Le pubblicazioni degli infermieri italiani sulle riviste internazionali: uno studio bibliometrico. Italian Nurses' publications on international journals: a bibliometric study.

Introduction Italian nurses’ publications seem to be increased thanks to the development of nursing sciences at academic level. However, no studies have already considered Italian nurses’ publications in international journals. The aim of this study is to describe the Italian nurses’ publications in international journals and indexed in CINAHL. Methods A bibliometric study was conducted. Italian nurses’ studies published between 1981 and 2015 in international journals were searched on CINAHL. Each study has been classified on the base of qualitative and quantitative parameters. Results 334 publications have been included. Results show an increase of the Italian nurses’ international publications. The 95,2% of the studies were published after the year 2001. The main destination of the studies were clinical journals. In the last decade (2006-2015) the publications topic moved from a professional to a clinical focus. Qualitative, secondary and experimental studies were few. Conclusions The findings suggest a development of nursing research in Italy over the last twenty years. Future bibliometric studies should query other databases, include publications in Italian language and supplement scientific publications with more professional information such as the number of Italian nurses actively involved in research and the available funds for nursing research.