NEP: Supporting the brave new world of university-based education

Welcome to Nurse Education in Practice (NEP), a new international, peer-reviewed journal which intends to focus on the theory and practice of effective nurse education. This is an opportune time for such a publication to be launched in the UK where, some 5 or so years after assimilation into the university sector, many nurse educators and their leaders are having to come to terms with the ‘publish or perish’ mentality of universities. This mentality is engendered, at least in part, by the focus of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) on publications and research income. It is also increasingly the case that the managers of clinical services are looking to raise the profile of those services via the development of a publication track record amongst their staff. This is obviously the case with lecturer practitioners. It is no less opportune for those academics in countries where nursing is more established in the university sector, yet who still struggle to be recognized because of their interest in quality education, the limited recognition this receives in universities and the dearth of quality publications focusing on this area. I am firmly of the view that traditional academia will not come to view excellence in teaching as true scholarship of its own accord. No, it will only do so when it is shown to be so by those who engage in it.