Nursing Journal highlights undergrad research

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Interesting! Nursing journal highlights undergrad research - News

With research becoming a vital part of the undergraduate experience at Penn, the Nursing school has devised a way to allow its student researchers to showcase their work through a research journal dedicated to them.

The Journal of Nursing Student Research is a publication that compiles the research of students and gives them a platform to receive recognition for their work.

Started last fall by the Organization of Student Nursing Research, JONSR is among the few journals in the United States dedicated to student research and is the only one with a complete student editorial board, said Nursing senior Komal Patel, editor-in-chief of JONSR and president of OSNR.

"Penn Nursing in its mission is research-centric, and so a lot of students get involved in research, either on their own or with a professor. Therefore, there was a need for a student journal," she added.

The editorial board that reviews the research papers for the journal has been receiving about eight to nine submissions each semester, of which four to five are published.

Patel said the committee judges submissions on the quality of research, the references used and the writing quality.

The papers cover various topics, including literature reviews, in-depth analyses on a current topic and reports on experimental lab work.

Other articles in the journal examine topics such as the physical fitness of school-aged girls and pediatric bone cancer.

"We're very excited about the journal because the Nursing school is a constituency that at the moment student government is not doing enough to reach out to," said Wharton and Engineering senior Eric Van Nostrand, who is the chairman of the Student Activities Council, which provides funding for JONSR.

Although the journal does not include any faculty research, Nursing professors Linda McCauley and Kathleen McCauley act as advisors to the student editors.

The faculty "are excited that as a student group, we are highlighting each other's work," said Patel.

Nursing students say they appreciate the opportunity for publication.

"Its a great way to show our work and see what other people here are interested in," said Nursing sophomore Elaine Hoi, whose research on nursing quality and its relation to health care has been published in the journal.

In the future, OSNR hopes to collaborate with other nursing student organizations to launch a high-school outreach program that will help high-school students learn more about the profession of nursing and the importance of research within this profession, Nursing sophomore Amy Altemeyer, an editor of JONSR, wrote in an e-mail.