ObjectiveTo explore the trend and hotspots of research in the field of peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC), so as to provide a reference for clinical nursing and nursing research in the field of vascular access in China.MethodsAll PICC-related articles from 1806 to November 22nd, 2018 were searched in the Foreign Medical Retrieval System. The publication amount, year of publication, language, country, journals and impact factor, high-yield authors and high-frequent medical subject headings (MeSH) of the PICC-related articles were analyzed by using frequency, cumulative frequency, and constituent ratio.ResultsA total of 1 550 articles were included. They were published in 586 journals, of which 393 were included in Science Citation Index. English was the dominant publication language, and the top high-yield country was the United States. The top 16 high-yield authors published 199 articles, the top 3 of whom all had published co-operative papers, ranging from 1 article to 19 articles. The top 3 high-frequent MeSHs were “Catheters, Indwelling” “Catheterization, Central Venous” “Central Venous Catheter”.ConclusionsPICC has become a hotspot in clinical research, and the publication amount of relative literature has increased rapidly since 2000. Chinese scholars should improve their English and carry out multi-center cooperative research to improve the quality of PICC-related literature.