An enduring legacy: contributions of Royal College of Nursing fellows to nursing science.

Background: The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) initiated a fellowship programme in 1976 as a means of recognising outstanding registered nurses who have demonstrated a commitment to advancing the art and science of the profession and the improvement of healthcare.

Aim: To conduct a bibliometric analysis of the scholarly output of RCN fellows, thereby documenting their coverage, connectivity and contribution to the indexed professional literature.

Method: This study used a mixed-methods approach, analysing publicly available data to identify and report thematic and quantitative measures of the scholarship of fellows through the application of bibliometric analysis.