A mapping of nursing and midwifery research in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, 2006-2016

Background: Nurses and midwives constitute the largest group of health care professionals globally. Challenges to these professions make it difficult to set regional priorities for policies and research development. Aims: The purpose of this study was to map current nursing and midwifery research in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Methods: Nursing and midwifery schools were identified by each country's nursing and midwifery board and ministries of education/public health. Information was collected for the years 2006-2016 via surveys, websites, Google scholar and expert informants. Results: A total of 299 schools were identified and 241 of these were contacted; 85 completed surveys from 15 countries were analysed. A total of 1116 research topics covered by 3287 publications were identified, many of which were clustered into the five World Health Organization priority areas. The least developed areas were disaster management and emergency preparedness. Conclusions: This study provides a database of nursing and midwifery research in the Region. Some gaps were identified based on the research priorities of the Region, but these gaps could be addressed by close collaboration among local researchers.