ArticleJournal of religion and health2026
Global Research Across Countries on Moral Distress and Moral Injury Among Health Care Professionals (2006-2025): A Bibliometric Study of Ethical and Health-Related Research Trends.
Article in Journal of religion and health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- The Marginalization of Spiritual Dimensions in Nursing Moral Injury Research: A Bibliometric Analysis, 2018-2025.Journal of religion and health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Moral distress and moral injury have become important concepts for understanding the moral experiences of health care professionals in ethically challenging clinical contexts. In this study, a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of research focusing upon the combination of both moral distress and moral injury among health care professionals published between 2006 and 2025 was conducted via the Web of Science Core Collection. The aim was to examine publication trends, collaboration patterns, core journals, disciplinary distributions, and research hotspots in this field. Bibliometric analyses were performed via VOSviewer, CiteSpace, Pajek, and Scimago Graphica. A total of 1,180 publications were included in the analysis. The results revealed a steady increase in research output over time, with rapid growth following the COVID-19 pandemic. Research activity was concentrated in a limited number of countries and institutions, with the USA contributing the greatest number of publications and demonstrating a central position in international collaboration networks. Nursing, clinical medicine, psychology, and ethics were the main disciplinary foundations of this research field. Keyword and co-citation analyses indicated that moral distress has remained the dominant research focus, while moral injury has gained increasing attention in recent years, particularly in relation to high-intensity care settings and psychological outcomes. Overall, this bibliometric analysis provides an overview of the knowledge structure and evolving themes of research on moral distress and moral injury among health care professionals. Several limitations regarding this bibliometric study are acknowledged.
Indexed as
Identifiers
41832925What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.