Abstract: Based on the Web of Science Database, research progress of insect resistance to heavy metal stress from 1900 to 2020 was analyzed by bibliometrics methods. Through the software SATI, UCINET, NetDraw and Excel, keyword’s co-occurrence network and author’s co-occurrence network were constructed. Hot research areas, high yield units and funds were studied. The results showed that diptera, hymenoptera, lepidoptera, orthoptera and collembola were involved in many studies, and there was much literature concerning heavy metals such as cadmium, zinc, copper and lead. Many scholars focused on metallothionein, heat shock protein, glutathione, antioxidant enzyme to show insects resistance; however, the response model and repair strategies of insects against stress caused by heavy metal were less reported. In addition to the concentration of heavy metal, whether the degree of stress injury changed with the charge amount of heavy metals and the physiological state of the treated insects was unknown. Although projects funded and articles published by China were the largest, the total number of articles published by a single author was not the top one. Numerous scholars carried out their researches independently rather than in cooperation with other institutions. In the high introduction of statistics, the articles of chinese scholars were also rare.

Key words: insect, heavy metal, environmental pollution, oxidative stress, Web of Science Database