Abstract: The discipline of ideological and political education is a major achievement of ideological and political education formed by combining Marxist theory and Chinese practice, and is a great summary of the revolution, construction, reform and development of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in the field of ideological and political work. Looking back at the development of the discipline of ideological and political education over the past 40 years, the discipline of ideological and political education has realized a leapfrog development from unitary to diversified, from experience to theory, and from concept to science. In this paper, 1128 articles related to the discipline of ideological and political education in “China Knowledge Network (CNKI)” are andyzed by using Cite Space software, and found that the system of the discipline of ideological and political education has improved greatly, the academic results are fruitful, the quality of the articles issued by the research authors and institutions is high, and the hot spots of research have evolved from the concept of “discussion” to “discipline.” The research hot spots have evolved from the initial conceptualization to the research of “disciplinary regularity” and “three-pronged parenting”, and gradually formed a new form of discipline that consciously builds up the discipline in line with the era of digital intelligence. In the future, the discipline of ideological and political education needs to be based on the development of the times and the needs of society, further define the positioning and attributes of the discipline of ideological and political education,and strengthen disciplinary regularity research and disciplinary cross-disciplinary research, so as to better implement the fundamental task of cultivating morality and promoting the development of the discipline of ideological and political education and to realize the development of high-quality development.

Key words: reform and opening, discipline of ideological and political education, Cite Space, knowledge mapping