Nursing

Journal Tips:

• For electronic/online journals: Remember to check the year/issue coverage for the eJournal! (The library may have the journal electronically, but not in the year you need.)
• Don't be surprised if the same journal is found in more than one database. But again: check the year/issue coverage dates as different databases sometimes subscribe to different years of that journal.
• If the journal is not available online, you can search the FGCU Library Catalog to see if we have a print copy on the shelf.  (Yes, journals still exist in print...)
• If the journal is not available electronically or in print, you can request specific articles within a journal via InterLibrary Loan (aka Illiad.)

There are 118 core journals for the field of nursing according to the most recent research survey, a 2006 JMLA article (Journal of the Medical Library Association), entitled: "Mapping the General Literature of American Nursing" by authors Margaret Allen, MLS, AHIP, and June R. Levy, MLS. The authors define general to describe "the popular clinically orientated journals marketed to practicing nurses" in the U.S.

Of the 118 core journals, the following 24 journals constitute the most productive, frequently cited nursing journals.  (For a complete list of all 118 journals, click on the above link to the JMLA article.)

(Journals are listed alphabetically. Links lead to journal access through FGCU Library, if available. Select "Connect now" on the linked page. Any information in quotation marks is direct from the journal's official website.)

1. The New England Journal of Medicine (published by the Massachusetts Medical Society)
2. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association
3. JAMA Internal Medicine
4. The American Journal of Nursing (official journal of the American Nurses' Association)
5. Critical Care Nurse (an official publication of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses)
6. Nursing
7. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (weekly epidemiological digest for America published by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
8. RN (publication ceased in 2009)
9. Annals of Internal Medicine
10. The Lancet
11. Heart & Lung
12. Chest (official publication of the American College of Chest Physicians)
13. Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association
14. AACN Advanced Critical Care (an official publication of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses)
15. Nursing Management
16. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
17. Journal of Nursing Scholarship (an official publication of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing Sigma Theta Tau)
18. Medical Malpractice Verdicts, Settlements & Experts (reporting medical negligence cases from across the United States since 1985)
19. The Nursing Clinics of North America
20. Pain Medicine (Focuses on the areas of pain research and management)
21. American Journal of Cardiology
22. Journal of Nursing Administration