Objective To understand the research hotspots, research trends and frontier trends of horizontal violence in nurses, and to provide guidance for reducing horizontal violence and enacting targeted measures in the future. Methods Web of Science Core Collection was searched for publications on horizontal violence in nurses, and the software CiteSpace was used to analyze the included li-terature. Results A total of 119 publications were included. High frequency keywords included "horizontal violence", "lateral violence", "bully", "workplace", "nurse", etc.The latest burst keywords included "impact" and "perception".The time zone diagram showed that publications mostly explored the concept of horizontal violence in the early stage, and gradually shifted to the negative effects, consequences and people involved in horizontal violence in the later stage. Conclusion Existing research on horizontal violence in nurses hasn′t gone far enough.Current researches focus on the negative consequences of horizontal violence and the perception of the population and nurses.Nurses′ perception of horizontal violence needs an uplift. Scholars and nursing managers should pay enough attention and conduct in-depth discussion on relevant aspects.