Abstract: In this paper the methods of bibliometrics and knowledge graph visualization are used to analyze the literature of Journal of Xinyang Normal University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition) in the past 4 decades within the database of China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). The research shows that the annual number of articles presents the stages of "slow growth" and "fluctuation decline", and the figure for articles and columns are relatively stable, while the construction of characteristic columns such as Yanhuang studies and Huaihe culture studies still needs to be strengthened; the main authors are relatively scattered, but the main institutions are concentrated in "middle China" and "normal" universities, so it is urgent to broaden the channels of receiving manuscripts; the subjects are mainly literature, law and education, and the emerging hot subjects such as finance, library information and archives are worthy of attention; the funds are mainly state-level and social science funds, and the audit of fund projects should be strengthened; and the research key words and hot words are concentrated in China, college students, Mao Zedong, countermeasures, socialism, Deng Xiaoping and market economy. We should strengthen the work of soliciting contributions on academic hot spots, which provides direction for the future development of the journal.