Moral courage of nursing: Bibliometric analysis

BackgroundMoral courage is a recognized virtue. Researchers have focused on various aspects of nursing moral courage, such as its conceptualization and influencing factors. Within these studies, various literature reviews have been conducted, but to our knowledge, bibliometric mapping has not been utilized.AimThis article aims to analyze the production of literature within nursing moral courage research.Research DesignTo investigate publication patterns, we employed VOSviewer and CiteSpace software, focusing on publication dynamics, prolific research entities, and most cited articles. Additionally, we forecasted future research trends.Ethical considerationsIn our study, ethical review was not required.ResultsA total of 105 information sources were identified in the WoS database. Overall, there has been a significant increase in research volume after 2020. The most prolific countries are the United States, Finland, and China, while the most prolific source title is "Nursing Ethics." Keywords are also related to moral dilemmas and ethics. However, there are further improvements needed in international cooperation.ConclusionsThe results proposed in this paper can serve as a starting point for comprehensive or systematic literature reviews and seek more detailed data, information, and knowledge in the field of nursing moral courage. It can enable outsiders to quickly understand research on nursing moral courage, whether for in-depth exploration or simply to facilitate more effective collaboration with nursing ethics experts.