OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the academic level and the popularity of the Chinese Journal of Hepatology in China in 2005. METHODS: We used bibliometrics to analyze statistically the original articles of the Chinese Journal of Hepatology cited by Chinese periodicals included in the Wanfang Data in 2005. RESULTS: (1) 699 published papers in the journal in 2005 were cited 1673 times and 44 of them were cited 720 times in total. (2) The papers published in the Chinese Journal of Hepatology were cited by journals in China starting from 1993 through 2005. Of all the cited articles, 1.49% of them were cited in the same year as they were published. (3) Non-specific rate of the Chinese Journal of Hepatology was 96.17%, and self-cite rate was 3.83%. (4) Papers published in the Chinese Journal of Hepatology were cited by 400 Chinese periodicals, 99 of them are journals included in the Chinese Science Citation Database, and 110 of them are Chinese core periodicals. CONCLUSION: The Chinese Journal of Hepatology is one of the high level academic Chinese periodicals. This journal reflects the progress in research on liver diseases in China.