The clinical practice project: planning to publish

An increasing number of journals focused on clinical practice publish high-quality projects. However, research reports typically follow a distinct design, which is not always appropriate for reporting clinical practice projects. The purpose of this article is to provide a succinct guide for planning and reporting clinical projects, specifically, the Doctor of Nursing Practice applied clinical project.

Literature concerning clinical practice project planning and preparation for publication was reviewed for this article.

This article provides a section-by-section summary of elements frequently included when preparing a manuscript for publication. The elements addressed in this article are suggestions and their inclusion and sequencing may vary depending on specific journal requirements.

If information from clinical research projects is to contribute to nursing knowledge in the form of lessons learned and information about translation of research into clinical practice, the design and conduct of the project must be rigorous and information about implementation and findings must be accurate and clearly communicated.