Mapping a Quarter-Century of Forensic Nursing Research: A Multi-Database Bibliometric and Science-Mapping Analysis (2000-2025)

Forensic nursing spans interpersonal violence, correctional and forensic mental health, and death investigation, yet its research base has been mapped only in fragments.

To map the indexed literature of forensic nursing published between 2000 and 2025, and to identify where its evidence base is thinnest.

Performance analysis and science mapping of 1,221 documents (2000-2025), retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science by a 30-term topic query within three defined journal sets, analyzed in bibliometrix.

Output grew 7.66% annually; one journal carried 47.8% of documents. The United States led production (51.0% of resolvable corresponding addresses) but was the least internationally connected major producer (3.3%), against 9.2% overall. Interpersonal violence dominated the indexed vocabulary; trafficking, exploitation and forensic mental health were concentrated in recent years. Global and local citations identified different documents.

The literature is concentrated in one journal and four countries. Whether its dominant topics define the specialty or reflect uneven research infrastructure cannot be settled bibliometrically; the distribution shows where capacity is thinnest.