Production of nursing thesis and dissertations in Portugal, 2000-2010: a bibliometric study

The study identifies Portuguese nursing research, produced in the period 2000 - 2010, published via Master's dissertations and doctoral theses, analyzed according to the following variables: institution training masters and doctors, studies' distribution by institution, study supervisors and co-supervisors with their respective titles, supervisors' productions, keywords/descriptors, topics studied, theoretical framework, methodological framework, subjects, data collection and data analysis. In this exploratory, descriptive and bibliometric study, dissertations from the Catholic University of Portugal and the Institute of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Porto were collected, as were doctoral theses from both these institutions and the University of Lisbon, totalling 41 theses and 273 dissertations. The results describe the theoretical, methodological and bibliometric aspects of the strictu sensu scientific production of Portuguese nursing. It is concluded that nurse researchers, in having knowledge of the specific areas of the studies, can improve them to achieve quality and excellence of the training of Master's and doctoral students.