Introduction: Clinical trials are pivotal for the development of nursing knowledge.
Aims: To describe the clinical trials published in nursing journals in the last two years and propose some general reflections on nursing research.
Methods: A search with the key-word trial was done on PubMed (2009-2013) on Cancer Nursing, European Journal of Oncology Nursing, International Journal of Nursing Studies, Journal of Advanced Nursing, Journal of Clinical Nursing and Nursing Research.
Results: Of 228 trials identified, 104 (45.8%) were published in the last 2 years. Nurses from Asian countries published the larger number of trials. Educational and supportive interventions were the most studied (61/104 trials), followed by clinical interventions (33/104). Samples were limited and most trials are monocentric.
Conclusions: A growing number of trials is published, on issues relevant for the nursing profession, however larger samples and multicentric studies would be necessary.