To analyze the data of critical care related literatures published in Web of Science core set by knowledge map visualizing technology, and summarize the research status and hotspots of critical care.

The core set database of Web of Science from January 2011 to December 2020 was searched, the extracted information was standardized and analyzed by knowledge map visualizing technology.

A total of 783 articles in the field of critical care were included, and the number of literatures increased year by year, among which the number of articles published in the American Journal of Critical Care(305) was the most. The United States (437) was the country with the most published literatures, and Australia was the country with the highest centrality (centrality=0.67). The number and centrality of articles published from China were at the lower middle level. There was cooperation among countries, but not close cooperation. The cooperation among authors was in the state of small aggregation and large dispersion. Cluster analysis and keyword emergence analysis showed that many aspects in the field of intensive care had been the research hotspots, among which "post intensive care syndrome" and "children′s intensive care" were the research hotspots in recent years.

The research field of intensive care is still in the rising stage of development, and post intensive care syndrome and children's intensive care are the latest hotspots in intensive care research.

Web of Science; Critical care; CiteSpace