Although several variables have been correlated with nursing job satisfaction, the findings are not uniform across studies. Three commonly noted variables from the nursing literature are: autonomy, iob stress, and nurse-physician collaboration. This meta-analysis examined the strength of the relationships between iob satisfaction and autonomy, iob stress, and nurse-physician collaboration among registered nurses working in staff positions. A meta-analysis of 31 studies representing a total of 14,567 subiects was performed. Job satisfaction was most strongly correlated with iob stress (ES= -.43), followed by nurse-physician collaboration (ES=.37), and autonomy (ES=.30). These findings have implications for the importance of improving the work environment to increase nurses' iob satisfaction. (C) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.