Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Sciences (JNMS) contributes to the advancement of evidence-based nursing, midwifery, and healthcare by disseminating high-quality research and scholarship of contemporary relevance and with the potential to advance knowledge for practice, education, management, or policy. JNMS's intended readership includes practising nurses and midwives in all spheres and at all levels who are committed to advancing practice and professional development on the basis of new knowledge and evidence; managers and senior members of the nursing and midwifery professions; nurse educators and nursing students; and researchers in other disciplines with interest in common issues and inter-disciplinary collaboration. Papers published in JNMS are increasingly cited in reviews of evidence and used by other healthcare professionals, policymakers, commissioners and users of services to inform their decision-making and practice. All JNMS 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, JNMS promotes diversity of research and scholarship in terms of culture, paradigm and healthcare context. For JJNMS'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.