Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing...and other magazines

I would join AWHONN. I get a journal and magazine from them every month plus membership benefits. You only get 6 journals a year with JOGNN and its not cheap.

Do you know anyone that works in L&D because most of the units have these journals on the unit. Maybe they could get you a copy to borrow and see what you think. Have you tried the Nursing School or University Library?? A lot of the articles are pretty in-depth and advanced but then there are also more basic articles as well. Hope you like it...L&D is a great specialty!

First, let me clarify two terms...a "magazine" is for lay people, like Newsweek, Better Homes and Gardens, People, etc... A "journal" is for professionals, such as JOGNN, MCN, RN, ect...

JOGNN is a research based journal for the obstetric, gynecologic and neonatal nurses, as the name suggests. It also gives great practice updates and informative articles. I served on the Editorial Advisory Board, and have reviewed manuscripts for them. It is a top notch journal with high quality research and evidence practice articles.

That said, you are going to pay for the quality of the journal, like you pay for the quality of a book or magazine. Another poster mentioned that by joining AWHONN, you get a free subscription to JOGNN. A membership perk for sure! Another perk is a subscription to Nursing and Women's Health. Yet another free journal that is not research based.

I was surprised to hear about the costs of putting a journal together, Each issue is supported heavily by advertisers and that $$ allots a certain number of pages per issue. It is very tightly regulated. Many of the JOGNN staff work from home, so there isn't much "overhead" and we did not get paid for being manuscript reviewers or for being on the Editorial Advisory Board, as those are behaviors expected of professionals toward serving your profession. It would surprise you what the Editors make for that position of much responsibility. (There is an article that profiles how much professional nursing journal Editors make, and it would shock everyone to see how low paid they really are considering their obiligations.)

Anyway, I obviously would recommend JOGNN to you and I commend you for reading it! Another good journal is MCN (Maternal Child Nursing).

I subscribe to the Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal nursing. I would join AWHONN but I seem to always be on the cusp of trying to figure out how long I will stick with my current job. So the journal is cheaper, but it still runs around $90/yr.

Penguin67 Good description of the difference between a journal & a magazine

That said, there is a great magazine called Mothering that is more for those interested in natural childbirth & family living. I love it!