Nursing science research in Korea officially began with the publication of the Journal of Nurses Academic Society (JNAS)—Korea's first nursing journal—subsequently renamed as the Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing (JKAN). It was the official journal of the Korean Academy of Nursing which was established in 1970, and in 2005, renamed the Korean Society of Nursing Science (KSNS). In 2001, JKAN was listed on the Korea Citation Index, and on Medline and Scopus in 2004. As part of the continued efforts to develop JKAN as a competitive nursing journal, its Korean title was restated in English beginning with the October 2008 issue, and in the same year it was listed on both the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) and Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) journal lists [1].

Research accumulates new knowledge and verifies existing knowledge and based on the creation and accumulation of such relevant academic knowledge, studies are developed and conducted. The creation and accumulation of knowledge in nursing is accomplished through research that reflects the uniqueness of nursing [2]. Research is essential to develop, refine, and expand nursing professionals' basic scientific knowledge. This is achieved through a continuous process of feedback in the field of research-theory-practice, and by developing new theories and methodologies required for the expansion and development of this study area [3]. Thus, it is necessary to analyze the accumulated research trends as well as the future direction of the development of research and knowledge, based on the results of the analysis [4]. In addition, as nursing science is a study targeting humans based on practicalities; it is crucial to establish a knowledge-based system of nursing through research and practice [1, 5].

Korea's nursing research trends can be established through papers published in JKAN. These trends were identified and analyzed through articles published right from: its first issue up to 1999 [6]; 2004~2006 [7]; 2007~2008 [3]; and the first issue to 2010 [8]. However, this analysis had limitations since it only targeted articles in JKAN, whereas for grasping the global trends in nursing research, it was necessary to compare and analyze papers published in international nursing science journals having the highest citation index in the field, and thereafter, discuss further improvements to be made. This will also be a good opportunity to explore the academic development of nursing as a science by applying and developing useful knowledge in practice and theory, as well as for JKAN to become a high-profile journal both domestically and internationally through its qualitative growth.

Therefore, this study analyzed research papers published in JKAN during the last decade according to their research methodologies, as well as compared and analyzed papers registered in: the internationally recognized International Journal of Nursing Studies (IJNS); the International Council of Nurses (ICN)'s official journal, the International Nursing Review (INR); and Japan's leading nursing journal, Nursing & Health Sciences (NHS). Such analysis will help to figure out why JKAN'S impact factor (IF) is about 0.5. Furthermore, it will generate suggestions on the strategies and development directions for improving JKAN's IF as well as propose a possible direction for nursing research in Korea.

Academic research can be intense, stimulating, and rewarding. A part of the research process includes writing a paper and submitting it to a journal [16]. When choosing a journal, scientists often refer to the JCR ratings to prioritize well-regarded journals. Mainstream scientific journals, including nursing journals, have a social mission to meet quality standards, thus, they should be evaluated using scientific measurement tools [15]. Since such evaluations are important to both academia and funding institutions; it was pertinent to check the status of JKAN—the official journal of the KSNS—which is celebrating its 50th anniversary as an international nursing journal. With this in mind, we compared JKAN with three eminent journals and discussed the findings as well as future developments.

First, we found that the proportion of English-written papers was less than 10% and non-Korean authors were below 1%, ever since JKAN had been indexed in SCI (E). This can be viewed as an obstacle to competing with similar journals having worldwide audiences. The proportion of English-written papers should, therefore, be gradually increased with a view to eventually transforming JKAN into an international journal within a few years. This process would include, but not be limited to, recruiting full-time editors and authors who are more representative of an international audience. In terms of citations, JKAN's rating was the lowest among the four journals featured. The reason for the low number of citations probably stemmed from the fact that most of papers were in Korean, which made it difficult for non-Koreans to access them. INR, one of the journals featured in the comparison, also published in Spanish since its members included nurses and researchers from many countries. Moreover, journals and papers having country names in their titles, abstracts, or keywords systematically receive fewer citations, and are published in journals with lower IF as compared to those which do not include country names in the same fields [17]. Therefore, corrections should be made to exclude the word ‘Korean’ from JKAN's title.

Second, we are of the opinion that since this was a professional rather than a scientific research, most of the papers did not provide new nursing knowledge. The number of articles published annually ranged from a minimum of 60 to a maximum of 111. In addition, an evaluation of the effects was required since many of the studies targeted a middle-aged population and most of the applied nursing interventions included health education. The most distinctive point was that the main keywords of the articles in JKAN had hardly changed over the last decade. Since the keywords presented by authors represent the words in their articles, it is a matter of concern that there have been no significant changes in the annual order of frequency of the top 10 keywords for 10 years. Thus, it is necessary to retrospect on whether research is being repeatedly conducted on the same topics or whether JKAN was disinclined toward accepting new research topics. This should not be overlooked since it forms part of our efforts as nursing scientists to continually publish interesting and upgraded articles. The comparison of keywords in Figure 3 showed that more diverse keywords were presented in IJNS and INR than in JKAN.

Third, a comparison of the four journals revealed significant differences in the trends of study design and main keywords over five years. Although these findings may be the result of each journal having its own unique characteristics and goals; it is still worthwhile to note the differences in research trends. In the case of IJNS, the first ranked journal, the proportion of systematic review with meta-analysis research was six times that of JKAN's. This proportion has gradually increased over the past five years which suggests that the systematic review and meta- analysis research publication rates have also increased, especially since such research is at the top of the hierarchy of evidence. Another prominent difference was JKAN's being five times stronger than other well-regarded international journals in terms of the design ratio of experimental studies. JKAN also had the highest proportion of experimental studies. Most of IJNS's experimental studies being RCTs was a feature that distinguished it from other journals; particularly since RCTs are the hallmark of evidence-based nursing and form the basis for translating research data into clinical practice. JKAN, therefore, has to find a way to encourage researchers to conduct RCTs with rigorous experimental design.

The fourth issue to be considered is self-citation. According to the Web of Science data, JKAN's self-citation rate was the highest among the four journals. Self-citations constitute a significant portion of the citations which JKAN gives and receives each year. A journal's eigenfactor score can be considered a reflection of its importance to the scientific community. The eigenfactor score calculation is based on the number of times articles from the journal published in the past five years have been cited in the JCR year, but it also considers which journals have contributed these citations so that highly cited journals will influence the network more than lesser cited ones. References from one article in a journal to another article from the same journal are removed, so that the eigenfactor score is not influenced by journal self-citation [11, 12]. Therefore, the self-citation rate should be reduced to improve JKAN's journal influence and eigenfactor score.

Finally, there are problems with the appointment of editors in JKAN. While the editors-in-chief of IJNS, INR, and NHS, are appointed in a professional, full-time capacity with no limits to their term of office; JKAN replaces its editor-in-chief every two years, which can be an obstacle to the maintenance and development of academic journal expertise. The three journals also differ from JKAN in that their editorial committees are composed of professors from at least eight countries, and their journals as well as citation indexes are managed by big publishers. Elsevier manages IJNS, while Wiley manages INR and NHS.

Based on an evaluation of 120 nursing journals' citation indexes, JKAN 116th ranked in 2019. While there could be several reasons for JKAN's citation index being so very low, one can assume it is because more than 90% of the journals are Korean- language papers rather than English-language ones. In particular, the fact that even NHS which publishes six times a year in English, has a higher citation index than JKAN, clearly shows the direction in which JKAN should publish in English in the future.

This study aims to suggest a plan for enhancing JKAN's reputation based on an analysis of three eminent international journals. Related journals are indispensable elements in the process of developing a single academic field, and this is applicable to nursing, especially in the case of JKAN, which is a leading Korean nursing journal. However, it is difficult to say that JKAN has developed over a period of more than 10 years since 2008, when it was indexed in the SSCI and SCIE. This fact reveals the existence of problems compared to other international journals, i.e., low IF and low ranking among 120 SCI (E) journals.

To improve JKAN's IF, we—editors—suggest the following: Publishing it in English and providing an academic environment that would attract research papers rather than just a lot of professional papers, for enthusiastic development in nursing knowledge. It is also imperative to change JKAN's title from the name of a specific country to a general name.

In 2020, JKAN stands at the turning point of the 50th anniversary of its founding. With in-depth reflection, the influence and quality of JKAN may find an outstanding place in the next decade.