To study the literature on hospital management research in China since 1978 when the reform began, for evaluation of the status quo and development trend of hospital management research in the country.

With bibliometric method, this paper compiled a key words analysis software and retrieved 38 983 Chinese literature documents on hospital management research in CNKI, VIP and Wanfang databases dated from January 1, 1978 to December 31, 2017. Statistical and meta-analysis were made using relevant software on the sampled literature for time distribution, keyword co-occurrence distribution, research method distribution, high frequency co-citation literature and the situation of the literature cites as well as fund supports.

From 1978 to 2017, the number of literature documents on hospital management research in China showed a wave-like upward trend, and the rate of increase accelerated after 2006. The number had maintained over 2 000 documents each year. The fields of research had become increasingly extensive and the content more abundant. There tend to be relatively more theoretical studies on the definition of the connotation of hospital management and more empirical studies on single factors affecting hospital management. A total of 609 documents were supported by various funds among the 14 313 statistical sample documents, and the fund subsidy rate was merely 4.25%.

On the whole, such studies fail to cover all the hotspots; fail to find insights on classified development positioning and management system design, whose academic value and applied value are unsatisfactory.

Hospital management; Research; Bibliometric method; Meta-analysis