There are now close to 250 nursing journals worldwide! The International Academy of Nursing Editors (INANE) and Nurse Author & Editor jointly publish a comprehensive vetted directory nursing journals. While all of the journals in the INANE Directory are legitimate journals that publish nursing content related to practice, education, policy, administration and/or specialty areas, there are a number (shown below) that focus primarily on nursing knowledge and the processes by which nursing knowledge is developed. The information here is extracted from the Directory of Nursing Journals.
Advances in Nursing Science (ANS)
Purpose: to contribute to the development of nursing science and to promote the application of emerging theories and research findings to practice. Articles deal with any of the processes of science, including research, theory development, concept analysis, practical application of research and theory, and investigation of the values and ethics that influence the practice and research endeavors of nursing sciences
Applied Nursing Research
Presents original, peer-reviewed research findings clearly and directly for clinical applications in all nursing specialties. Regular features include “Ask the Experts,” research briefs, clinical methods, book reviews, news and announcements, and an editorial section. Applied Nursing Research covers such areas as pain management, patient education, discharge planning, nursing diagnosis, job stress in nursing, nursing influence on length of hospital stay, and nurse/physician collaboration.
Canadian Journal of Nursing Research
A quarterly refereed peer-review publication, CJNR accepts quality quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method manuscripts on a broad spectrum of topics that include, but are not limited to clinical, psychosocial, biological, educational, models of care, health services, and health systems research studies. CJNR also welcomes short research reports, systematic reviews, clinical and/or conceptual papers, current issues, editorials, and commentaries that are of special interest to nursing.
International Journal for Human Caring 
Serves as a scholarly forum for nurses to advance knowledge of care and caring within the discipline of nursing, collaboration with other disciplines that also use care and caring knowledge in human relationships, and systematic investigation of care and caring knowledge.
International Journal of Nursing Knowledge 
The Journal aims to clarify the knowledge base of nursing and improve patient safety by developing and disseminating nursing diagnoses and standardized nursing languages, and promoting their clinical use. It seeks to encourage education in clinical reasoning, diagnosis and assessment and ensure global consistency in conceptual languages.
International Journal of Nursing Studies 
A forum for publication of scholarly papers that report research findings, research-based reviews, discussion papers and commentaries which are of interest to an international readership of practitioners, educators, administrators and researchers in all areas of nursing, midwifery and the caring sciences. Papers should address issues of international interest and concern and present the study in the context of the existing international research base on the topic. Those which focus on a single country should identify how the material presented might be relevant to a wider audience and how it contributes to the international knowledge base. Selection of papers for publication is based on their scientific excellence, distinctive contribution to knowledge (including methodological development) and their importance to contemporary nursing, midwifery or related professions.
International Nursing Review 
A quarterly, peer-reviewed journal that focuses predominantly on nursing and health policy issues of relevance to nurses. INR welcomes original articles that help to forward ICN’s global mission by representing nursing, advancing the profession and shaping health policy. ICN also contributes to the ongoing development of nursing internationally with its regular section on International Perspectives. The diverse international readership of INR is located in more than 130 countries*. Published both in hard copy and online, INR is a key resource for nurses and health policy makers worldwide. INR encourages unsolicited original manuscripts where nurses describe the policy relevance of their work and document their experience and research. Authors are encouraged to develop a ‘global intelligence’ on nursing and to address INR’s diverse audience by exploring beyond local or national interests to the more general, global application of the principles underlying their work. Background information on the local arrangements for nursing and health care in a country also provides useful context for this global readership. Policy concerns of this journal are as follows: regulation of the profession, workplace issues, innovations in practice, patient safety, quality improvement education, ethics, nurses’ and midwives’ work-life experiences, and the impact of globalization.
Japan Journal of Nursing Science 
JHQ welcomes submissions by writers from all sectors of the healthcare quality field. The journal publishes articles on administration and management (including designing of organizations and roles), performance measurement and improvement, behavioral healthcare quality, compliance, evidence-based practice, pain management, accreditation issues and successes, information systems and management, knowledge management, innovations in healthcare, education’s move to quality, government affairs and policy making, patient and staff safety, research in healthcare quality, continuum of care, and global and international issues.
Journal of Advanced Nursing 
JAN contributes to the advancement of evidence-based nursing, midwifery and healthcare by disseminating high quality research and scholarship of contemporary relevance and with potential to advance knowledge for practice, education, management or policy. All JAN papers are required to have a sound scientific, evidential, theoretical or philosophical base and to be critical, questioning and scholarly in approach. As an international journal, JAN promotes diversity of research and scholarship in terms of culture, paradigm and healthcare context. ForJAN’s worldwide readership, authors are expected to make clear the wider international relevance of their work and to demonstrate sensitivity to cultural considerations and differences.
Journal of Clinical Nursing 
An international, peer reviewed, scientific journal that seeks to promote the development and exchange of knowledge that is directly relevant to all spheres of nursing practice. The primary aim is to promote a high standard of clinically related scholarship which supports the practice and discipline of nursing. The Journal also aims to promote the international exchange of ideas and experience that draws from the different cultures in which practice takes place. Further, JCN seeks to enrich insight into clinical need and the implications for nursing intervention and models of service delivery. Emphasis is placed on promoting critical debate on the art and science of nursing practice.
Journal of Holistic Nursing 
A pioneering force in integrating holistic health concepts with traditional Western medicine. The peer-reviewed journal promotes holism—a state of harmony among body, mind, emotions, and spirit —and nursing’s function within that ever-changing environment. Manuscripts are solicited that deal with the processes of knowledge development and application including research, concept analysis and theory development, practical applications of research and theory, clinical case studies and analysis, practice applications in general, educational approaches and evaluation, and aesthetic expressions of holistic knowledge. While the journal seeks to support work grounded in evidence, the editorial philosophy suggests that there are many diverse sources of “evidence” beyond the realm of what is called “empirical” and that many methods are appropriate for discovering evidence and generating knowledge.
Journal of Nursing Scholarship 
A peer-reviewed journal, published six times per year for subscribers and members of the honor society of nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Scholarly works are invited in the areas of clinical scholarship, health policy and systems, profession and society and world health. The mission of JNS is to advance knowledge to improve the health of the world’s people. We are, therefore, most interested in receiving manuscripts that provide new knowledge designed to improve nursing practice globally.
Nursing Forum 
A peer-reviewed quarterly journal that invites original manuscripts that explore, explicate or report issues, ideas, trends and innovations that shape the nursing profession. Research manuscripts should emphasize the implications rather than the methods or analysis. Quality improvement manuscripts should emphasize the outcomes and follow the SQUIRE Guidelines in creating the manuscript. Evidence-based manuscripts should emphasize the findings and implications for practice and follow PICOT format. Concept analysis manuscripts should emphasize the evidence for support of the concept and follow an accepted format for such analyses.
Nursing Inquiry 
An international peer-reviewed Journal of interest to nurses, health care professionals, social scientists and health policy makers on ideas and issues pertaining to nursing and healthcare. Established as a vehicle for critical reflection and substantive dialogue on topics of emerging interest internationally, it aims to foster debate and dialogue, advance new conceptualizations, and challenge current thought on a wide range of nursing and health phenomena. The Journal publishes original research, discussion papers, review articles and commentaries on topics consistent with its aims and scope. The journal aims to stimulate examination of nursing’s current and emerging practices, conditions and contexts within an expanding international community of ideas. The journal aspires to excite thinking and stimulate action toward a preferred future for health and healthcare by encouraging critical reflection and lively debate on matters affecting and influenced by nursing from a range of disciplinary angles, scientific perspectives, analytic approaches, social locations and philosophical positions.
Nursing Outlook 
A bi-monthly journal, provides innovative ideas for nursing leaders through peer-reviewed articles and timely reports. Each issue examines current issues and trends in nursing practice, education and research, offering progressive solutions to the challenges facing the profession. As the official journal of the American Academy of Nursing the journal supports the mission to serve the public and the nursing profession by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge.
Nursing Philosophy 
Provides a forum for discussion of philosophical issues in nursing. These focus on questions relating to the nature of nursing and to the phenomena of key relevance to it. For example, any understanding of what nursing is presupposes some conception of just what nurses are trying to do when they nurse. But what are the ends of nursing? Are they to promote health, prevent disease, promote well-being, enhance autonomy, relieve suffering, or some combination of these? How are these ends are to be met? What kind of knowledge is needed in order to nurse? Practical, theoretical, aesthetic, moral, political, ‘intuitive’ or some other? Papers that explore other aspects of philosophical enquiry and analysis of relevance to nursing (and any other healthcare or social care activity) are also welcome and might include, but not be limited to, critical discussions of the work of nurse theorists who have advanced philosophical claims (e.g., Benner, Benner and Wrubel, Carper, Schrok, Watson, Parse and so on) as well as critical engagement with philosophers (e.g., Heidegger, Husserl, Kuhn, Polanyi, Taylor, MacIntyre and so on) whose work informs health care in general and nursing in particular.
Nursing Research 
A peer-reviewed journal celebrating over 60 years as the most sought-after nursing resource; it offers more depth, more detail, and more of what today’s nurses demand. Nursing Research covers key issues, including health promotion, human responses to illness, acute care nursing research, symptom management, cost-effectiveness, vulnerable populations, health services, and community-based nursing studies. Each issue highlights the latest research techniques, quantitative and qualitative studies, and new state-of-the-art methodological strategies, including information not yet found in textbooks. Expert commentaries and briefs are also included. In addition to 6 issues per year, Nursing Research from time to time publishes supplemental content not found anywhere else.
Nursing Science Quarterly 
A peer-reviewed quarterly journal publishing original manuscripts focusing on nursing theory development, nursing theory-based practice and quantitative and qualitative research related to existing nursing frameworks, contributed by the leading theorists, researchers and nurse executives.
Research and Theory for Nursing Practice 
Focuses on issues relevant to improving nursing practice, education, and patient care. The articles strive to discuss knowledge development in its broadest sense, reflect research using a variety of methodological approaches, and combine several methods and strategies in a single study. Because of the journal’s international emphasis, article contributors address the implications of their studies for an international audience. Former journal title: Scholarly Inquiry for Nursing Practice.
Research in Nursing & Health 
A peer-reviewed, general research journal devoted to publication of a wide range of research and advances in research methods to build knowledge that informs the practice of nursing and other health disciplines. The editors invite research reports on health care practice, education, administration, and history; on health issues relevant to nursing and other clinical professions; and on the testing of research findings in practice. Papers on research methods and techniques are appropriate if they go beyond what is already generally available in the literature. Theory papers are accepted if derived directly from research findings. Research reviews are accepted if conducted systematically using reproducible methods; please consult guidelines for review papers. Letters to the editor commenting on published articles or research and theory issues are welcome. Authors are urged to seek colleague peer review prior to submission of manuscripts.
Visions: The Journal of Rogerian Nursing Science 
Visions: The Journal of Rogerian Nursing Science is the journal of the Society of Rogerian Scholars (SRS). The mission of the SRS is to advance nursing science through an emphasis on the Science of Unitary Human Beings. The focus of the society is education, research, and practice in service to humankind.
Western Journal of Nursing Research 
Peer-reviewed journal published ten times a year providing an innovative forum for nurse researchers, students and clinical practitioners to participate in ongoing scholarly debate. WJNR offers clinical research reports broadened by commentaries and authors’ responses. The journal is devoted to the dissemination of research studies, book reviews, discussion and debate, and meeting calendars, all directed to a general nursing audience. Contributions are accepted from within and outside the United States.
Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing 
A primary source of information for using evidence-based nursing practice to improve patient care by featuring: knowledge synthesis articles with best practice applications and recommendations for linking evidence to action in real world practice, administrative, education and policy settings; original articles and features that present large-scale studies, which challenge and develop the knowledge base about evidence-based practice in nursing and healthcare; special features and columns with information geared to readers’ diverse roles: clinical practice, education, research, policy and administration/leadership; commentaries about current evidence-based practice issues and developments; a forum that encourages readers to engage in an ongoing dialogue on critical issues and questions in evidence-based nursing; reviews of the latest publications and resources on evidence-based nursing and healthcare; news about professional organizations, conferences and other activities around the world related to evidence-based nursing; links to other global evidence-based nursing resources and organizations