Background The Nursing Now global campaign is aimed at raising the profile of nursing and its influence on policy and politics. Calls for the profession to have an increased role in policymaking are not new, but recent developments offer significant opportunities to advance this message.

Aim To compare and contrast the published scholarly evidence, indexed in Web of Science (WoS), relating to how medicine and nursing influence policy and politics.

Method A bibliometric analysis of scholarship was undertaken to determine how medicine and nursing influence policy and politics. Indexed articles in Web of Science were compared to examine the evolution of scholarly contributions by both professions.

Results Since 1990, nursing and medicine have been consistent contributors to scholarship on policy and politics. At the same time, there has been an exponential growth in scholarly output, but nursing is now starting to fall behind. Nursing has focused on the necessary knowledge and skills, whereas medicine has focused on acting on specific issues.

Conclusion There are multiple opportunities for nursing scholars to accelerate their indexed output to inform evidence-based advocacy, and influence policy and politics. These endeavours will increase their potential to inform future healthcare.