The scientific knowledge mapping method in the field of Scientometrics is introduced in this paper. With the assistance of the literature analysis software CiteSpace and the self-contained analysis tool of Web of Science database, a quantified and visualized analysis has been conducted on three elements (i.e., journal, researcher and research institution) that have constituted the core contents of the disciplinary institution based on the past 21-year Western literature on leisure studies. Efforts have been made to objectively evaluate and judge the status quo of Western leisure studies as far as possible with an attempt to adopt the perspective of the disciplinary institution and knowledge mapping method, hence to provide predictions and suggestions for the development of leisure studies. The research found that there are seven professional journals on leisure studies, including Journal of Leisure Research, Leisure Sciences, Leisure Studies, Annals of Leisure Research, Leisure/Loisir, Loisir et Société/Society and Leisure and World Leisure Journal, among which the first three journals are core journals on leisure studies together with Annals of Tourism Research and Tourism Management, both of which are tourism journals. The knowledge source for researches on leisure studies has been formed by a great combination of studies of leisure, tourism, marketing, psychology, sociology, sports and management. Scholars such as Karla A. Henderson, Susan M. Shaw, Douglas A. Kleiber, Robert A. Stebbins, Edgar L. Jackson, Yoshitaka Iwasaki, John L. Crompton, Duane W. Crawford, Seppo E. Iso-Ahola, John R. Kelly, David Scott, Roger C. Mannell, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and so forth, have made outstanding contributions in establishing the discipline of leisure studies. The Department?of Recreation & Leisure Studies at the University of Waterloo, the Department?of Recreation Park & Tourism Management at Pennsylvania State University, the Department?of Recreation Park & Tourism Sciences at Texas A&M University and the Department?of Recreation Sport & Tourism at the University of Illinois are key research institutes on leisure studies globally. In other words, leisure studies have basically achieved the establishment of discipline in Western countries by being equipped with specialized academic journals, researchers, educational and research institutes. The disciplinary institution of leisure studies is presented with inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary tendencies and an obviously regional centralized trait, which reflects a cluster-based disciplinary development model. Although cluster-based disciplinary development model advances the growth of leisure application and practices, and provides many significant questions at a practical level for the theoretical research of leisure studies, the problems and contradictions arising therefrom cannot be ignored: scattered distribution of research literature on leisure studies and the high-quality articles not necessarily being published in leisure journals all affect the academic influence of these leisure journals. Scholars in this field have a wide range of research interests. Limited energy in its study which results in the low output of theoretical research results affects the systematic theory construction of leisure studies and its influence as an independent discipline. Besides, there are basically no independent disciplines on leisure studies among the educational research institutes. Above all, the contradiction hidden in the cluster-based development model of leisure studies and other related disciplines -- a conflict between the entity establishment of leisure organization at the institutional level and the developing requirements of researches on leisure studies at the academic level. The development of industry-oriented and cluster-based discipline has barricaded and restricted the basic theoretical progress of leisure studies, while the relevant practical study and application have been increasingly enriched. Fortunately, scholars have started in recent years to engage in the study of basic theories consciously, pushing the disciplinary construction of leisure studies in a theoretical way by exploring its core concepts and frontier developments in the perspectives of sociology and philosophy. In the future, disciplinary institution of leisure studies should be further improved. Respects should be paid to the law of discipline development, with the continual practice of making full use of the advantages of cluster-based disciplinary development model, to push a deep integration of leisure studies and other disciplines. Consciousness of discipline self-reinforcing shall be established, exploration and construction for basic theories of leisure studies shall be emphasized, and persistent efforts shall be spared to promote applied researches and the development of leisure business.