The role of nursing journals in the advancement of professional nursing

From modest developments of 'popular' nursing journals many years ago, there has been a prolific growth in the numbers of nursing journals published each year. This growth is particularly noteworthy in the increase in the numbers of specialist interest and scholarly nursing journals. The different types of journals have also tended to influence each other's contents, as well as the contents of nursing textbooks. Over the years, nurses themselves have emerged as the main contributors to the journals. Increasingly the focus of all the journals has been on nursing practice - and the factors associated with professional practice and the professional education and development of nurses. Whilst it is conceded that it is difficult to demonstrate that nursing journals have made a direct impact on care, some indirect impact can be claimed. This claim is based, among other things, on the contribution of nursing journals to the development of nursing as a profession, their contribution to the individual development of professional nurses, and their contribution to the documentation of the body of nursing knowledge.