• Molly C Dougherty, Shu-Yuan Lin, Hugh P McKenna, Kate Seers, and Sinead Keeney.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. mdougher@email.unc.edu
• J Adv Nurs. 2011 Jun 1;67(6):1358-69.

AimThe purpose of this study was to examine articles in ISI-ranked nursing journals and to analyse the articles and journals, using definitions of international and article content.BackgroundGrowing emphasis on global health includes attention on international nursing literature. Contributions from Latin America and Africa have been reported. Attention to ranked nursing journals to support scholarship in global health is needed.MethodUsing an ex post facto design, characteristics of 2827 articles, authors and journals of 32 ranked nursing journals for the year 2005 were analysed between June 2006 and June 2007. Using definitions of international and of article content, research questions were analysed statistically.Findings(a) 928 (32·8%) articles were international; (b) 2016 (71·3%) articles were empirical or scholarly; (c) 826 (89·3%) articles reflecting international content were scholarly or empirical; (d) among international articles more were empirical (66·3 % vs. 32·8 %; χ(2) ((1)) = 283·6, P < 0·001); (e) among non-international articles more were scholarly (29·2 % vs. 22·7 %; χ(2) ((1)) = 15·85, P < 0·001; 22·7 %); (f) 1004 (78·0 %) articles were international, based on author characteristics; (f) 20 (62·5 %) journals were led by an international editorial team; and (g) international journals had more international articles (3·6 % vs. 29·2 %; χ(2) ((1)) = 175·75, P < 0·001) and higher impact factors than non-international journals (t = -14·43, P < 0·001).ConclusionArticles with empirical content appear more frequently in international journals. Results indicate the need to examine the international relevance of the nursing literature.© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

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