Paper Types

Headings

The content of your paper should determine the headings you use. If yours is a quantitative research paper the headings should follow the usual layout, such as:Introduction, Background/Literature, Methods, Data/Results, Discussion, Conclusions. If your paper takes another form, theoretical or qualitative for example, you should use the appropriate headings, but do bear in mind that headings should facilitate reading and understanding. You should use only two kinds of headings, major headings should be indicated by underlined capital letters in the centre of the page whereas minor headings should be underlined, have lower-case letters (beginning with a capital) and begin at the left hand margin.

Abbreviations

Avoid the use of abbreviations unless they are likely to be widely recognised. In particular you should avoid abbreviating key concepts in your paper where readers might not already be familiar with the abbreviation. Any abbreviations which the authors intend to use should be written out in full and followed by the letters in brackets the first time they appear, thereafter only the letters without brackets should be used.

Sexist Usage

Do not use 'he', 'his' etc. where the sex of the person is unknown; instead say 'the nurse' etc. Avoid inelegant alternatives such as 'he/she'. Nurses and doctors should not be automatically designated as 'he/she'. In terms of style, try to avoid artificially objective language such as 'the author thought that' or 'the researcher' where this person is yourself. 'I' or 'we' are acceptable when related to matters concerning the author(s) themselves or their opinions.

Statistics

Standard methods of presenting statistical material should be used. Where methods used are not widely recognised explanation and full reference to widely accessible sources must be given. Exact p values should be given to no more than three decimal places. Wherever possible give both point estimates and confidence intervals for all population parameters estimated by the study (e.g. group differences, frequency of characteristics). Identify the statistical package used.

Tables

Each table needs a short descriptive title above it, and a clear legend or key and, if necessary, suitably identified footnotes below. When drawing up the tables take care to include all the units of measurement. Make sure that each table is cited in the text. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Tables may be presented in separate files or in the manuscript.

References

The use of reference management software is advised (e.g. RefWorks). The accuracy of the references you provide is your responsibility. Follow the RGU Harvard referencing guidelines.

Images

When creating electronic graphics for your submission, remember the following points:

• Artwork and illustrations should be appropriately referenced.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Size the illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the printed version.
• Aim to use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, or similar.
• Embed the used fonts if the application provides that option.
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Keep to a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.

Images and captions can either be submitted as a separate file or in the same file as the manuscript. When providing image files separately, observe the following guidelines:

• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• If your image was created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply 'as is' in the native document format (.docx, .pptx or .xlsx). Otherwise, please use one of the following formats: .pdf, .jpg, .png.
• Provide files that are optimized for screen use. These typically have a low number of pixels and a limited set of colors.
• Provide images that are appropriately sized for inclusion in the main submission content.

Video Data

Communicare accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your paper. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are encouraged to include links to these within the body of the article (to YouTube, Vimeo etc.).

Supporting Documentation

• Covering letter to the editor. Provide details of authorship contributions and other matters you wish the editors to consider.
• Metadata. Provide this as a separate file. It should include the following:

  1. The title. This should be given in capital letters. The title should explicitly describe the topic and type of paper and should be in the format "Topic/question: Design/type of paper" (e.g. Student nurse perceptions of risk in relation to international placements: A phenomenological research study).
  2. Author names. These should appear in lower-case letters below the title, in the order that they appear on the submission. For each author, you should give one first name as well as the family name and any initials. The names of student co-authors should always appear first.
  3. Author contact details. These should appear below the title and author names. Authors' addresses should be limited to the minimum information needed to ensure accurate postal delivery. Authors should also provide a daytime contact telephone number and e-mail address.
  4. Acknowledgements, contributions and funding statements.
  5. Abstract. A maximum of 300 words summarising the content. It should not include any references or abbreviations. Abstracts of Research Papers must be structured (Background; Objectives; Design; Settings; Participants; Methods; Results; Conclusions). Abstracts of Reviews should be similarly structured, where possible (Objectives; Design; Data Sources; Review Methods; Results; Conclusions). Abstracts are not required for Editorials and Contemporary Issues submissions.
  6. Keywords. Include 4-8 keywords. The purpose of these is to increase the discoverability of your paper. Ensure keywords are descriptive of the study. Refer to a recognised thesaurus of keywords wherever possible, for example refer to the Medical Subject Headings thesaurus (MeSH) or Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL).

  This information should not be included in the main file, in order to assist with ensuring blind peer review.

Author Checklist

The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal for review:

1. The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
2. One author (this would usually be the academic writing partner) has been designated as the corresponding author, with contact details including email address, full postal addres and phone number.
3. The manuscript has been checked for grammar and spelling.
4. References are in the correct format, and all references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text and vice versa.
5. Permission has been granted for the reuse of any copyrighted materials, including from online sources.
6. Figures and tables have been correctly included, either as separate files or embedded into the manuscript.
7. The separate metadata file has been compiled according to the requirements above.
8. The separate covering letter has been prepared.