Objective To retrospectively analyze the search strategy of systematic reviews/meta-analyses(SRs/MAs) of nursing researches, and to provide the references for developing search strategy of SRs/MAs of nurse researchers in future. Methods The SRs/MAs in nursing journals from CSCD and Web of Science were searched from inception to October 2015. Four reviewers independently screened literatures and extracted data. Then data analysis was conducted by using Excel 2007 software. Results A total of 112 nursing SRs/MAs were finally included, 44 were published in English and 68 were published in Chinese. 37.5% (42/112) SRs/MAs reported the flow charts, 13.39% (15/112) reported the knowledge of reviewers, and 8.04% (9/112) reported the comprehensive search strategies. 48.21% SRs/MAs searched less than five databases, 15% SRs/MAs searched more than ten databases. 45.54% SRs/MAs reported supplementary retrieval, 8.93% searched the gray literatures. Patients combined with intervention was the most way in searching. Conclusion There are still some limitations in search strategy of SRs/MAs for nursing studies. We advise that: (1) it’s necessary to choice typical databases as many as possible according to search field; (2) the reporting of search strategy of nursing SRs/MAs should reporte knowledge of reviewers; (3) to improve transparency and quality of SRs/MAs in nursing researches, journals should introduce reporting complete search strategy in their instruction for authors.