Although research is recognised as an essential basis for nursing knowledge and practice development, there is considerable agreement that nurses do not use research as often as they could. The question is, what factors are perceived by nurses in Australia to interfere with their ability to use research in their clinical practice? Using factor analysis procedures, barriers to the use of research by 149 nurses working in an Australian hospital were grouped under three main factors, viz. the perceived usefulness of research to clinical practice; the perceived ability of the practitioner to generate change to practice based on research and the accessibility of research to the practitioner. The three most frequently cited barriers to using research were insufficient time on the job to implement research findings, insufficient time to read research and a lack of awareness of research findings. In order to improve the ability of nurses to apply research to their practice, fundamental changes need to occur within the education system, so as to improve the teaching of research to students of nursing and qualified practitioners, within the health care system where nursing research is expected to be applied and among clinical nurses.