Objective To translate the Clinical Nurse Self-Leadership Scale into Chinese， and evaluate its reliability and validity, thereby providing an appropriate instrument for related research among clinical nurses in China. Methods The English version of the scale was translated, back-translated, culturally adapted, and pilot-tested using the Brislin translation model to develop the Chinese version of the Clinical Nurse Self-Leadership Scale. A total of 479 nurses from three tertiary Grade A hospitals were recruited to assess the psychometric properties of the scale. Results The Chinese version of the Clinical Nurse Self-Leadership Scale consisted of 16 items across four dimensions. Exploratory factor analysis extracted four common factors, accounting for 83.069% of the total variance. The Cronbach′s α coefficient for the overall scale was 0.963, while the Cronbach′s α coefficients for the four dimensions ranged from 0.901 to 0.952. The test-retest reliability coefficient was 0.822, and the content validity index was 0.964. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated a satisfactory model fit:χ2/df=2.127, RMSEA=0.069, GFI=0.920, RFI=0.942, NFI=0.960, CFI=0.978, IFI=0.979, and TLI=0.968. Conclusion The Chinese version of the Clinical Nurse Self-Leadership Scale demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity， and can be used to assess self-leadership among clinical nurses in China.