title: Health literature authored by nurses within the LAC region: a cross-sectional study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze current trends and directions in Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) nursing research and identify areas that need development.
  
  
  METHODS
  A search was conducted in PubMed and LILACS for studies published in English from 1 January 2008 to 26 June 2014 that met the inclusion criteria (health research conducted in the LAC region by authors with an explicit nursing affiliation working in a LAC country). Two reviewers assessed and extracted the data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  More than 4 000 references met the inclusion criteria and 1 343 of those were published in English during the search time period. Although the research originated from 17 different countries, most of it was produced by Brazil. The majority of the studies were from academic institutions (67%), 23.9% involved multi-institutional collaboration, and 5.4% involved multi-country collaboration. Almost all of the studies (98%) were applied research and had a descriptive (55%) or qualitative (30%) design. The most prevalent topic was nursing care (23.4%). Health systems and services were the least studied topics. /About 25% of the studies contained some reference to United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The overwhelming majority of LAC countries rely on the scientific findings of a few leading countries in the region. Future directions should include the establishment of an agenda for the region and/or by country to define research priorities within the context of nursing practices. It is imperative for nurses to influence and conduct research in areas of policy and health systems and services given their important role in promoting, restoring, and maintaining health in individuals, and in helping to ensure universal access to health and universal health coverage.
authors.affiliation: Knowledge Management, Bioethics and Research Office, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, D.C., United States of America, reveizl@paho.org.
authors.forename: Jasmine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Parmar
authors.affiliation: Knowledge Management, Bioethics and Research Office, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, D.C., United States of America, reveizl@paho.org.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: House
authors.affiliation: Health Systems and Services Department, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, D.C., United States of America.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cassiani
authors.affiliation: Knowledge Management, Bioethics and Research Office, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, D.C., United States of America, reveizl@paho.org.
authors.forename: Ludovic
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Reveiz
mesh_terms: D001319:Authorship; D015706:Bibliometrics; D017691:Caribbean Region; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D007843:Latin America; D009726:Nurses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009729:Nursing; D009732:Nursing Care; D015399:Nursing Research / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009935:Organizational Affiliation; D036301:Qualitative Research