authors that the manuscript complies with the journal's submission requirements and that all authors have approved its submission.

The authors remain responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and ethical conduct of the work.

PJN reserves the right to modify its editorial and publication policies as necessary to maintain alignment with evolving international standards for scholarly publishing.