Abstract: The main goal of forest certification is to promote sustainable forest management. Based on 708 English papers in Web of Science published from 1993 to 2022 and 339 Chinese ones in CNKI database from 1996 to 2022, we explored research hotspots and trends of forest certification at home and abroad using CiteSpace for data mining. The results show that: the number of foreign scholars engaged in forest certification are increasing while domestic scholars' enthusiasm is decreasing. Hot topics in forest certification are impact assessment and dynamic mechanism. Foreign research is more comprehensive, and domestic research focuses on its impact on economy, especially on trade. Foreign research can be divided into three stages, which systematically explains why and how to carry out forest certification. Domestic research can be divided into four stages, which is still at a fragmented and non-systematic status at present. Finally, we suggest that scholars conduct in-depth research in consumption behavior, pay more attention to ecosystem services certification and evaluate comprehensive benefits.