In the past five years, vocational education in China has made progress in many aspects. We can come to a better understanding about the current situation, research focus, cutting-edge issues and the trends of vocational education research from the academic papers on vocational education published between 2018 and 2022 in the CNKI Chinese database. It is found that 1) from 2018 to 2022, vocational education research in China delved into studies on some stable research topics while also responding to the requirements of the times and policy guidance, resulting in numerous emerging research questions with contemporary value; 2) research topics such as “school-enterprise cooperation,” “modern apprenticeship,” “talent cultivation models,” and “industry-education integration” remained stable, reflecting the sustained attention of vocational education researchers on these core topics; 3) core research topics like “training bases,” “Internet+,” and “automotive maintenance programs” appeared once and then disappeared during the five-year period, indicating their lack of stability; 4) core research topics like “ideological and political education in courses” witnessed explosive growth over the five years, indicating increasing research attention to these topics. In the future, vocational education research should have a long-term vision, enhance inclusiveness, meet the application requirements, and orient towards diversified, interdisciplinary and cross-field development. At the same time, they should obtain support from the government, enterprises, schools, and the society.