Objective Through bibliometric analysis, the relevant literature on the prevention and treatment of cognitive dysfunction in diabetes with traditional Chinese medicine from January 2001to December 2025 was analyzed, and the research status, development context, cutting-edge trends and future directions in this field were systematically revealed. Methods By searching the relevant literature in the databases of China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, VIP, Web of Science (WOS) and PubMed in the past 20 years, the NoteExpress software was used to deduplicate and sort them, and CiteSpace and VOSviewer softwares were used to conduct visual analysis on the publication trends, authors, institutions, countries, keywords, etc. Results A total of 312 Chinese literature and 183 English literature were included. The number of published literature in Chinese is higher than that in English, occupying a dominant position. China and the United States ranked among the leading countries in terms of publication volume. The research teams centered on Zhan Libin have establish in both the Chinese and English literature, however, collaboration across teams and institutions remained insufficient. Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine were the core institutions contributing to the Chinese literature, while Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine was the major contributor to the English literature. Overall, the research institutions were primarily concentrated among Chinese universities of traditional Chinese medicine and their affiliated hospitals. The “apoptosis” exhibited the highest burst strength in the Chinese literature, whereas “traditional Chinese medicine” exhibited the highest burst strength in the English literature. “Gut microbiota” was a sustained burst keyword in both the Chinese and English literature. Meanwhile, the “microbiota-gut-brain axis” and multi-omics integration have emerged as promising research frontiers in this field. Conclusion Research on traditional Chinese medicine for the prevention and treatment of diabetic cognitive dysfunction is currently at a critical stage of transition from phenomenological description to mechanistic elucidation, from single-pathway investigation to network-based regulation, and from basic research to clinical translation. Future research should focus on five key areas: target validation, multi-omics integration, peripheral-central interactions, metabolic reprogramming, and clinical translation, with the aim of addressing major challenges related to target validation, quality control, model relevance, blood-brain barrier assessment, and clinical trials, thereby advancing the modernization and internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine in the prevention and treatment of diabetic cognitive dysfunction.

traditional Chinese medicine  /  diabetes cognitive dysfunction  /  CiteSpace  /  VOSviewer  /  bibliometrics