Background <p>Academic resilience can help students overcome academic setbacks or pressure and become a qualified nurse. However, few studies have explored the academic resilience of graduate nursing students and its related factors.</p> Aim <p>To assess the level of academic resilience among graduate nursing students and its associated factors.</p> Design <p>A cross-sectional design.</p> Methods <p>From July 2024 to September 2024, 345 graduate nursing students from 4 nursing colleges were investigated. We developed the Academic Resilience Scale for Graduate Nursing Students (ARSGNS) and evaluated its reliability and validity. The article detailing its development was published in BMC nursing. The general information questionnaire, Academic Resilience Scale, Research Competency Scale and Supportive Communication Scale were used to investigate. Descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were performed to determine the associated factors.</p> Findings <p>The average score of academic resilience of nursing graduates was (90.24 ± 11.93). Having role models, student leadership experience, research competency, and communication competency were associated with academic resilience and together explained 39.7% of the variance.</p> Conclusion <p>The academic resilience of most graduate nursing students was at a medium level, and there is still a lot of room for improvement. Whether there is a role model, student leader experience, research competency and communication ability were significantly associated factors of academic resilience.</p> Impact <p>This study identified the level of academic resilience of graduate nursing students and its associated factors, suggesting that nursing educators should pay attention to the academic resilience of students during their graduate study period, integrate role model education into the daily teaching process, let every student have the opportunity to become a team leader as much as possible, and pay attention to improving the research competency and communication skills of graduate nursing students. So as to help students more effectively overcome academic pressure.</p> Reporting method <p>STROBE guidelines.</p> Patient or public contribution <p>No patient or public contribution.</p> Clinical trial number <p>Not applicable.</p>