The ecosystem research network is a data-intensive science platform for field observation and research, whose major goal is long-term monitoring and networked study of ecosystems. Since 1998, field stations have continuously measured and recorded more than 300 monitoring variations in hydrological, pedological, atmospheric, and biological elements of major terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in China, such as cropland, forest, grassland, desert, marshes, lakes, and bays according to standard monitoring protocols, and large amounts of long-term observation data have been collected. These data are crucial resources for research on ecology and other relevant disciplines; thus, a national treasure. Many efforts have been made to share the data. To ensure the value of long-term observation data and improve data sharing services, a bibliometric analysis has been applied to obtain an overview of the situation and characteristics using the CNKI database. A total of 160 documents published between 2001 and 2018 related to the subject have been retrieved and analyzed according to five main aspects: publication years, subject areas, author keywords, institutions, and field stations. The results indicated that the long-term observation data of the ecosystem research network has attracted more and more attention from researchers. The major research areas of data application are forestry and basic agricultural science, and continue to expand into other disciplines. The data is mainly used in ecosystem service research, model simulation, plantation research, water pollution research, biodiversity research, wheat and corn research, and soil moisture research to support the spatial pattern analysis and environmental drive mechanisms of ecosystem processes, and the discovery and verification of commonality laws of different ecosystems. Two main user groups of long-term observation data can be distinguished: universities and research institutes. The main user institutions include institutes affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, forestry and agricultural universities, comprehensive universities, normal universities, and institutes affiliated to the China Academy of Forestry Sciences; different institutions vary in data usage combined with their geographical location, research direction, and dominant disciplines. The long-term observation data of each field station could provide important support for revealing the rules of ecosystem structure and functions, energy flow and materials cycles, and analyzing the current situation, dynamic change, and driving mechanisms of the main ecological and environmental problems of the ecological zone and ecosystem that the field station represents. Some suggestions have been offered for the application of long-term observation data of the ecosystem research network such as to (i) standardize scientific data citation to improve the data citation mechanism of the ecosystem research network, (ii) develop thematic data products by analyzing and mining the data to provide the full advantage of long-term observation data, and (iii) increase the investment in field stations to improve the ability and level of observation, and optimize the layout of field stations.