A study of bibliographical nature approach which aimed to analyze the production of knowledge on nursing theories published in the area periodicals from 1997 to 2006. It was found and examined 171 (4.6%) studies on theories of nursing from the total of 3,757 abstracts published in seven scientific journals. Most of the articles analyzed are from researches in which the Theory of Culture Care, the Humanistic Nursing Theory and Self-care Theory were used as main references in works published in co-authorship and others from the same area, predominantly in the south and northeast regions of the country. It was a common belief that this investigation allowed a broader visibility to this theme as well as it identifies some characteristics and trends of gathered knowledge referred to the nursing theories in the Brazilian reality.
Nursing; Scientific production; Nursing research; Nursing theory
