Objective To analyze the articles published in Chinese Journal of Nursing Education the past 20 years, and to provide reference for nursing educators and researchers. Methods Taking the literature published in Chinese Journal of Nursing Education from 2004 to 2023 as data sources, bibliometric analysis was carried out on the number of articles, high citation rate, fund projects, authors, institutions and research hotspots. Results After excluding the news, notices and letters, the total number of articles published in Chinese Journal of Nursing Education from 2004 to 2023 was 3 809, among which 2 983 were educational literature. The number of articles published annually increased year by year, and then decreased slightly to gradually stabilized. There were eight articles with citation frequency >100 and 1 688 articles were funded by a total of 2 176 funds, among which 361 were supported by two or more funds. There were 228 core authors with more than 6 publications, and only 102 authors formed 12 cooperation networks, mainly among the same institution. The research hotspots of educational literature focus on curriculum construction and teaching reform, health education, clinical practice and teaching, on-the-job training/continuing education, and higher vocational education. Conclusion The types of articles were mainly educational literature. More than half of the literature was funded by various fund projects. A network of academic cooperation has been formed between institutions/authors in a small range, and most of the articles focus on the emerging and hot research directions of nursing education. In the future, the academic influence and research breadth of published literature still need to be improved, and high-level research results require more inter-institutional and interdisciplinary cooperation.