Translation involves two crucial stages, production and reception. Translator-centered research has been lively in the field of translation studies, while research on translation reception centered around the audience and readers has been relatively subdued. With the cultural turn of translation studies, reception research has gradually gained attention from scholars. In order to provide international insights for translation reception research in China and enhance the influence of Chinese culture, this paper utilizes the BITRA database as the source and conducts a quantitative and qualitative analysis. By searching relevant publications from 2000 to 2022, this paper examines the current status, themes, trends, and application of research methods in translation reception research abroad. Besides, based on the analysis of the strengths and limitations of various research methods, this paper provides a prospect for future related studies.