Revista Cultura Científica - web logo
Submit Your Research
  • Research Article

Structural Mapping of Nurse Manager and Nursing Management Research: A Bibliometric Analysis

Aydolu Algın Toros1, Mehmet Bayansalduz2
1Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Burdur, Türkiye
2Faculty of Sport Sciences, Istanbul Topkapi University, Istanbul, Türkiye
DOI: https://doi.org/10.70517/revcc2624198
Published: 07/11/2026
: Aydolu Algın Toros, Mehmet Bayansalduz. Structural Mapping of Nurse Manager and Nursing Management Research: A Bibliometric Analysis. Revista Cultura Científica, 2026 Issue 24. pg. 2463-2476.

Abstract

Nursing management and nurse manager research has expanded over recent decades, and a comprehensive account of the structural, thematic, and geographic features of this literature can clarify its development. This study analyzed scientific output on nursing management and nurse managers through bibliometric methods, mapping temporal trends, intellectual structure, thematic evolution, and citation impact. Bibliometric analysis was conducted on 7,054 English-language articles retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection on 3 February 2026. Data were analyzed using the bibliometrix R package via the Biblioshiny interface. Outputs included Bradford’s Law journal distribution, keyword frequency and co-occurrence mapping, temporal keyword density, Callon’s centrality-density thematic mapping, author and institutional productivity, corresponding author country contributions, and global citation rankings. The literature spanned 1980 to 2026, with a 9.06% annual growth rate and 23,967 contributing authors. Three core journals accounted for 2,501 articles, approximately 35.5% of the dataset: Journal of Nursing Management, Journal of Nursing Administration, and Nurse Leader. The most frequent keywords were “nurses,” “leadership,” “care,” “nursing,” and “impact.” “Leadership” and “nursing” peaked in density around 2020, while “artificial intelligence” and “mediating effect” emerged by 2025. The United States held the largest corresponding authorship share, followed by China, Canada, Australia, and Iran. Motor themes were “nurses,” “impact,” and “health.” The five most-cited articles addressed quality education, work stress, burnout, and patient safety. Nursing management research has consolidated around a small number of core journals and prolific authors, with its thematic core organized around a leadership-to-outcomes framework.

Keywords: nursing management, nurse manager, leadership, bibliometrics

Abstract

Nursing management and nurse manager research has expanded over recent decades, and a comprehensive account of the structural, thematic, and geographic features of this literature can clarify its development. This study analyzed scientific output on nursing management and nurse managers through bibliometric methods, mapping temporal trends, intellectual structure, thematic evolution, and citation impact. Bibliometric analysis was conducted on 7,054 English-language articles retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection on 3 February 2026. Data were analyzed using the bibliometrix R package via the Biblioshiny interface. Outputs included Bradford’s Law journal distribution, keyword frequency and co-occurrence mapping, temporal keyword density, Callon’s centrality-density thematic mapping, author and institutional productivity, corresponding author country contributions, and global citation rankings. The literature spanned 1980 to 2026, with a 9.06% annual growth rate and 23,967 contributing authors. Three core journals accounted for 2,501 articles, approximately 35.5% of the dataset: Journal of Nursing Management, Journal of Nursing Administration, and Nurse Leader. The most frequent keywords were “nurses,” “leadership,” “care,” “nursing,” and “impact.” “Leadership” and “nursing” peaked in density around 2020, while “artificial intelligence” and “mediating effect” emerged by 2025. The United States held the largest corresponding authorship share, followed by China, Canada, Australia, and Iran. Motor themes were “nurses,” “impact,” and “health.” The five most-cited articles addressed quality education, work stress, burnout, and patient safety. Nursing management research has consolidated around a small number of core journals and prolific authors, with its thematic core organized around a leadership-to-outcomes framework.

Keywords: nursing management, nurse manager, leadership, bibliometrics

References

  1. Aiken, Linda H., et al. “Nurse Staffing and Education and Hospital Mortality in Nine European Countries: A Retrospective Observational Study.” The Lancet, vol. 383, no. 9931, 2014, pp. 1824–30.

  2. Leonard, M., et al. “The Human Factor: The Critical Importance of Effective Teamwork and Communication in Providing Safe Care.” Quality and Safety in Health Care, vol. 13, suppl. 1, 2004, pp. i85–i90.

  3. Reeves, Scott, et al. “Interprofessional Collaboration to Improve Professional Practice and Healthcare Outcomes.” Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, no. 6, 2017, article CD000072.

  4. Lake, Eileen T. “Development of the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index.” Research in Nursing & Health, vol. 25, no. 3, 2002, pp. 176–88.

  5. Lu, Hong, et al. “Job Satisfaction among Hospital Nurses Revisited: A Systematic Review.” International Journal of Nursing Studies, vol. 49, no. 8, 2012, pp. 1017–38.

  6. Glouberman, Sholom, and Henry Mintzberg. “Managing the Care of Health and the Cure of Disease—Part I: Differentiation.” Health Care Management Review, vol. 26, no. 1, 2001, pp. 56–69.

  7. Aiken, Linda H., et al. “Hospital Nurse Staffing and Patient Mortality, Nurse Burnout, and Job Dissatisfaction.” JAMA, vol. 288, no. 16, 2002, pp. 1987–93.

  8. Singer, Sara, et al. “Relationship of Safety Climate and Safety Performance in Hospitals.” Health Services Research, vol. 44, no. 2, pt. 1, 2009, pp. 399–421.

  9. Marquis, Bessie L., and Carol Jorgensen Huston. Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing: Theory and Application. 9th ed., Wolters Kluwer, 2017.

  10. Swanwick, Tim, and Judy McKimm, editors. ABC of Clinical Leadership. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.

  11. Giltinane, Charlotte Louise. “Leadership Styles and Theories.” Nursing Standard, vol. 27, no. 41, 2013, pp. 35–39.

  12. Wong, Carol A., and Heather K. S. Laschinger. “Authentic Leadership, Performance, and Job Satisfaction: The Mediating Role of Empowerment.” Journal of Advanced Nursing, vol. 69, no. 4, 2013, pp. 947–59.

  13. Maslach, Christina, and Michael P. Leiter. “Understanding the Burnout Experience: Recent Research and Its Implications for Psychiatry. extitWorld Psychiatry, vol. 15, no. 2, 2016, pp. 103–11.

  14. Shanafelt, Tait D., and John H. Noseworthy. “Executive Leadership and Physician Well-Being: Nine Organizational Strategies to Promote Engagement and Reduce Burnout.” Mayo Clinic Proceedings, vol. 92, no. 1, 2017, pp. 129–46.

  15. Yoder-Wise, Patricia S., editor. Leading and Managing in Nursing. 7th ed., Elsevier, 2019.

  16. Laschinger, H. K., et al. “Impact of Structural and Psychological Empowerment on Job Strain in Nursing Work Settings: Expanding Kanter’s Model.” Journal of Nursing Administration, vol. 31, no. 5, 2001, pp. 260–72.

  17. Lose, Daniel T., et al. “Transforming Nurse Manager Roles: Success through Strategic Clinical Nurse Leader Integration.” Nurse Leader, vol. 23, no. 3, 2025, pp. 249–55.

  18. Zhang, Ran, et al. “Difficulties and Needs of New Nurse Managers during Role Transition: A Perspective from Role Theory.” International Nursing Review, vol. 72, no. 1, 2025, article e70011.

  19. Osareh, Farideh. “Bibliometrics, Citation Analysis and Co-Citation Analysis: A Review of Literature I.” Libri, vol. 46, no. 3, 1996, pp. 149–58.

  20. Birkle, Caroline, et al. “Web of Science as a Data Source for Research on Scientific and Scholarly Activity.” Quantitative Science Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, 2020, pp. 363–76.

  21. Mikki, Susanne. “Google Scholar Compared to Web of Science: A Literature Review.” Nordic Journal of Information Literacy in Higher Education, vol. 1, no. 1, 2009, pp. 41–51.

  22. Jiang, Xue, et al. “International Publication Trends in the Application of Artificial Intelligence in Ophthalmology Research: An Updated Bibliometric Analysis.” Annals of Translational Medicine, vol. 11, no. 5, 2023, article 219.

  23. Aria, Massimo, and Corrado Cuccurullo. “bibliometrix: An R-Tool for Comprehensive Science Mapping Analysis.” Journal of Informetrics, vol. 11, no. 4, 2017, pp. 959–75.

  24. Moral-Muñoz, José A., et al. “Software Tools for Conducting Bibliometric Analysis in Science: An Up-to-Date Review.” El Profesional de la Información, vol. 29, no. 1, 2020, article e290103.

  25. Newman, M. E. J. “Scientific Collaboration Networks. II. Shortest Paths, Weighted Networks, and Centrality.” Physical Review E, vol. 64, no. 1, 2001, article 016132.

  26. Callon, Michel, et al. “Co-Word Analysis as a Tool for Describing the Network of Interactions between Basic and Technological Research: The Case of Polymer Chemistry.” Scientometrics, vol. 22, no. 1, 1991, pp. 155–205.

  27. Laschinger, Heather K. Spence, and Michael P. Leiter. “The Impact of Nursing Work Environments on Patient Safety Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Burnout/Engagement.” Journal of Nursing Administration, vol. 36, no. 5, 2006, pp. 259–67.

  28. Cronenwett, Linda, et al. “Quality and Safety Education for Nurses.” Nursing Outlook, vol. 55, no. 3, 2007, pp. 122–31.

  29. Poncet, Marie Cécile, et al. “Burnout Syndrome in Critical Care Nursing Staff.” American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, vol. 175, no. 7, 2007, pp. 698–704.

  30. Embriaco, Nathalie, et al. “High Level of Burnout in Intensivists: Prevalence and Associated Factors.” American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, vol. 175, no. 7, 2007, pp. 686–92.

  31. Mo, Yuanyuan, et al. “Work Stress among Chinese Nurses to Support Wuhan in Fighting against COVID-19 Epidemic.” Journal of Nursing Management, vol. 28, no. 5, 2020, pp. 1002–09.

  32. Lotka, Alfred J. “The Frequency Distribution of Scientific Productivity.” Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, vol. 16, no. 12, 1926, pp. 317–23.

  33. Vakilimofrad, Hossein, et al. “Nursing Research in Iran: Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis.” Depiction of Health, vol. 16, no. 3, 2025, pp. 226–43.

Aydolu Algın Toros
Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Burdur, Türkiye
aydolualgin@hotmail.com
Mehmet Bayansalduz
Faculty of Sport Sciences, Istanbul Topkapi University, Istanbul, Türkiye

How to cite:

Aydolu Algın Toros, Mehmet Bayansalduz. Structural Mapping of Nurse Manager and Nursing Management Research: A Bibliometric Analysis. Revista Cultura Científica, 2026 Issue 24. pg. 2463-2476.

Publication History

  • Received: 17/06/2026
  • Accepted: 28/10/2026
  • Published: 07/11/2026
Copyright © 2026, Aydolu Algın Toros, Mehmet Bayansalduz. Published by Revista Cultura Científica. This article is published as open access under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Browse Advance Search