About Nursing Leadership Journals

The field of nursing is changing all the time, and health care reform brings new questions and challenges for nurses.

One way to stay current with policy issues, best practices and innovations that are important to nurses is by reading some of the nursing leadership journals that are available.

Here's an overview of some of the publications you might find and the topics they cover.

Nursing Management

• With a circulation of 80,000, Nursing Management publishes peer-reviewed articles designed to educate readers about the legal and ethical aspects of nursing leadership, personnel management, recruitment and retention, budget issues, product selection and quality control.

  Recent features have included stories on compassion fatigue, suicide risk screening, and implementing a clinical ladder program.

  The journal offers subcriptions, but many articles are available for free online.

Nurse Leader

• Published by the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), Nurse Leader is a journal for administrators making the transition from management to leadership. The bimonthly publication offers features like "Leader to Watch," which profiles nurse leaders who have excelled in the field, and "Lessons Learned," which helps professionals learn from the experiences of their colleagues.

American Journal of Nursing

• The American Journal of Nursing is a peer-reviewed, evidence-based journal that provides clinical information and original research and discussion of relevant and controversial professional issues. The AJN touts its "adherence to the standards of journalistic integrity and excellence, and promotion of nursing perspectives to the health care community and the public."

  The journal features "NewsCap" articles each month, recapping news of interest to nurses, such as new findings on treatment protocols, guidelines for care and policy developments.

  Other sections include opinion articles, letters to the editor and analytical articles about a range of topics, from whistleblower protections to public health issues to best practices in clinical care.

  Paid subscriptions are available for full access, but a number of articles can be accessed for free online.

Additional Journals

• There are dozens of reputable journals focusing on nursing leadership. Some additional publications to consult are:

  Journal of Excellence in Nursing Leadership
  Journal of Nursing Administration
  Nursing Leadership Forum
  Policy, Politics & Nursing Practice

International Nursing Leadership Information

• For those seeking information on nursing leadership that goes beyond the United States, there are many good resources.

  A popular journal is the International Nursing Review, which presents case studies from around the world about nurses' roles in different health care systems.

  The Canadian Journal of Nursing, published by the McGill University School of Nursing. The journal publishes original nursing research that "develops basic knowledge for the discipline and examines the application of the knowledge in practice."

  BMC Nursing is an open-access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles in all aspects of nursing research, training, education and practice.