Nursing research has become increasingly important in health care environment. This paper explores the barriers to research among nurses at the Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs in Saudi Arabia. This cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted between November and December 2020. The study has utilized a questionnaire comprising of demographic data and a set of perceived barriers categorized into groups, i.e. nurse, institutional and educational barriers. 482 questionnaires were analyzed. The strongest barrier in the nurse category was not knowing how to get involved at 43.1% (n=208; Agree), not having access to mentors with research experience, 45% (n=217; Agree) in the institutional category, and lack of training in research, 46.7% (n=225; Agree) in the educational preparation category. The study showed that multiple factors contributed to lack of engagement in research among this nursing cohort. Therefore, any interventions require a systematic and multiple-pronged approach to support nursing research.