Objective To analyze the current global status of critical care medicine and to explore the research focus. Methods The papers concerning critical care medicine published between 2007 and 2017 were retrieved and analyzed using Web of Science, Journal Citation Report (JCR) and Echarts software. The titles and abstracts were extracted and analyzed using VOSviewer software to identify the high frequency key words. Meanwhile, the changes of countries with important contribations in the output ranking of papers were analyzed in the field of critical care medicine research from 2007 to 2017. Results A total of 51 928 papers met the inclusion criteria, and 45 696 were original articles and 6 232 were reviews. The high frequency key word thermogram showed that the focuses of critical care medicine terminology included management, function, observational study, trauma and trial. The United States remained the leading role in critical care medicine paper output from 2007 to 2017. In 2007 and 2017, the paper number of United States accounted for 43.74% (1 872/4 280) and 46.78% (2 288/4 891) of total papers, respectively. Conclusion The management, function, observational study, trauma and trial are focuses in the field of critical care medicine research and the United States remains the leading role in critical care medicine research.