Using 329 research papers concerning online activism from 53 journalism and communication journals in the dataset of CSSCI、TSSCI and SSCI over the past decade, this study tries to map out the outline of this research area in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and oversea. With regard to general trends, an increasing attention has been given to this issue, which will remains a hot topic in the following years. In terms of research orientation, communication dynamics dominates in the mainland China, paper from the perspective of social protest are popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and a great body of study in oversea focuses on descriptive introduction. As for case types, the most frequently studied are social issues, government power, public safety and health. Concerning theoretical frameworks, findings show the classic communication theories, such as framing, agenda setting and silent spiral, rank very high in this area. In addition, public sphere, scholars were also inspired by theories from public sphere, social movement and crisis communication. Results showed that both qualitative and quantitative methods were equally used in this field, and mixed methods are becoming more popular recently. Among all the methods, content analysis, case study and context analysis are the most frequently used methods. Finally, this paper explored the possibility of cooperation and exchange among these research area, identifying trend for further advancement.