To explore the development status, research hotspots and trends in this field in the past 20 years through the visual analysis of the related literature on stigma in China, so as to provide reference for the future related research in China.

Literatures related to stigma published from January 1, 2000 to January 28, 2022 were retrieved from CNKI, Wanfang and VIP databases. CiteSpace 5.8.R3 software was used for visual analysis.

A total of 1 086 papers were included, and the number of published papers on stigma research was on the rise. The author with the largest number of papers was Zhou Ying. At present, a core group of authors had been formed in the research field, and the authors mainly cooperated within the team, with less inter-institutional cooperation. Institutions that published more papers were concentrated in the affiliated hospitals of universities in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing.Research hotspots focused on influencing factors, quality of life, social support and coping styles. Research fronts were self-efficacy, nursing and narrative nursing.

In the past 20 years, the research on stigma has attracted widespread attention, and related literature has been emerging, but there is little cooperation between authors, and the geographical distribution of publishing institutions is uneven. In order to promote the development of stigma research in China, cross-author, cross-regional, and cross-institutional exchanges and cooperation should be strengthened in the future to improve the quality and level of stigma research in China.

Stigma; Bibliometrics; CiteSpace; Hotspots