Intellectual structure of professional autonomy of nurses in latin american literature: bibliometric study

Abstract Objective: Map the intellectual structure on the professional autonomy of nurses in the scientific literature in journals indexed in the Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences. Method: Bibliometric study conducted with articles indexed in LILACS, from 2012 to 2022, adopting the co-occurrence analysis of descriptors extracted from the articles' metadata using the VOSviewer® software. Results: The map consists of 70 co-occurring terms five times or more, distributed in seven clusters. The intellectual structure regarding the professional autonomy of nurses is related to the thematic fields: professional practice, nurses, health education, primary health care, education, ethics, and the history of nursing. Conclusion: Professional autonomy relates to the training and practice of the profession; it is contextualized in various scenarios of practice and health care, influenced by the organization and repercussions on working conditions and relationships, and it touches on the process of training and education.