Journal Course Requirements for Authors

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The American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology is accredited as a provider of continuing education in nursing by the American Nurses Credentialing Center Commission on Accreditation.

What is an AANA Journal Course?

Journal Courses are peer-reviewed educational articles designed to provide continuing education (CE) opportunities for anesthesia professionals. Journal Courses allow members to earn free CE credit while engaging with clinically relevant content. They present topics of interest to practicing clinicians and include learning objectives and assessment questions that allow readers to evaluate their understanding of the material. 

How Journal Courses differ from other submissions

Journal Courses are peer-reviewed educational manuscripts that combine evidence-based content with a structured learning experience. In addition to scholarly quality, these articles should be written to promote understanding, reinforce key concepts, and support clinical application. Journal Courses are well suited to authors who want to provide an in-depth, evidence-informed educational overview of a clinically relevant topic.

They require learning objectives and assessment questions as well as additional documentation to support CE accreditation. Otherwise, Journal Courses follow the same general submission and peer-review process as other manuscripts. Access the author guidelines.

Suitable topics may include clinical practice updates or emerging evidence, review of best practices or standards of care, patient safety topics, pharmacology or technology relevant to anesthesia practice, or quality improvement initiatives with educational value. Topics should have clear relevance to practicing clinicians and support measurable learning outcomes.

Requirements for Journal Course submissions

In addition to the standard manuscript submission requirements, Journal Course submissions must include: 

Learning Objectives 

Journal Course submissions must include at least one learning objective aligned with the content of the article. Because Journal Course articles often address multiple aspects of a topic, authors are encouraged to include two to three learning objectives that reflect the key concepts readers should understand after completing the activity.

TIP: Writing Effective Learning Objectives

Learning objectives should state what readers will be able to do after completing the activity. Use measurable action verbs (e.g., identify, describe, explain, apply) and avoid vague terms such as understand or learn about.

Example: Describe the central role of the hypothalamus in generating a febrile response.

Assessment Questions

Journal Course assessment questions are designed to evaluate reader understanding. Submissions must include ten multiple choice questions with one correct response identified exactly in the body of the paper, and three plausible distractors for each question (see example). Each learning objective should be associated with at least one question.

Indicate the correct answer, and associated learning objective(s) noted for each question. Specify the location where the answer can be found in the text, tables, or figures.

TIPS: Writing Effective Assessment Questions

  • Each learning objective should be associated with at least one question.
  • Pose a clear question in the stem of each item that is answered exactly by the correct response found in the body of the article.
  • Define all abbreviations used in the stem.
  • Avoid the use of jargon or slang.
  • As much as possible, the correct response should mirror the language used in the body of the paper.

EXAMPLE: Journal Course Assessment Question

Normal temperature variation in healthy humans is best described by: 

  1. slightly greater than 98°F with nadir in the early morning and peak in the late afternoon
  2. slightly less than 98°F with nadir in the early morning and again in the late afternoon
  3. slightly less than 98°F with a peak in the early morning and nadir in the late afternoon
  4. slightly greater than 99°F with nadir in the early morning and peak in the late afternoon

Answer: A. 
Location: page 2, paragraph 3 
Objective: 1

Honorarium
Corresponding authors of accepted and published Journal Course articles will receive a one-time honorarium of $500 following publication. The corresponding author is responsible for any distribution of the payment among co-authors. 
 
Questions about submitting Journal Courses to the AANA Journal should be sent to the editorial office at journal@aana.com.
 
Author Guidelines updated July 2026.