This work presents results of research carried out with a representative sample of scientific articles in journalism indexed in English to identify trajectories in the development of journalism studies over 25 years (1997 to 2021). Three time periods with 5 years each were observed (1997-2001, 2007-2011 and 2017-2021). We sought to verify the emergence and consolidation of research areas at each moment, as well as indications of trends in journalism investigation. The empirical object of the survey was 326 scientific articles and their titles, abstracts and 1,285 keywords, obtained by searching the Google Scholar platform. The analyzes explored three research scenarios and trends: epistemological foundations and questions, broad study perspectives applied to journalism, and specific research models and areas.