Objective To investigate nurses ’ research capability , influencing factors and training needs in a three-grade cancer hospital in Beijing .Methods Totals of 150 nurses from 15 different departments was randomly selected with a stratified random sampling method and investigated with a revised nursing staff scientific research ability self-assessment scale .Results All the respondents highly perceived the importance of nursing research .They can perceived the idea that nursing research was important to professional development , clinical improvement, personal development , etc, and among which professional development got the highest score of (2.48 ±0.66).But the research capability was generally low , only 12.7%respondents reported high level of the self-assessment of research capability .The total score of research capability was (52.87 ±23.41), which was lower than the norm (61.02 ±18.67), and the different was significant (t=-4.265, P〈0.01). There were several factors influencing the nursing research , among which “too busy, without the time and energy to do research” was reported as the top factor .Besides that , the training needs for research were clear .The top five needs of research training were choices of research topics , study design , data collection , thesis writing and statistical analysis .Conclusions We may help the nurses by policy guidance , arranging trainings and taking specific methods so that the quality nursing research capability will be promoted . Key words: On-the-job training; Clinical nurses; Research capability; Influencing factors