By using the methods of bibliometrics and knowledge maps, based on the CSSCI data, the development of discipline construction research in China from 1998 to 2018 is analyzed. Firstly, the overall research status and the distribution of research subjects of this field, such as the leading researchers, institutions and journals, are counted and analyzed; Secondly, the co-word analysis method is used to analyze the structure and distribution of the whole field's themes; Finally, four periods are divided based on the amount of articles, the evolution of the co-word networks and themes of each period are analyzed and compared. The study shows that the overall development of discipline construction research in China showed a trend of "rise-peak-fall", and the amount of recent articles declined significantly; The core research group has not been formed. The institutions are mainly normal universities and comprehensive universities with strong humanities and social sciences. Journals and disciplines are mainly distributed in the field of education. The main themes mainly include the macro level and basic theory, construction contents/methods/paths and specific discipline construction. And the evolution of themes has inherited and phased characteristics.