This study aimed to investigate the distribution patterns and research frontiers of international literature and thus present a holistic bibliometric evaluation of the studies on IgA nephropathy.The Web of Science Core Collection database was searched for studies of IgA nephropathy from January 2012 to March 2023. The keywords and references are analyzed by CiteSpace, while the countries and institutions are analyzed by VOSviewer.A total of 2987 publications on IgA nephropathy were included. The country with the most publications was China (n = 1299), and the institution with the most publications was Peking University (n = 139). The most frequent keywords were IgA nephropathy (n = 2013), Oxford classification (n = 482), and diseases (n = 433). The keywords that continue to burst out at high intensity are multicenter study and gut microbiota. Moreover, the top five references for burst strength were also listed.IgA nephropathy has attracted widespread research interest, particularly in high-prevalence areas. From 2012 to 2023, publications on IgA nephropathy show a linear increase. China is the country with the highest number of publications and Peking University is the institution with the highest number of publications. Current research hotspots and frontiers are mainly multicenter studies related to IgA nephropathy and its exploration with gut microbiota. Overall, we have provided a comprehensive scientometric analysis of IgA nephropathy that will inform researchers and healthcare practitioners.© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.