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.