EDITORIAL POLICIES
The Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association is a professional, peer-reviewed journal that welcomes original articles in English. The Journal is designed to inform psychiatric nurses about important clinical and useful psychiatric care developments. Articles are encouraged that describe critical and timely analysis of the emerging issues and trends and discuss innovative models of practice as they relate to changing systems of health care. Clinical and research articles that deal with care issues at the level of individual, family, group, or community, as well as the relationship of these care issues to institutional, organizational, or public policy are desired.

Manuscripts and correspondence should be sent to Karen Stein, Professor, School of Nursing, University of Rochester at the following email address: karenf_Stein@urmc.Rochester.edu. The Editor assumes that articles from a particular institution are submitted with the approval of the requisite authorities, including all matters pertaining to human subjects.

Statements and opinions expressed in the articles and communications herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Editor, the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, or publisher, and the Editor, Association, and publisher disclaim any responsibility or liability for such material. The Editor, Association, and publisher do not guarantee, warrant, or endorse any product or service advertised in this publication, neither do they guarantee any claim made by the manufacturer of such product or service.

Authors who have received financial support from a manufacturer or been given product free of charge to use in a study should acknowledge this support on a separate sheet. All manuscripts published in the Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association are the sole property of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association. Permission to reproduce material that has been published in the Journal must be obtained from the publisher. Authors will be consulted, when possible, regarding republication of their material.

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION
Manuscripts can be submitted online at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/japna. Manuscript submission or preparation inquiries can be sent to the editor at karenf_Stein@urmc.Rochester.edu.

Directions for Submission: Go to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/japna. You do not need to mail paper copies of your manuscript. Click on the "Check for Existing Account" button at the bottom of the opening page. If you do not already have an account, then create one by clicking on the "Create an Account" button. You then will be able to submit your manuscript. Click on “Author Center.” Follow the on-screen instructions carefully.

You will be asked to upload at least 2 documents when you submit a manuscript: a title page and a main document, in addition to uploading separate documents for each figure.

The title page should include:

1. title
2. author names, degrees, affiliations, and contact information (name, address, e-mail address, and phone number)
3. author disclosure or conflict of interest information
4. author roles in research/writing of manuscript
5. Grant and other acknowledgments

The main document should not include the author’s name anywhere on the manuscript as this will be used for blind-peer review. The main document should include: 

1. title
2. abstract
3. key words
4. text
5. references
6. tables and table captions
7. figure captions (figure files should be uploaded as separate files and not be included in the manuscript main document)

Please do not include author names on any pages of the manuscript, as the manuscript will be sent out for blind peer review.

Written permission to use non-original material (quotations exceeding 100 words, any table or illustration) from both author and publisher of the original is included, and the source is credited in the manuscript. No article will be accepted as a submission without all required permissions.

An exclusive license form is a condition of publication (authors will receive an exclusive license form once the article is accepted for publication. Upon acceptance of manuscript, exclusive license forms must be submitted in order for the article to be published.

At the end of a successful submission, you will see a confirmation screen with your manuscript number, and you will receive a separate E-mail confirmation of manuscript reception by the journal. If these two messages do not appear, then go into your Author Center and make sure that you have clicked on the “Submit” button or contact technical support at support@scholarone.com. Manuscripts submitted online are quickly assigned to reviewers. Through individual Author Centers on this website, authors can view the status of their manuscripts as they progress through the review process.

REVIEW PROCESS
All manuscripts are subject to blind review by two experts in fields related to the topic or methods of the manuscript. The corresponding author will receive an email regarding the outcome of the review process and also receive electronic copies of the editorial and reviews. Revised and resubmitted manuscripts will be reviewed by the same reviewers that evaluated the original submission. All manuscripts will be edited to conform to the standards and style of the Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association.

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION
Prepare manuscripts using the style and standards outlined in the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association (APA), 6th edition. Number pages consecutively beginning with the title page. There is no word limit on manuscript submissions.

The journal encourages authors and reviewers to use the Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE) as guidelines for manuscript preparation and evaluation of agency-specific clinical implementation projects. All DNP authors and clinical experts reporting implement projects should utilize the SQUIRE Guidelines format when submitting reports. Similarly, reviewers of clinical project reports for the journal are encouraged to base their evaluations on nature and depth of reporting recommended in the guidelines. Authors and reviews can find the SQUIRE Guidelines at http://squire-statement.org/guidelines/.

Figures
All images should be submitted in an electronic image file format (TIF, JPG or EPS) along with the manuscript. Figures should be uploaded to the online manuscript submission system. Figures should be presented in separate electronic files and not incorporated into the Word document unless the figures were created in Word originally. Grayscale images should be at least 300 DPI. Combinations of grayscale and line art should be at least 1200 DPI. Line art (black and white or color) should be at least 1200 DPI. Color figures that will enhance the article may be accepted for publication. However, the author must be prepared to pay a charge of $800 for the first illustration and $200 for each additional illustration.

Title Page
On the title of the manuscript, author(s) name(s) with full credentials, and institutional affiliation(s) with city and state. Provide the complete mailing address, business and home telephone numbers, e-mail address, and fax number of the corresponding author. The title page should state any conflicts of interest or state that no conflict exists. Acknowledgments may be included. A list of each author's role in the writing of the manuscript should also be submitted on the title page.

Abstract
A structured abstract, limited to 150 words, must be included with the submission. All abstracts are to include five sections with the following headings: Background, Objective(s), Design, Results, and Conclusions.

Keywords
Include 3-5 keywords with the manuscript placed directly underneath the abstract.

Legends
A legend for each table and each figure must be included in the manuscript main document. Credit for any previously published illustration must be given in the corresponding legend. All symbols should be explained in the legend. If permission is needed for a table, figure, or quote, it is the responsibility of the author to obtain permission and pay for any expenses incurred. For Sage Publication permission guidelines, please refer to the following URL: http://www.sagepub.com/sage/Permissions%20Guidelines.PDF.

Reprints
Reprints may be ordered by using the special reprint order form that will accompany author proofs. If you need another copy of this order form, please contact Barbara Eisenberg at 805-499-0721 X 7763 (telephone) or at reprint@sagepub.com.

PUBLISH AHEAD OF PRINT WITH ONLINE FIRST
Online First is a feature in which completed articles are published online prior to their inclusion in a print issue, offering authors the advantage of making their research accessible to the public in a more timely manner. Only online subscribers can view these PDFs, but abstracts are available to the public to view for free. Online First articles are fed to search engines and citation and content repositories, such as PubMed, MEDLINE, CrossRef, and Google Scholar, and therefore are available to be accessed and cited. Each Online First manuscript is citable by the publication date of the manuscript’s first online posting and the Digital Object Identifier (DOI), providing a persistent, permanent way to identify manuscripts published in the online environment. You can cite OnlineFirst articles as follows:

Author’s last name, first initials. Article title. Journal title. Prepublished month day, year; DOI: 10.1177/0123456789123456

Once your article has completed the production process and before it is published in a print issue, it will be posted online. You can access JAPNA OnlineFirst articles on the Web at http://japna.sagepub.com/pap.dtl. Once posted online, articles may not be retracted or edited. If your article is not completed prior to its publication date, it will not go on OnlineFirst but will be posted online with the issue in which it will be published.

CHECKLIST FOR AUTHORS

• Letter of submission
• Conflict of interest statement, if applicable
• Electronic version of manuscript
• Title page with author contact information, credentials, affiliations, conflicts of interest, acknowledgments, and a list of each author's role in the writing of the manuscript
• Main document with Abstract, Keywords, Text, References, Tables and table captions, and Figure captions
• Figures uploaded as separate figure files (tif, jpeg, eps, pdf)
• Letters of permission to reproduce previously published material or for subjects in photographs