[Characteristics of nursing publications in journals with impact factor]

The aims of this study were to identify publishing characteristics of nursing journals with impact factor (IF) and to discuss methodological characteristics and authorship of original papers with IF.

A retrospective descriptive study. A literature review was performed between 2009 and 2010 including all nursing publications indexed in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) and analysis of selected original papers. The information was analyzed using descriptive statistics.

In 2009, there were 74 nursing journals with an IF and in 2010 increased upto 91. In 2010, 93.5% were published in English, bimonthly journals predominated (43%) and for specialties, maternity and paediatrics were the most frequent (25%). Almost three-quarters (72.8%) of the original articles were quantitative studies performed mostly in hospitals (42%) and with patient samples (34.6%). The most frequently studied topics were "evidence-based care" (23.5%), "measuring quality care" (18.52%) and "effectiveness of nursing interventions" (14.81%). Authors came mostly from Europe and United States and the most common workplace was a university.

Nursing Journals' Impact Factor has increased, particularly in areas of nurse specialization. Nursing publications in the Spanish language with IF are still incipient. Quantitative research continues to dominate. The main topics are effectiveness, evidence, and quality care, and researchers come mostly from academic areas.