Abstract:Objective? Exploring the current research status, research context, evolution process, and future research directions of laboratory animal welfare and ethics in China. Methods? Using literature related to laboratory animal welfare and ethics collected from source journals in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database from 2001 to 2023 as the data source, a combination of qualitative description through literature review and CiteSpace visual bibliometric analysis was used to summarize the achievements, hot topics, and directions of laboratory animal welfare and ethics research. Results? Research shows that the overall popularity of research on the laboratory animal welfare and ethics in China is on the rise. The main research institutions include the systematic units of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, the Nanjing General Hospital of the Nanjing Military Region, and the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control. The hot research topics in this field include the basic theories of laboratory animal welfare and ethics, legislation on laboratory animal welfare and ethics, technologies for laboratory animal welfare and ethics, censorship of laboratory animal welfare and ethics, and teaching research on laboratory animal welfare and ethics. In response to ethical issues arising from emerging interdisciplinary fields, continuous innovation is being made in research content. Conclusions? Suggestions have been put forward from the perspectives of legal system, censorship mechanism, education and training, and innovative research of laboratory animals welfare and ethics, with the purpose to provide reference and guidance for welfare and ethics work of laboratory animals.