Objective

To map the national and international scientific literature on self-care for people with diabetes mellitus.

Method

This is a bibliometric study, whose sample consisted of 85 articles published in the period 2005-2015, available in Scielo, Lilacs, Medline and Scopus.

Results

The studies focus on the last five years; They are published mainly in international journals, highlighting the The Diabetes Educator Journal. As for national, 20 (23.4%) work in magazines are distributed to nursing research; 51 (67.1%) authors are nurses and 53 (69.7%) are doctors; 78 (91.8%) studies are original articles, 55 (64.7%) cross, 60 (80.0%) quantitative, 37 (43.5%) are in English; 51 (64.6%) were performed in the clinic and 55 (64.7%) people with type 2 diabetes; the most used instrument was the generic, 26 (34.2%); followed by Summary of diabetes self-care activities, 24 (31.6%); the most discussed topic was the effect of education on self-care, 13 (15.3%); the largest number of studies was Brazil, with 33 (39.1%).

Conclusion

The research on self care in DM are led by nurses, with primary education focus. Emphasizes the lack of analytical and experimental studies showing the need for studies with this type of cut so that the cases that have emerged in observational studies can be tested and thus advance the research, contributing to adherence to self-care.

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