Objective Popular subjects of studies on tea germplasms were analyzed based on the database provided by the Web of Science (WoS) to anticipate future development.

Method Recent trend of focusses by the researchers in the fields related to tea germplasms was studied using bibliometrics and Citespace 6.4 to quantitatively and visually analyze the subjects, authors, affiliation, keywords, and highlighting appeared in the relevant publications from 2001 to 2024 as shown in the WoS database.

Result The number of relevant papers steadily increased, indicating a growing trend of the field of study in the period. The authors of the papers and their affiliated research institutions significantly correlated, as the most productive authors came from the most productive institutions. The keyword usage frequency, appearance in different publications, and rate of being highlighted indicated that the studies were mostly regarding identification of functional genes, analyses of genetic diversity, and evolutionary origin of tea cultivars.

Conclusion The trend of studies related to tea germplasms was likely to continue as it was in the past two decades. By integrating genomics, phenomics, and molecular biotechniques, work to identify and utilize target genes for controlling and modifying the fundamental traits of a tea plant might remain to be the major focuses of the scientists.