BACKGROUND: This study aims to visually assess the bibliometric status, current hotspots, and development trends in the field of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)-assisted support for respiratory failure through an examination of articles pertaining to ECMO-assisted support for respiratory failure. METHODS: A search was conducted on pertinent literature in the domain of ECMO-assisted support for respiratory failure published from 2003 to 2023, utilizing the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) database. A bibliometric analysis was conducted using CiteSpace and VOSviewer visualization software to identify and assess associations between keywords, countries, institutions, authors, journals, and references. RESULTS: The present study incorporated a compilation of 1,901 pertinent articles. The United States published the maximum number of research articles in this field, and was closely followed by Germany and China. Furthermore, the University of Michigan was the leading institution in ECMO research. In this context, Daniel Brodie, an American expert, significantly contributed to this field and had published 107 related articles on the subject. Concurrently, active collaboration among ECMO researchers was also observed. was the most prolific contributor, and Giles J. Peek, 2009, published in , comprised the most cited article in the field. Additionally, the analysis of keywords could be divided into three categories: (I) neonatal ECMO; (II) complications of ECMO; (III) ECMO application in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); (IV) application of point-of-care ultra sound in ECMO. CONCLUSIONS: This study employed CiteSpace and VOSviewer to conduct a systematic literature review on ECMO-assisted support for respiratory failure from 2003 to 2023 in the Web of Science core database. The research outcomes in this domain were presented, offering researchers references for them to gain an accurate understanding of the current state of research and emerging trends in this field.