Quickening FAQs

Can anyone write for Quickening?
Quickening content is written by members of the American College of Nurse-Midwives and staff of ACNM. Quickening does accept guest posts from non-member women’s health professionals on relevant topics. If interested in submitting a guest post, please send a query to quick@acnm.org.

What content does Quickening cover?
Quickening covers midwifery-related topics interest to members of the American College of Nurse-Midwives. Posts and features focus on ACNM activities, the activities, reflections, and accomplishments of members, midwifery trends, events, history, clinical topics, maternal and women’s health, and “how‑to” aspects of the building a successful practice, surviving day-to-day challenges, and growing as a women’s health professional.

What are Quickening’s specific content areas?
Quickening has 5 main sections: ACNM News, People, Roundtable, Meetings & More, and Affiliates & Friends. Each section encompasses 2 or more sub-content areas, as follows:

  • ACNM News: Leadership, Our Representatives, By Committee, National Office
  • People: Spotlight (profiles and Q&As), My Perspective (personal essays), Next Gen (student-focused), and Keeping in Touch (honors, birth, tributes, etc.)
  • Roundtable: Advocacy, Clinical, Global, Education, Diversity & Inclusion, and Forum (opinion)
  • Meetings & More: Reflections or content related to the ACNM Annual Meeting, Midwifery Works, educational webinars and related events.
  • Affiliates & Friends: Affiliate’s Corner, ACME Update, ACNM Foundation, Guest Views

What is the length of Quickening pieces?
Quickening pieces typically are 300-800 words, but this may vary depending on the subject.

What is the approval process for Quickening articles?
Clinical content is reviewed/approved by the national office clinical staff within the Department of Midwifery Practice, Education, and Global Outreach before publication.  ACNM divisions, committees, task forces, and caucuses must submit their articles and reports to their Board liaisons for approval prior to submission for publication.

Articles submitted by Board members must relate to their role on the Board, unless prior approval for submissions on other topics is
granted.

Additionally, the Quickening editorial staff reserves the right to select articles for publication based on the subject matter’s relevance to midwifery, sufficient interest in the topic, whether other articles or posts have recently appeared on the same topic, and editorial quality.
The team strives for balance in covering a wide variety of topics and perspectives, striving to allocate sufficient editorial space to all worthy topics. Articles and posts may also be rejected if they promote a product or do not follow ACNM’s Code of Conduct. To maximize the likelihood that a submission will be published, contributors are encouraged to contact the editor before proceeding with an article.

Does Quickening publish letters to the editor or ongoing discussions about particular issues?
Quickening does not maintain a letters to the editor section of Quickening, due to the small editorial staff. If members want to have a discussion with other members nationally on a particular issue, an appropriate vehicle is the Town Hall forum on ACNM’s online platform, Connect.  Members can log in at http://connect.midwife.org/home and begin a discussion by posting an entry to the Town Hall forum, to which every member is added automatically. Learn more here: http://connect.midwife.org/about.

Is Quickening peer reviewed?
Quickening is not an academic journal, but is a wide-ranging midwifery focused digital news magazine site and print publication. ACNM’s peer-reviewed journal is the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health. Learn more about JMWH here.     

How frequently does Quickening publish new posts and articles?
The Quickening new site publishes new pieces on a rolling basis. The Quickening “best of” print edition comes out twice a year in the summer and fall.