As a key component of mechanical equipment, real-time monitoring and diagnosis of rolling bearings play a critical role in ensuring the stable operation of equipment and the safety of operators. In order to present the current status and trends of fault diagnosis research on rolling bearings more intuitively, the scientific knowledge mapping was used to visualize and analyze the relevant literature in the article. The results show that the number of publications in this area of research has grown significantly in recent years, with China, India, the United States, and England having contributed significantly. The journals such as MECHANICAL SYSTEMS AND SIGNAL PROCESSING, MEASUREMENT, and JOURNAL OF SOUND AND VIBRATION have played an important role in disseminating cutting-edge technologies in this field. In addition, the exploration of modern methods based on data-driven and artificial intelligence, as well as their application to real-world problems, are gradually becoming the focus of research. Through summarising and analysing, the application of modern data processing techniques, the development of more efficient and practical intelligent fault diagnosis techniques, and the close integration of laboratory research and practical applications will become future research trends.