Abstract: In order to explore the research status and development trend of the carbon cycle of wetlands in China, based on the relevant published literature in Web of Science (WoS) and CNKI databases from 2000 to 2020, the annual number of publications, citation frequency, authors, countries, institutions, journals, and keywords, etc. were analyzed in the past 20 years at home and abroad, using the bibliometrics method. Some suggestions for the future development were also put forward. The results showed that a total of 2 998 pieces of literature related to the carbon cycle of wetlands in China were published from 2000 to 2020, with the number of literature published in WoS and CNKI databases being 1 120 and 1 878, respectively. The annual number of literature published showed a trend of fluctuation and increase. The literature in WoS database covered 51 countries around the world, of which 1 075 were published in China, accounting for 95.98% of the total. Wetland, soil organic carbon and methane release were the key words with high mediating centrality, which were the core content of wetland carbon cycle research. Ecological Engineering and Acta Ecologica Sinica were the main journal carriers of foreign and Chinese literature in this field, respectively. The mechanism and flux of greenhouse gas exchange, the effect of microorganisms on carbon cycle, the ecological stoichiometry of carbon in wetland soil, and the carbon cycle and global change of wetland carbon cycle had been the hot topics in wetland carbon cycle research in China in the recent five years. The results of econometric analysis were helpful in comprehensively understanding the research status and development progress of wetland carbon cycle research in China, and providing references for wetland carbon research at home and abroad.