Understanding the Diffusion of Theoretical Knowledge in Nursing: A Citation Analysis of Meleis’s Transition Theory

AIM: The aim of this study is to examine the structure of the knowledge creation process in nursing science and to investigate the dissemination of theoretical knowledge in other disciplines by analyzing citations and social network data. METHOD: This exploratory study evaluated Metadata to find academic publications. Meleis’s Transition Theory was selected as a case study. A majority of the publications that represented the transition theory were assigned as the core of the theory. Forward and backward citations were used as agents of knowledge linkage to determine the dissemination of the theory in the field of science. Social network analysis and visualization were used to depict graphical and structural relations of the research front and the knowledge base. RESULTS: The knowledge base of the Transition Theory was built on 7 different information networks. The most effective and vast information network consisted of Meleis, AI as a researcher and the central information network, which is the journal of Nursing Research. Oncology, geriatrics, public health, and psychology in the areas of information propagation within the field of nursing were considered as research areas where the theoretical framework provided by the theory was rendered functional. CONCLUSION: In recent years, the use of theoretical frameworks has become a necessity to assess the changing needs of the study of nursing science. The method used in the study can be effectively used to analyze the conceptual structures in the nursing education and professional application processes and to understand the origins of these theories. Further research can help to structure the use of informational science-based research designs to understand the connections between theory, clinical practice, and the development of educational contents in nursing faculties.