Nursing theories can be found, especially, in scientific publications on the discipline and other healthcare domains, where its importance is recognized for the contribution to this field, to the demarcation of the limits of the discipline, its uniqueness with respect to other areas of healthcare and the contribution to the care of human beings and society in general ⁽¹⁾ .

The benefits obtained from research, when guided by Nursing theory, are evidenced in the variety of methodological options and theoretical referents, the analysis of concepts, the scientific foundations for the designs, generation and testing of medium-range theories, the creation of theories of specific situations and the design, application and evaluation of interventions in the care of individuals in different events of their lives. This undoubtedly contributes to consolidating and strengthening Nursing disciplinary knowledge.

If a scientific discipline is differentiated by the generation of knowledge from research and theory ⁽²⁾, it is expected that nursing publications are, more often, thematically related to the application of their theories; this has been one of the topics analyzed in the Editorial Committee of Aquichan, which is oriented towards the promotion and encouragement of the development of knowledge on nursing care.

During the twentieth century, the discipline of Nursing matured thanks to the contributions from its theoretical work, with the advancement in clarifying its scope, and efforts towards their practical application. In the twenty-first century, advancements in the application of the theories in research have been recognized, leading to the production of instruments like Watson and Roy’s for evaluating their effects. The application of middle-range theories is noticeable, as it has allowed the amplification of nursing functions and challenges the analysis and the evaluation of the theories for a more realistic approximation to different contexts of care ⁽³, ⁴⁾.

Advances in the application of theories in the discipline should be analyzed together with research production from regional diversity, to plan feasible strategies that lead to new theories for practice ⁽⁵⁾.

The working team from Aquichan did a search in Scopus for the period 2018-2022 about the publication of the nursing theories in the discipline’s scientific journals from the Americas (United States, Canada, Brazil and Central America - South America), having as the main descriptor the keyword “Nursing Theory” in the tittle, the abstract, and the keywords of the articles.

The results from this search yielded 402 articles related to Nursing theory, where the United States is the main contributor, with the publication of 206 articles, followed by Brazil with 118, Central and South America with 40, and Canada with 38. This shows that research on the topic in the Americas sub-regions is productive and location-diverse.

Although these results are partial, it is necessary to continue investigating more broadly and fully the impact of scientific publications on the disciplinary development of nursing, looking in other databases such as Pubmed, the Virtual Library on Health, Redalyc and the repositories of universities.

Reflecting on what is happening in Central and South America with the publications on nursing theory, recognizes the leadership of the members of the discipline in the application of theories to care research and in the training of human resources at different levels. In the case of Colombia, there is an increase in doctoral training and, consequently, an increase in nursing scientific publications, with their own research result theory ⁽¹, ²⁾, which present sound and viable strategies for their application.

Among the efforts of academics to direct the work related to the theory of the discipline, it is interesting to analyze the proposal for certification that emerged from the workshop entitled “Niveles de conocimiento teórico: implicaciones para la educación y la práctica,” which recognizes evidence-based practice as an incentive for developing and using nursing knowledge with theoretical thinking. The proposal also emphasizes the need for establishing curricular guidelines at the different levels of academic education and ensuring the preservation of the disciplinary approach at all levels of education and in all contexts of nursing practice ⁽⁶⁾.

Aquichan, from the beginning of the twenty-first century to the present, has been permanently publishing articles on nursing theory, which, initially, were aimed at promoting models and theories of nursing, to explain their origin, importance and usefulness. Later, publications presented the experiences of their application in health services, theory as a theoretical reference for research to support interventions, the design and validation of instruments with their own theoretical references, the evaluation and validation of theory, and the generation of medium-range theories.

The application of theories in the various processes of education, research, and care of individuals is relatively new, for this reason, it is necessary to continue working and taking advantage of the experiences that have been acquired, with the idea that theories are adapted to their own contexts. Likewise, the studies of specific situations that have occurred are highlighted, but more determination, commitment, and decision from the members of the Nursing discipline to move forward with firm steps are needed to favor the appropriation of the knowledge produced.

This analysis presents a vision of the topic that is expected to be useful and allow an approach to reality; it is important to propose challenges and opportunities to make visible internationally the development of the disciplinary knowledge of nursing and its application in the practice and research of the health care of people.

In Aquichan, we continue with the commitment to make the discipline of Nursing visible and ensure that advances in knowledge of the area become a fundamental element for the establishment of health policies and for its members to apply them in favor of the well-being of the people they care for and thus achieve their recognition, especially in health institutions where nurses work with knowledge, commitment, and ethics.

Finally, we invite colleagues so that their research is guided, first of all, by Nursing theory; we hope to receive their results to be published in our journal.