The world of cardiovascular nursing research: cross-country evolutions in articles published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing

In line with the Journal’s conflict of interest policy, this paper was handled by Jeroen Hendriks. Choropleth maps illustrate the distribution of originating countries of articles published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing 2004–23. In February 2002, the first issue of the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing was published. At that moment, it was the ‘new kid on the block’.1 However, the Journal has evolved into a leading source of evidence in the cardiovascular field and has established a reputable status. To commemorate the Journal’s 20th anniversary, a review was conducted, focusing on the scope and structure of the Journal, submissions and acceptance rates, types of published papers, and the Journal’s overall impact.1 This review revealed that submissions received over the first 20 years of the Journal originated from 79 different countries. More specifically, it was stipulated that: ‘Most submissions originate from Sweden (n = 320), USA (n = 293), China (n = 234), UK (n = 222), and Australia (n = 194), while more recently, the journal has enjoyed submissions from researchers in countries that have not previously submitted their work to EJCN, for example Turkey, Iran, and Japan’.1 Information regarding the geographical origin of research published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing serves as an indicator of the work conducted in the field of cardiovascular nursing in the respective countries, both quantitatively and qualitatively. More specifically, it can inform the cardiovascular nursing community about the prioritization of research topics in these countries. Certain cardiovascular health issues may surface earlier in some regions of the world, and other regions can benefit from these early experiences. Knowledge of the origin of research submissions can also foster international collaboration, enabling researchers from countries with diverse healthcare systems and experiences to learn from each other and collaborate on addressing common problems. The research’s origin sheds light on how cultural and socio-economic factors influence cardiovascular health and may lead to disparities in care. Lastly, research originating from various countries has a greater potential to inform policy-making, as the generalizability of study findings is higher compared with research from a single region. In summary, the geographical source of cardiovascular nursing research submissions acts as a critical guide, directing efforts to alleviate the global burden of cardiovascular diseases and enhance the quality and effectiveness of healthcare. To gain a deeper understanding of the evolution over time in the countries of origin, articles (including original research, reviews, special articles, and methods corner) published in the Journal between 2004 and 2023 (Data cut: 18 October 2023) were assessed. They were categorized into four 5-year epochs. The country of the primary affiliation of the first author was recorded for each article. In the epochs of 2004–08, 2009–13, 2014–18, and 2019–23, the articles were originated from 23, 30, 35, and 39 countries, respectively (Central illustration). In the first epoch (2004–08), articles were mainly originated from Northern Europe, North America, and Australia. This has gradually evolved into a more diverse distribution of the country of origin. Notably, China, Iran, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Brazil have emerged as countries contributing work to the Journal. Also within Europe, evolutions can be observed. Countries such as Germany or Greece, which were already represented by a few articles in the first epoch, have seen the proportion of published articles grow over the decades. Countries that were absent at the start of the Journal, like Poland, France, Portugal, or Lithuania, are now represented in more recent published work. From the African continent, only one paper from Morocco has been published in the Journal to date. Countries that are most represented in published articles in the last epoch were USA (11.4%), Sweden (9.2%), Australia (9%), and China (9%). Taken together, research by cardiovascular nurses and allied health professionals is reaching a more global audience and authorship, emerging in a growing number of countries. To gain insight into the topics addressed in the published articles, a word cloud (https://www.wordclouds.com/) was created using the titles of articles published in 2004–08 and 2019–23. In both epochs, the words ‘patients’, ‘cardiac’, and ‘failure’ (referring to heart failure) were dominant (Figure 1), as they obviously continue to be the important aspects that the Journal covers. However, the terms that became more frequent in the article titles in 2019–23 included ‘systematic’, ‘review’, ‘randomized’, ‘trial’, and ‘outcome’ (Figure 1). This indeed illustrates that the Journal is now publishing more systematic reviews2–29 (including rapid reviews since these also require a systematic approach30) and reporting results from randomized controlled trials31–50 than it did previously. This demonstrates that more Level 1 evidence is currently being published in the Journal. Therefore, it serves as an indicator of the increasing rigour and quality of cardiovascular nursing research. Word cloud of the titles of articles published in 2004–08 and 2019–23 in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. In conclusion, the countries from which articles are published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing have expanded. This illustrates the global reach of the Journal and also indicates that research by cardiovascular nurses and allied health professionals is expanding on a global scale. The observation that more Level 1 evidence is being published in the Journal is indicative of the professionalization that has been witnessed in cardiovascular research over the past decades. If these trends persist, the care for the global population of people with heart disease will continue to improve. P.M.: conceptualization, writing, visualization. This editorial does not comprise new data.