This study aims to analyze the research trends of gifted education research in Korea for 40 years from 1980 to 2019, and to suggest the direction of research and policies for gifted education. This is a follow-up study using the data from Kim et al. (2010) who collected a total of 2,157 studies related to gifted education for 30 years from 1980 to 2009 and analyzed them by period, type of paper and topic. A total of 2,859 additional studies from 2010 to 2019 were collected as a complete survey to analyze the final 4,860 research trends over the past 40 years and to compare and synthesize them with the previous study. According to the results of a series of the cross-tabulation analysis, the number of related studies has increased significantly since the enactment of the Promotion of Education for the Gifted and Talented Law in 2010, there has been a definite growth achieved. In terms of the type of paper, since the 1990s, studies have risen dramatically in academic journals, theses, and dissertations. Also, research topics were different from time to time, but were still biased around several particular topics. While research on the gifted and giftedness and that on the selection and evaluation of gifted person were mainly studied, research on evaluation of gifted education institutions and that on consulting were very limited. From 2010 to 2019, students (81.1%) were the most studied subject of research, and elementary school students were more than half of them. In addition, regarding the field of gifted education studied during the same period, the number of research on cognitive skills was 10 times higher than that on social and emotional skills. Mathematics and science were the most prominent in cognitive skills, and leadership was the most studied in social and emotional skills, resulting in a bias in the provision of gifted educational programs. Based on these results, we discussed how gifted education research in Korea has changed by period, type of paper, and topic over the past 40 years, where it is now, and where it should go in the future suggesting the implications for policies and future research.