Over twenty years of pedagogical research from Nurse Education in Practice: A bibliometric analysis from 2001 to 2023

Aim: To present a bibliometric overview of pedagogical research from Nurse Education in Practice from its inception in 2001 up until 2023. Background: Bibliometric methods are useful in analysing and understanding the characteristics of scientific publications in a particular field and the influence of specific journals. However, no bibliometric analysis of a nurse education journal has been undertaken to date which would highlight important research trends in this area of nursing and midwifery. Methods: A total of 2231 publications (articles and reviews only) from Nursing Education in Practice were retrieved from the Scopus database between 2001 and 2023. Several software applications including Microsoft Excel and VOSviewer were used to undertake bibliometric analysis on this dataset. Publication trends such as country analysis, author analysis, keywords analyses (cluster, content and trend analysis) were generated to help understand the volume and scope of pedagogical nursing and midwifery research in this journal. Results: There has been a steady increase in pedagogical research from Nurse Education in Practice since its launch in 2001 up until 2018, with a dip in publications in 2022 most likely due to the impact of restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic. The most prolific institutions publishing in the journal are mainly from the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States, with over eighty countries represented demonstrating its global reach and impact. Nursing students, nursing education, simulation and learning are some of the most frequent author keywords. Conclusion: The diversity of pedagogies in nursing and midwifery education, clinical learning and supervision in practice environments, and competence and confidence when transitioning to practice are the most popular research areas in Nurse Education in Practice. This study informs nurse and midwife educators and scholars about the volume and scope of pedagogical research in nursing and midwifery. It also makes recommendations on how to improve aspects of scholarship in education and areas for future pedagogical research.