"...My colleagues (Meen Hye Lee, etc.) and I (Soo Kim-Godwin) surveyed female staff nurses to assess the overall level of sleep quality during the COVID-19 pandemic. As expected we found that nurses reported poor sleep quality. We collected the survey data using an online survey from April to May 2020 from a sample of 215 female staff nurses enrolled in post-licensure online nursing programs in the school of Nursing at UNCW. Our study evaluated seven subcomponents of overall sleep quality: subjective sleep quality, sleep latency ( how long it takes to fall asleep), sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, the use of sleeping medications, and daytime dysfunction. We found full-time work, poor physical health, lower self-care and self-regulation, and higher work stress negatively impact sleep quality. We strongly suggest that hospital administrators should consider developing intervention programs for improving the work environment, which would impact sleep quality, health status, and job performance among nurses."
Why did you decide to publish open access?
"More and more people are moving towards open access (OA) journals. One of the biggest benefits is that OA allows access for researchers, as well as the general public without a subscription. It has been reported that many studies demonstrate that OA literature receives more citations than subscription publications because it reduces permission requirements and eliminates price barriers for readers. One downside of OA is the payment (We are so grateful that we were able to publish our article with support from the library's APC fund.)"
What advice do you have for others who want to publish open access?
"While Open Access (OA) increases visibility, we should be aware that there is considerable pushback to use open access. In my opinion, predatory publishers are a significant threat to open access publishing The first advice is that you need to evaluate the quality of the journal. When selecting a journal for your publication, review publications in the journal you are considering to assess the scientific rigor and editorial quality of the publications. I usually check the impact factor to evaluate the journals credentials. Another option for authors is to consult with librarians affiliated with your institution or a local public library. Librarians are well-suited to provide guidance in helping authors with selecting quality journals to consider for publication. "
Randall Library will be spotlighting authors who've received our funding to publish in open access journals all week long! Find more information about our full slate of OA Week 2021 events here: https://lib.uncw.edu/OAWeek2021