Mapping the evidence-based practice research field in nursing from 1995 to 2021: A bibliometric analysis

Evidence-based nursing and its practices are increasing rapidly in the health and nursing literature. A holistic image of evidence-based nursing research is needed to address evidence-based studies and available information on nursing.

The aim of this study was to evaluate evidence-based nursing-related research with bibliometric analysis in order to provide a structured macroscopic overview of its features and advances.

A bibliometric analysis of 4,159 publications from 1995 to 2021 was performed to map the literature of evidence-based nursing studies and assess the structure of the scientific community. The studies' publication output and growth trend, authors and collaborations, publishing journals, terms, current trends, subject categories, global distribution and collaboration, and the authors' average number of citations were all assessed.

It was found that the number of evidence-based nursing publications increased until 2016, reaching the publication peak (n = 369), after which they began to decline. Most studies on the topic (n = 543) have been published in the journal Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing. Evidence-based knowledge, dissemination, implementation, implementation barriers, and implementation and training curricula in particular fields have all evolved over time as the key concepts of research. The United States (6,218), Australia (1,247), and England (790) are the three nations with the highest number of publications. On the other hand, it is seen that the subject has yet to be discussed in a few developing or underdeveloped countries.

In the last 12 years, evidence-based nursing has been a comprehensive area of research. In comparison with the research areas in its field, it can be speculated that it has a more practical focus. It was determined that the authors' keywords primarily began with research implementation, practice development, and knowledge utilization over time, and then evolved to specific areas, educational areas, process applications, and important current topics such as Covid19.