Call for Expressions of Interest for Editor-in-Chief
Call for Expressions of Interest to serve as Editor-in-Chief
Witness: The Canadian Journal of Critical Nursing Discourse is a Canadian Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Nursing Journal. Launched in 2018, contributors, reviewers and readers form a collective of Registered Nurses whose practice, research, teaching and way of being are rooted in social justice and critical perspectives. Now in our seventh year, we are seeking applications for an Editor-in-Chief to lead the editorial team, beginning in January, 2026. Witness’ founding Editor-in-Chief Dr. Cheryl van Daalen-Smith values supporting the transition to new leadership and is committed to mentoring the selected editor beginning in December 2025. She will remain as Editor Emerit and serve as a mentor to the new editor while providing continuity regarding ethos, vision and intent.
The Witness editorial advisory collective, editorial team, and editor-in-chief work collaboratively to build an international grassroots movement of critical nurse thinkers, educators, practitioners and researchers across Canada and beyond. We embrace the open access movement and seek to further dismantle multiple systemic barriers to knowledge dissemination. Given our ethos of no payment to publish or to access, Witness is run and sustained strictly through people’s service. This liberates us from the corporate influences that shape so much of what is published. Additionally, the journal strives to create space for perspectives and analyses that historically face pushback in more mainstream journals. Today, critique faces hard times and its space has shrunk - globally, in academia and in nursing in particular. It's easy to despair, but this journal is an attempt to emphasize critique is alive. And critique finds new forms in social movements - thus, we also see the journal as a contribution to critical praxis. We are especially interested in critical nursing discourse rooted in health equity, anti-racism (and other isms), (social) justice, advocacy, power, intersectionality, and critical social perspectives, welcoming and embracing plurality in critique. Witness’ editorial collective welcomes submissions from nurses at all stages, including undergraduate nursing students preferably working with a faculty co-author or mentor.
Witness publishes two issues each year, has over 3500 article downloads and annually receives a growing number of robustly critical submissions. We also welcome guest editors to develop special issues in collaboration with our editorial collective. These have been popular additions to the work and criticality of the output of our collective.
Witness is managed by an editorial team of luminary clinicians and researchers engaged in critical nursing studies, supported by a diverse and international editorial advisory collective. The goal of the editorial advisory collective is to collaboratively and actively support the goals and scope of the journal through securing highly qualified peer reviewers who enact double-masked review of relevant submitted manuscripts; advise on journal policy, mandate, goals and scope; identify topics for special issues - some of which they may guest edit; disseminate calls for submissions; build awareness regarding the journal; recruit critical scholarship for submission to the journal annually; and assist in the dissemination of published volumes.
The Canadian Journal of Critical Nursing Discourse, Witness, is a labour of love and steadfast commitment grounded in the challenges and opportunities of growing critical nursing discourse in Canada. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the overall leadership and functioning of the journal, including working directly within the Online Journal System within which the journal is housed, the development and implementation of publishing policies and the maintenance of academic quality. This role oversees the entire publication process, exercises editorial judgement in article selection, and ensures the journal meets the highest scholarly standards, as outlined below.
Roles and responsibilities of the Editor-in-Chief:
- Assess the initial suitability of articles submitted as chair of the editorial team; consult with associate editors for additional determination
- Select peer reviewers for submissions and orchestrate peer review process
- Work to maintain the journal’s standards for timely manuscript processing and fair decision-making, including but not limited to:
- Recruit associate editors; chair quarterly meetings with editorial team
- Chair annual meeting of editorial advisory collective
- Support guest editors through the process of establishing calls for papers, recruiting additional peer reviewers aligned with the call, and assisting with the development of editorials and invited commentaries
- Periodically write editorials or secure others to do same
- Monitor the progression of papers through peer review
- Support associate editors in decision making and application of journal policies
- Assign peer reviewers and provide additional editorial review and/or direction
- Responsible for the final decision regarding manuscript publication
- Lead the recruitment process of sourcing new associate editors and advisory collective
- Review manuscript and issue proofs prior to publication
- Ensure publication of two issues on July 1 and Dec 31 each year
- Along with associate editors, develop and implement journal policies and standard operating procedures to ensure publication integrity and quality of all published papers
- Develop, together with the associate editors and the editorial advisory collective, the journal’s strategic direction
- Manage issues associated with academic integrity in consultation with associate editors.
The Editor-in-chief is supported by the editorial team made up of associate editors, and has the input and guidance of the editorial advisory collective available throughout the year in between annual meetings for the same. Associate editors provide guidance to the editor, assist in decision making, actively recruit peer reviewers, promote engagement with the journal and the submission of critical manuscripts, provide developmental guidance to author teams where indicated, provide copy editing and enact the Editor-in-chief role where there is a conflict of interest related to a manuscript submission.
Candidates should meet the following criteria:
- A leader in the nursing field and with a current or previous academic appointment or affiliation in nursing science and a PhD-degree, or equivalent degree. Canadian-based nursing scholars preferred.
- Articulated 3-5 year commitment to further grow the journal’s impact and reach, combined with a strategic vision for further enhancing the journal’s goal to grow critical nursing discourse in Canada and beyond
- A strong track record of critical nursing scholarship published in peer-reviewed journals
- Experience reviewing with peer reviewed journals
- Demonstrated subject and methodological expertise with a critical analysis
- Strong evidence of North American and/or international nursing collaborations/networks
- Willingness to promote and advocate for the journal, both online and at relevant conferences, and maintain the ethos, vision and mission of Witness
- Support from your institution and the ability to dedicate the time required by the role
- Willingness to learn the Online Journal System Platform, engaging in professional development as needed, liaising with digital librarian at York University prn.
- Willingness to attend INANE (International Academy of Nursing Editors) conferences, and professional development offerings for new editors.
If you are interested in the position, please provide a 500 word maximum statement of interest detailing your vision for growing critical nursing discourse in Canada and beyond through the work of WITNESS, plus an up-to-date CV to the journal at witness@yorku.ca
Deadline: November 1st, 2025 If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Best wishes, The Witness Editorial Team
