Nursing research in three regions in China: a bibliometric study

Current status and influencing factors of nurses' knowledge and attitudes towards clinical research ethical in China: a province-wide cross-sectional survey

BACKGROUND

Nurses' competence in clinical research is a key element in promoting high quality in the discipline of nursing, and the ethical aspects of research are of paramount importance. Therefore, nurses need to have a comprehensive understanding of the ethics associated with clinical research, which is an integral part of safeguarding the safety of subjects, ensuring the quality of nursing clinical research, and improving the ethical standardization of clinical research.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 304 nurses in a province of China between April 2023 and September 2023, utilizing convenience sampling. The survey questionnaire comprised two sections: a general information form and a questionnaire focusing on nurses' knowledge and attitudes towards clinical research ethics. Data analysis encompassed descriptive statistics, t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and multiple linear regression.

RESULTS

A total of 320 questionnaires were distributed, of which 304 were valid. The ethical attitude of nurses in clinical research was better (91.17 ± 15.96), while the cognitive score was lower (63.08 ± 12.30). The results of multiple linear regression analysis showed that degree, grade of hospital (I, II or III), technical title, number of clinical projects chaired in one year and whether the respondent has ever participated in an ethics training were the five factors influencing the knowledge of clinical research ethics (F = 9.341, P < 0.001, R2 = 18.0%); degree, grade of hospital (I, II or III), technical title, number of clinical research projects chaired in one year, whether the hospital has an ethics committee and whether the respondent has ever participated in an ethics training were the six factors affecting ethical attitudes towards clinical research (F = 8.919, P < 0.001, R2 = 17.3%).

CONCLUSIONS

Nurses in a Chinese province scored low on the cognitive dimension of clinical research ethics, but their attitudes were at a relative high level, with many influencing factors. Degree, technical title, and grade of hospital, all affect cognitive and attitude scores. It is also worth noting that whether the hospital has an ethics committee affects the attitude scores, but has no effect on the cognitive scores.Nursing administrators and educators should consider providing effective and targeted strategies (e.g., ongoing training, scholarly seminars, and scholarly exchanges) to enhance nurses' knowledge and competence in clinical research ethics to protect subject rights as well as to ensure the quality of clinical research.

University Staff's Perceptions of Community College Transfer Students' Transition Experiences Within a "2+2" Pathway in an Asian Educational Context

Various countries have alternative pathway policies for 2-year community college graduates to articulate to 2-year university study, forming a "2+2" pathway. However, few studies have explored university staff members' perceptions of this "2+2" transfer pathway and their understanding of transfer students' (TSs) transition experiences. This descriptive qualitative study addressed this research gap. Forty-two academic and supporting staff participated in the focus group interviews. Specifically, the study explored the assets and challenges of the "2+2" pathway from the university staff perspective in Hong Kong. The articulation pathway and TSs are highly recognized for their prior learning, academic performances, and the value of the second chance. However, while the university staff were sympathetic to the challenges filling these transfer pathways, their offering of help was limited by government funding and policies restrictions. It is recommended that policies should be established at government and university levels to recognize and tackle TSs' unique needs to alleviate their heavy workloads through better articulation between community college and university studies. Improving articulation will allow TSs time for social involvement in university life and thus enhance their mental well-being.

A Qualitative Exploration on the Challenges of Transfer Students in an Asian Educational Context

Limited research has been conducted on community college (CC) transfer students’ (TS) experiences in four-year universities, particularly in Asian contexts. To fill this research gap, in this qualitative study, 124 TS from various disciplines in a Hong Kong university participated in 39 focus groups and seven individual interviews. Unlike their Western counterparts, our TS were relatively better prepared and more academically adaptive. Nevertheless, their social integration was restricted by a lack of time for extra-curricular activities, a sense of inferiority and incompetence, and restricted social circles that did not enable interaction with non-TS. These challenges and their implications are discussed. In particular, this study has highlighted differences between the special education systems for CC transfer in Hong Kong and those in Western CC models. The study has also highlighted the study-induced stress, and poor self-perceptions that TS experience, despite their academic abilities.

The state of nursing research from 2000 to 2019: A global analysis

AIM

This study aims to present a general bibliometric overview of the development status of global nursing research from 2000 to 2019.

DESIGN

A longitudinal bibliometric analysis of nursing research was conducted.

METHODS

Nursing research publications (N = 88,665) were obtained from Web of Science. Bibliometric method was used to map the output and citation impact trends of countries/regions, institutions, disciplines, and journals and analyse the research collaboration among countries/regions and institutions.

RESULTS

The global paper output in nursing research increased steadily over the past two decades and it varied in different countries/regions with the USA being far ahead of the others. The paper output and cross-border collaboration are mainly distributed in several developed countries like the USA, the UK, Australia, and Canada. The University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, University of Toronto, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have high academic influence in the field of nursing. Increasing attention from academic fields has been paid to research on nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing is the most prolific and most cited journal in nursing field.

CONCLUSION

Nursing research has developed steadily over the last two decades. Both the scientific output and research collaboration are disproportionally distributed between high-income countries/regions and low- and middle-income countries/regions. Most research and collaboration have taken place in a few developed countries across North America, Europe, and Oceania.

IMPACT

The study highlighted the need for policy makers and funding agencies, especially those from low- and middle-income countries/regions, to allocate research funding that supports the nursing higher education and international cooperation so as to promote the development of high-quality nursing research in those countries/regions. At the same time, researchers from non-English-speaking countries/regions should attach more importance to publishing papers in English, strengthening the academic exchanges with international nursing colleagues and better integrating into the international academic community.

Bibliometric analysis of Journal of Nursing Management from 1993 to 2018

AIM

This study presents a general bibliometric overview of the developmental status of Journal of Nursing Management from its first issue (1993) to 2018.

BACKGROUND

Bibliometric method is proved to be effective in analysing the publication characteristics and influence of a given journal, and it gained considerable interest from the scientific community in recent years. However, to the best of our knowledge, bibliometric approach was not previously used to analyse the publications of Journal of Nursing Management.

METHODS

A total of 1,913 publications of Journal of Nursing Management were retrieved from Scopus database. Bibliometric analysis was used to explore the dynamic trends of publications and to identify most influential authors, institutions, countries and research teams in this journal. This paper also uses the VOS viewer software to graphically map the hot topics of Journal of Nursing Management.

RESULTS

After a rapid growth from 2006 to 2008, the number of publications of Journal of Nursing Management tends to stabilize with exception of several years in the latest 11 years. The top prolific institutions are mainly from the UK, Canada, Finland and Sweden, and Journal of Nursing Management has attracted increasing attention from researchers around the world. Nursing, nurses, management, leadership and job satisfaction are the most frequently used keywords in Journal of Nursing Management.

CONCLUSION

Nursing management, nursing leadership/leaders, nursing human resource management, nursing quality and safety management, nursing communication, and conflict management have always been popular topics in Journal of Nursing Management.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

This study informs scholars and managers within nursing management field about structured knowledge of the research status and development of Journal of Nursing Management.

Self-Efficacy and Research Capacity of Clinical Nurses in China

BACKGROUND

Research capacity is essential to nursing profession development. Literature about the research capacity of Chinese nurses is scarce, especially regarding self-efficacy.

METHOD

A cross-sectional design with a cluster random sample of 780 clinical nurses was recruited from five tertiary hospitals in China. Self-reported data were collected with a Demographic Data Form, General Self-Efficacy Scale, and Self-Rating Scale of Nurses' Research Capacity.

RESULTS

The majority (60.9%) of the nurses' research capacity was at a low level. A positive correlation was found between self-efficacy and research capacity among clinical nurses (r = .287, p < .01). Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that educational level, self-efficacy, support level, and position were predictors that explained 31.9% of the variance of research capacity.

CONCLUSION

Chinese nurses' research capacity is insufficient. Educational level, self-efficacy, support level, and position contributed to nurses' research capacity. Nurse administrators should engage in improving Chinese nurses' self-efficacy to facilitate research capacity. It is necessary to develop continuing education to enhance Chinese nurses' research capacity. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2019;50(11):509-516.].

Contribution of Italian nursing professors to international Literature: 2000 - 2016 review

BACKGROUND

The purpose of the study was to assess Italian nurse academics' scientific activity by exploring their publications in international journals.

BACKGROUND

The scientific production of a discipline's academics is a requisite for the university accreditation process and for employment in academic positions. It can also be used as an indicator of the maturity and importance of a given discipline in a country. Italian nurse academics' scientific production has not been analyzed recently.

METHOD

Quantitative descriptive study on an observation period of 16 years, from 2000 to 2016.

METHODS

All Italian full-time academics in the sector of General, Clinical, and Pediatric Nursing Sciences were identified, based on selection criteria. All their publications in indexed international journals were systematically collected between November 2016 and February 2017.

FINDINGS

Twenty-five Italian nurse academics were identified, and 450 of their publications met all our inclusion criteria, with a mean of 18 publications per author (range 0-88). There was a steady growth in the number of publications over time. Sixty-five percent of articles were published in nursing journals. Eighty-six percent of the publications were on nursing topics, the most popular being clinical issues (53.8%). Eighty percent of the publications were "applied research articles" and most of them adopted a quantitative approach with a descriptive study design. Hospitals and clinics were the most common settings studied, while patients and caregivers were the participants most often involved. Foreign coauthors contributed to 30% of the articles.

DISCUSSION

Italian nursing academics contribute adequately to scientific production in the nursing sector.

Bibliometric analysis of six nursing journals from the Web of Science, 2012-2017

AIM

The purpose of this study was to perform a bibliometric analysis of the six most important nursing journals according to the impact factor of the Science Citation Index through Web of Science^® . The following journals were included: International Journal of Nursing Studies, Nurse Education Today, Journal of Nursing Scholarship, Nursing Outlook, Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing and the Journal of Advanced Nursing.

BACKGROUND

In the nursing field, bibliometric analysis and maps have been used to analyse the production of some journals but not for the comparison of different journals.

DESIGN/METHOD

Using descriptive bibliometrics, we studied scientific production of different journals and bibliometric maps were used to visualize the content of published articles.

RESULTS

The six journals included showed that 3,937 articles were written by 1,1371 authors from 2,980 institutions and 84 countries from 2012 - 2017. Journal of Advanced Nursing had a greater number of publications and citations. The most prolific authors showed a tendency to publish first in Journal of Advanced Nursing and then in International Journal of Nursing Studies and Nurse Education Today. The frequency of citation was higher in International Journal of Nursing Studies followed by Journal of Advanced Nursing. The most collaborative authors and those with the most co-citations published more than half of their publications in Journal of Advanced Nursing. The topics most commonly researched by these authors were job satisfaction, collaborative practices, and nurse leaders.

CONCLUSION

This bibliometric analysis contributes to the understanding of the current state of nursing research and its evolution.

Nurse researchers' perspectives on research ethics in China

BACKGROUND

In China, research ethics is a subject of increasingly formal regulation. However, little is known about how nursing researchers understand the concept of research ethics and the ways in which they can maintain ethical standards in their work.

AIM

The aim of this study is to examine nursing researchers' perspectives on research ethics in China.

RESEARCH DESIGN

We conducted a descriptive qualitative study. Qualitative research methods enabled us to gain an in-depth understanding of nursing researchers' views on research ethics.

PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH CONTEXT

We carefully selected and extensively interviewed 28 nursing researchers, nursing faculty, and clinical nurses who had been involved in research or who may undertake research in the future. We collected data between October 2014 and March 2015.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

This study was approved by the institutional review boards of Yale University and Central South University.

FINDINGS

We grouped the data into five categories based on the interviewees' responses: (1) perceptions of ethics, bioethics, and research ethics; (2) perception of the ethics review process; (3) perception of the function of institutional review boards; (4) the need for comprehensive ethical guidelines for future studies; and (5) ethical challenges faced by the interviewees.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

This study contributes new insights into nursing researchers' views on research ethics in China and finds considerable shortcomings in researchers' understanding and implementation of ethical principles. Intensive educational efforts are needed to provide nursing researchers, institutional review board members, and even study subjects with accurate and up-to-date information and guidance on research ethics. In addition, while Western research ethics theoretically have guided Chinese clinical research for several years, the ways in which nursing researchers have implemented these ethical standards highlight the differences between the Eastern and Western ethical paradigms. This finding suggests the need for ethical standards that are more tailored to the Chinese context.

Trends in RCT nursing research over 20 years: mind the gap

Randomised controlled trial (RCT) literature plays a fundamental role in informing evidence-based medicine and nursing. This paper aims to track geographical and temporal trends in the publication of RCTs in nursing over the past 20 years by means of a bibliometric analysis. The PubMed database was searched for articles published from 1 January 1991 to 31 October 2011 and satisfying this search strategy: nursing [MeSH Terms] AND (RCT OR trial* OR 'experimental study' OR randomised OR randomisation) AND (English[lang]). Abstracts were reviewed to assess whether they met the criteria for an RCT. A manual search of information on country of origin was carried out and Journal Citation Reports® was used to allocate journals to subject areas. RCT methodology is increasingly drawing the attention of nursing researchers worldwide. However, there is a large disparity in research productivity, at least in terms of number of published RCTs in the English language and listed on PubMed, between the most productive continents, North America and Europe, and the others.

China's growing contribution to global intracranial aneurysm research (1991-2012): a bibliometric study

Background

We sought to analyze the growing worldwide trends of intracranial aneurysm research, investigate China's recent contribution, and compare the contributions of mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Methods

Global and China intracranial aneurysm-related publications were retrieved from the Web of Science database from 1991 to 2012. Excel 2007, Matlab, and Thomson Data Analyzer (TDA) software were used to analyze the search results for number of publications, cited frequency, h-index, and organization contributions.

Results

16468 global papers were identified that were cited 273500 times until 2013-08-15. The United States accounted for 31.497% of the articles, 58.64% of the citations, and the highest h-index (127). Japan and Germany followed in frequency. China's articles ranked eighth (third in 2012) in total number, with most of the contributions occurring since 2002 (91.33%). China was at the early stage of the logic growth curve (exponential growth), with the citation frequency and h-index per year increasing. The quality of the publications was low. The main research centers were located in Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The main Asian funding body was the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The number of publications and frequency of citations of papers from mainland China was greater than that of Taiwan or Hong Kong.

Conclusion

Global intracranial aneurysm research has been developing swiftly since 1991, with the United States making the largest contribution. Research in China started later, in 2002. Since then, China has increased its rate of publication, and became the third largest contributor by 2012.