Agricultural trade plays a vital role in integrating market resources and supporting the transformation and improvement of agriculture. Based on relevant journal literature in the field of agricultural product trade and its influencing factors from 2003 to 2023, we conducted an analysis on the publishing institutions, authors, hot topics and theoretical applications. The findings indicate that: ①There has been a growing number of studies on agricultural product trade and its influencing factors. These studies have yielded fruitful research results, but there is a need to enhance cooperation among scholars in this field; ②The key themes in this field cover influencing factors, research indicators, econometric models, trade policies and international environments, in which the dominant influencing factors can be categorized into: trade scale, trade structure, trade competitiveness, trade environment and agricultural environment; ③In terms of thematic evolution, research has shown a trend of diversification of subjects and dimensions. Domestic research focuses on traditional factors like economy, policy and system, while foreign research focuses more on food security, climate change, carbon emissions and other real issues;④In terms of theoretical reflection, most existing research relies on simple trade and economic theories such as comparative advantage, and lacks integration of multidisciplinary theories like political economy, institutional economics and cultural economics, and there are fewer discussions based on geographic factors, effects, structure and other geographic perspectives. Future research needs to strengthen the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, focusing on agricultural trade in developing countries, agricultural weak countries, and regional cooperation organizations. At the same time, attention should be paid to more detailed types of agricultural products, and attempts should be made to integrate multidimensional factors such as geography, politics, and culture into the research.