Objective To understand the current status of basic research and clinical translation in the field of stem cells in recent 5 years, so as to provide reference for the development of related disciplines. Methods (1) Basic research on stem cells: stem cell related literatures published between 2015 and 2020 were retireved from Web of Science Core Collection datebase on May 15, 2020, 1 954 highly cited papers and hot papers in this filed were selected, and keyword analysis and cluster analysis were conducted through CiteSpace. (2) Clinical research: the data were searched on ClinicalTrials.gov, and official websites of the Center for Drug Evaluation of National Medical Products Administration and China Medicinal Biotech Association on May 23, 2020, summarized and sorted by Excel 2007. Results For basic research, “expression”, “differentiation”, “ pluripotent stem cell ”, “ T cell ” and “ progenitor cell ” were focuses of stem cell research, and they were clustered into 7 themes: “ embryonic stem cell ”, “ cancer stem cell ”, “ versus-host disease ”, “ cell-derived exosome ”, “ bone tissue engineering”, “ clonal hematopoiesis ” and “ traumatic brain injury ”. For clinical research, 5 506 stem cell related clinical trials were retrieved worldwide, including 482 in China. There were 18 stem cell products approved for marketing in the world, mainly focusing on mesenchymal stem cells, and domestic stem cell products were still in the stage of clinical trial. Of the 73 stem cell clinical research projects registered in China, about 2/3 (49 projects) were mesenchymal stem cell related projects, 33 projects (45.2%) involved umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells. The main types of diseases included psoriasis, lupus nephritis, acute myocardial infarction, osteoarthritis, etc. Conclusion We should pay attention to the stem cell research focuses and its 7 focus areas. The stem cell products which have been approved to the world market and the clinical studies of stem cells carried out in China are mostly focused on mesenchymal stem cells.