From the core collection of WoS database, 4 473 related papers published from 1900 to 2019 were retrieved, the co-cited countries, institutions, authors, discipline fields, keywords, literature cited networks, and the research progress and evolution trend of organic fertilizer study were visually analyzed based on the CiteSpace knowledge map analysis tool. The results showed that: 1) The effects of organic fertilizers on improving soil physical and chemical properties, inhibiting soil-borne diseases, improving crop yield and quality, and their mechanisms are still the focuses for research; 2) The latest molecular biology techniques such as gene sequencing will be used more widely in organic fertilizer research; 3) Adding natural zeolite, biochar and other substances to produce organic fertilizers is an important direction for organic fertilizer processing in the future; 4) Organic fertilizer research is an interdisciplinary, involving many fields such as agriculture, chemistry, environmental ecology, environmental science, and engineering; 5) The research on organic fertilizer in China is developing rapidly. The top three research institutions that jointly publishing academic papers on organic fertilizers in the world are Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, and Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and they have important academic influences.