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

Abstract

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. Design: 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. Results: 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 0À88). 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.

Perceived barriers and enablers of nursing research in the Italian context: Findings from a systematic review

“…The majority of them have been published from 2010 to 2017, with more research-based studies in the first five years ( 14 , 20 , 21 , 22 ) and more occurrence of editorials in recent years ( 13 , 23 ). Publications as a concrete output of the efforts conducted in a given discipline such as nursing ( 19 , 20 ), have been documented as having evident consistent improvement ( 4 ) in recent years, suggesting that some barriers have been overcome and a continuing assessment of barriers and facilitators is needed.…”

“…Advancements in education with the establishment of both undergraduate and postgraduate education at university level in several countries have been well recognized ( 3 ). Moreover, with the transition of the nursing education from the vocational to academic level, nurses have been educated to place stronger emphasis on nursing research and on establishing consistent production of scientific publication ( 4 , 5 ). Progress in the practice where nurses have been reported undertaking responsibility for the care influencing patients’ outcomes, have also been underlined ( 6 , 7 ).…”