AIM: To analyse the research status and explore global trends in retinal vein occlusion (RVO) studies. METHODS: Publications related to RVO from 2004 to 2023 were extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). Variables including the number of publications, as well as countries, organizations, authors, journals, references and keywords were analysed using Bibliometrix-BilioShiny. Data visualization was performed using VOSviewer and CiteSpace. RESULTS: A total of 4848 publications were retrieved, and generally, the number of publications showed an overall increasing trend with slight fluctuations over the past 20y. The country with the most publications was the United States. The journal with the most publications was Retina, and the most cited journal was Ophthalmology. The most prolific organization was the University of California, Los Angeles. The most productive author was Noma H, and the most cited author was Campochiaro PA. The top co-cited references mainly focused on the prevalence of RVO and the therapies used in clinical trials. According to the co-occurrence analysis, the keywords formed 3 clusters: 1) risk factors and pathogenesis of RVO, 2) treatments of RVO, and 3) imaging diagnosis of RVO. Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) treatments and artificial intelligence have recently become popular research topics. CONCLUSION: Bibliometric analysis of the research status and trends of RVO could provide researchers and clinicians with valuable insights for further collaboration, future research directions, and clinical practice.