OBJECTIVE: To comprehend the progress of tissue engineering research and speculate its developmental trends. METHODS: MEDLINE search was conducted to retrieve the papers published between 1987 to 1999 under the main headings of tissue engineering. Years, nationalities, languages, journals, authors and heading frequencies of 314 papers were analyzed by bibliometrics. RESULTS: Since 1990, the number of tissue engineering research literatures had doubled, and papers between 1998 and 1999 made up 57.96% of the total papers. All papers came from 15 nations, in 6 languages and 140 journals; 64.97% came from United States and 25.79% from England, Netherlands and Germany; 93.95% was in English; 42.04% was published on 15 journals. Vacanti JP and 19 other authors presented 5 to 24 papers. Heading frequencies were cytology 22.89%, transplantation 13.30%, scaffolds and extracellular matrixes 11.72%, implanting 10.60%, polymers 8.91%, potential applications 8.91%, artificial substitutes 6.88%, tissue culture 6.70% and biogenetics 4.96%. CONCLUSION: Tissue engineering literatures mainly come from United States, England, Netherlands and Germany. English is the major language. J Biomed Mater Res and 14 other journals are important journals about tissue engineering research. Vacanti JP and 19 other authors are prolific authors. Cytology, transplantation, scaffolds and extracellular matrixes and implanting are hot topics and key points on tissue engineering research.