Abstract: Objective To analyze the global research trends of pharmacovigilance by using an intelligence analysis method, so as to explore the implications for pharmacovigilance research in China.Methods Data derived from core set of Web of Science. Bibliometrics, social network analysis and co-word clustering analysis were used to analyze institutions, foundations, core journals and research hot spots in terms of global pharmacovigilance research trends.Results Staged growth and main institutions are universities, hospitals, academic institutions and pharmaceutical enterprises, and collaborations between institutions were tight. The funding sources were diverse, including pharmaceutical enterprises, institutions, academic institutions and key projects. Fourteen core journals, such as Drug Safety, and the annual meeting of the international society of pharmacovigilance were the main communication carriers and approaches. There were seven hot spots which focused on three directions. a) The pharmacovigilance signal management and pharmacovigilance database data mining based on big data and artificial intelligence algorithm. b) The safety of vaccines and special populations, such as children and the pregnant, and pharmacovigilance studies about biological agents and biosimilars. c) The application of social media in the monitoring of adverse drug events. All above are the global research trends of pharmacovigilance.Conclusion a) To increase the intensity of government policies'guidance; b) To encourage inter-agency collaborations and seek international collaborations; c) to strengthen R&D investment by engaging diverse funds; d) To improve the pharmacovigilance data system and explore research activities with characteristics of TCM. These will promote research studies on pharmacovigilance in China.

Key words: pharmacovigilance, global, research trend, bibliometrics, research hot spots