Objective To explore the characteristics and trend of Yishui School researches based on literature.Methods The authors reviewed all literature in China Academic Journal Network Publishing Database of China National Knowledge Infrastructure. Corresponding research papers of Yishui School were included from January of1980 to December of 2014. By literature content analysis method

based on keywords

the research field and research content was analyzed. The authors made correlation analysis on word frequency of keywords. Results In total

2925 papers were included and 17 253 keywords were chosen with 3529 independent keywords. These keywords were classified and collected. Top 3 of high word frequency was disease（ 2503）

ancient doctor（ 2393）

method and principle of treatment（ 2090）. From the aspect of analyzing the percentage of top 10 keywords of high word frequency

ancient doctor（ 85. 37%） and school theory（ 83. 86%） were the most

while disease（ 14. 50%） was the least. Spleen and stomach diseases

endogenous diseases and symptoms of deficiency syndrome were the most interesting diseases in researches. Li Dongyuan and Zhang Jiebin were the most notable doctors. Fire of Yin theory and spleen-stomach theory were the most focused theories. Keywords

which had high annual word frequency correlation coefficient（ r > 0. 7）

involved the important work（ Treatise on Spleen and Stomach

《脾胃论》）

the important doctor（ LI Dongyuan）

the important theories（ fire of Yin

ministerial fire）

the important principles and methods of treatment（ relieving serious fever with sweet and warm-natured drugs

warmly invigorating

ascending Yang method）

as well as the important prescription（ Shengyang Sanhuo Decoction

升阳散火汤） in Yishui School. Conclusion The research content and diseases involved of Yishui School were wide. Present researches concentrated on the academic thought of Li Dongyuan. The researches on the aspects of herbs theory

principles of using herbs

the characteristics of composing prescriptions still needed to be further studied.