7	Brenner (2005)	To provide a better understanding j of barriers to, and facilitators of, research utilisation	-	Ireland	200	A predominantly non-experimental descriptive design	Greater support from nursing management is a priority, with respondents outlining a need for “... active support from senior nurse managers for nurses at the ‘front line’ of delivery service”. In relation to resources, protected time, access to adequate library facilities and increased financial support were identified as facilitators of research utilisation.
8	Mehrdad et al. (2008)	Identification of barriers to and facilitators of research utilization in nursing practice from the perspective of Iranian nurses	-	Iran	410	A descriptive design	Facilitators were categorized into two main groups of human resources and individual/organizational factors.
9	Chau et al. (2008)	To examine barriers to and facilitators of research utilization.	-	Hong Kong, China	5000	A cross-sectional, correlational exploratory research design	Managerial support, colleague support, and increasing nursing knowledge about research were the three greatest organizational facilitators for RU
10	Rejeh et al. (2008)	To determine Iranian nurses’ perceptions of the barriers and facilitators influencing their management of post-operative pain.	-	Tehran, Iran	26	Qualitative design with semi-structured serial interviews and analysed using the content analysis method	The facilitators to pain management post-operatively were the nurse-patient relationship which provided better view of patients’ pain, nurses’ responsibility, physician as a colleague, and nurses’ knowledge and skills.
11	Leasure et al. (2008)	To identify the presence or absence of provider and organizational variables associated with the use of evidence based best practices among nurses.	-	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	A convenience sample of 11 nurse executives	Descriptive correlational study design.	The facilitators to RU comprise reading journals that publish original research, establishing a journal club, the availability of a nursing research committee and easy access to the internet.
12	Bostrom et al. (2008)	To describe RNs’ perceptions of barriers to and facilitators of research utilization and to examine the validity of the BARRIERS scale in relation to research use.	-	Sweden	134	A cross-sectional survey design	Support from unit managers is the greatest facilitator to RU.
13	Chien et al. (2013)	To assess the levels of perceived barriers to and facilitators of research utilization in practice among Chinese nurses and inter-relationships between these barriers and facilitators and their socio-demographic characteristics	-	China	743	A cross-sectional, descriptive correlational study	The three top perceived facilitators included: “Advanced education to increase your research knowledge base”, “Improving availability and accessibility of research reports” and “Enhancing managerial support and encouragement of research implementation”
14	Wang et al. (2013)	To describe the perception of barriers to and facilitators of research utilization by registered nurses in Sichuan province, China, and to explore the factors influencing the perceptions of the barriers to and facilitators of research utilization.	-	China	590	A cross sectional survey design	The top three greatest facilitators were enhancing managerial support (36.9%), advancing education to increase knowledge base (21.1%), and increasing time for reviewing and implementing