Abstract: Based on the searching of Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) database, the research status and trends of tea polyphenols were studied by analyzing the publication years, journals of SCI articles, and hot keywords with the method of bibliometrical analysis. Meanwhile, Histcite, Bibexcel and Netdraw were used to study the international research development of tea polyphenols from a brand-new angle. The results indicated that: the 1β958 collected papers were published in 713 journals, averaged 2.75 papers per journal, and focused in 50 research directions; there were 6233 authors (the first author were 1β454), 66 countries or regions, and 1β539 organizations to participate in international tea polyphenols research. 327 published papers had been completed by international cooperation (16.7% of the total), and the major(61 papers) was Sino-US cooperation (14.32% of the cooperation). The analysis also showed that the important period of international tea polyphenols rearch was about ten years from 1993 to 2003, especially in 1997, and the international tea polyphenols research focused on the constituents of tea polyphenols and their physiological activities.

Key words: Web of Science, tea polyphenols, LCS, research trend, bibliometric analysis