OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the academic level of Chinese Journal of Internal Medicine by analyzing its citation status by using bibliometrics method. METHODS: The distribution of articles published in Chinese Journal of Internal Medicine from January, 2005 to December, 2011 indexed by Chinese Science Citation Database (CSCD) was analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 2809 articles were published in Chinese Journal of Internal Medicine between January,2005 and December, 2011. Among them, 832(29.62%) articles were cited for totally 1993 times. There were 14 authors whose total citation number in 2005-2011 was > or = 10 times. Authors of the cited articles came from 25 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. The regions from where the articles had the highest citation were Beijing (341 articles), Shanghai (87 articles), Guangdong (64 articles), Jiangsu (45 articles) and Zhejiang (43 articles). The medical institutions with the highest citation were Peking Union Medical College Hospital of Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (205 times), Peking University People's Hospital (77 times), and Chinese PLA General Hospital (76 times). CONCLUSIONS: Quite a few high level academic papers had been published in Chinese Journal of Internal Medicine in recent years. Chinese Journal of Internal Medicine plays a good role in enhancing academic exchange.