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The lone researcher
Applied Nursing Research February 1989
Vol. 2, No. 1
EDITORIAL
The Lone Researcher O YOU do your research alone? Do you pub-
D lish as a single author? If so, you are not alone in nursing. Collaborative research within nursing has not been commonplace. Research teams are in their early stages of development. Multiple authorship is striking since it has occurred infrequently. In a recent article, Heaney (1987) presented data from his review of 100 articles published in nursing journals. He discovered that the majority of articles had single authors; less than one in four had more than two authors. In contrast, he reviewed articles in the New England Journal of Medicine within the same time period. No research articles published in this journal had a single author. Ninety-three percent of the articles had three or more authors, with an average of 6.9 authors per article. The model of the lone researcher has been perpetuated in our graduate programs in nursing. For example, it has been the tradition that students doing master's theses select their own topics and design studies as discrete projects. In many other disciplines ~, however, the model for master's theses is that the student's research topic would be determined by the faculty member's "ongoing research. In nursing, we have moved in this direction, most clearly in our doctoral programs.
AppliedlVursing Research,Vol. 2, No. 1 (February), 1989, p. 1
Also, our scientists in schools of nursing are developing programs of research with clear delineation of the staging of studies. The sustained efforts of these researchers and research teams have been recent. In this journal, we want to publish articles with multiple authors, particularly those that reflect clinician-scientist teams. More importantly, we want clinician-scientist teams to be mainstreamed within our discipline. Look toward your colleagues and think collaboration! Let's also extend our collaborative approach to colleagues in medicine, psychology, physiology, health economics, and a range of other disciplines. We can join together to expand our understanding of people and their health..We can question together, study together, and coauthor the resulting publications. The days are gone when women were expected to publish under men's names or nurses under physicians' names. Let's take the next step forward toward collaborate research and authorship. Joyce J. Fitzpatrick, PhD, FAAN Editor REFERENCES
Heaney, R.P. (1987) Standards of quality:The paths to excellence?Nursing and Health Care, 8, 219-221.
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Vol. 2, No. 1
EDITORIAL
The Lone Researcher O YOU do your research alone? Do you pub-
D lish as a single author? If so, you are not alone in nursing. Collaborative research within nursing has not been commonplace. Research teams are in their early stages of development. Multiple authorship is striking since it has occurred infrequently. In a recent article, Heaney (1987) presented data from his review of 100 articles published in nursing journals. He discovered that the majority of articles had single authors; less than one in four had more than two authors. In contrast, he reviewed articles in the New England Journal of Medicine within the same time period. No research articles published in this journal had a single author. Ninety-three percent of the articles had three or more authors, with an average of 6.9 authors per article. The model of the lone researcher has been perpetuated in our graduate programs in nursing. For example, it has been the tradition that students doing master's theses select their own topics and design studies as discrete projects. In many other disciplines ~, however, the model for master's theses is that the student's research topic would be determined by the faculty member's "ongoing research. In nursing, we have moved in this direction, most clearly in our doctoral programs.
AppliedlVursing Research,Vol. 2, No. 1 (February), 1989, p. 1
Also, our scientists in schools of nursing are developing programs of research with clear delineation of the staging of studies. The sustained efforts of these researchers and research teams have been recent. In this journal, we want to publish articles with multiple authors, particularly those that reflect clinician-scientist teams. More importantly, we want clinician-scientist teams to be mainstreamed within our discipline. Look toward your colleagues and think collaboration! Let's also extend our collaborative approach to colleagues in medicine, psychology, physiology, health economics, and a range of other disciplines. We can join together to expand our understanding of people and their health..We can question together, study together, and coauthor the resulting publications. The days are gone when women were expected to publish under men's names or nurses under physicians' names. Let's take the next step forward toward collaborate research and authorship. Joyce J. Fitzpatrick, PhD, FAAN Editor REFERENCES
Heaney, R.P. (1987) Standards of quality:The paths to excellence?Nursing and Health Care, 8, 219-221.
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