[Purpose/significance] Since the 21st century, the themes, methods and applications of Knowledge Organi⁃ zation (KO) research have presented new features under the influence of the new generation of scientific and technologi⁃ cal revolution. By summarizing and refining relevant research topics and features abroad, this paper can provide refer⁃ ence for Chinese scholars in this field. [Method/process] This study first comprehensively collected the relevant litera⁃ ture of foreign KO from 2000 to 2022, and then used content analysis to code them one by one to obtain the characteris⁃ tics of research topics and research contents of KO. [Result/conclusion] Important findings of this study include: the KO research topics tend to be diversified, and the focus has shifted from digitization to dataization and semantics; the quality assessment of knowledge organization systems is emphasized; the organization method presents a coexistence trend of technology, crowdsourcing and experts; application areas has centered on scenario-oriented research. It is sug⁃ gested that Chinese KO research should: (1)focus on the construction of Chinese data infrastructure and promote the process of knowledge integration and association;(2)establish a reasonable evaluation system to improve KO quality; (3) accelerate the organization of intelligent data by "crowdsourcing + technology + experts"; (4)expand the application in specific fields to improve the service level.