Objective To understand the structure and enrollment of doctoral supervisors of first-level nursing disciplines in China, and to provide reference for the development of nursing disciplines. Methods The information of nursing doctoral supervisors in 24 sample universities in 2021 was collected and sorted out. Descriptive statistical method was used to analyze the number, structure, distribution, enrollment number and enrollment direction of nursing doctoral supervisors. Results There are 120 nursing supervisors in the sample colleges, 108 PhD students are enrolled, with an average enrollment of less than one student per teacher. The majority of doctoral supervisors were female(77.5%), aged 50-59 years old(60.0%), mainly with senior professional titles(95.0%), and doctoral degrees(76.7%). The distribution and enrollment of tutors were mainly concentrated in the eastern region, double first-class colleges and universities, comprehensive colleges and universities with subject level B, and enrollment was concentrated in 25 professional directions. Conclusion The number of nursing doctoral programs is small, the number of existing doctoral supervisors is insufficient, the structure is unreasonable, the distribution is unbalanced, and the enrollment direction is not standardized. The above problems can be improved by increasing the authorization points, strengthening the construction of the contingent of tutors, rationally allocating the tutor resources, optimizing the tutor structure, and clarifying the direction of secondary nursing disciplines.