Child protection continues to be a pressing social problem. Robust and relevant research is essential in order to ensure that the scale and nature of child maltreatment are understood and that preventative and protective measures are effective. This paper reports selected results from a mapping review of research conducted in the UK and published between January 2010 and December 2014. The purpose of the review was twofold: to develop a typology of child protection research; and to use this typology to describe the features and patterns of empirical research undertaken recently in the UK in order to inform a future research agenda. The paper reports the maltreatment types, substantive topics and research designs used within empirical research published in academic journals. It identifies a number of challenges for the field including the need for conceptual clarity regarding types of abuse, greater methodological diversity and a shift of focus from response to prevention of child maltreatment. The importance of a national strategic agenda is also emphasised. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ‘Robust and relevant research is essential in order to ensure that the scale and nature of child maltreatment are understood’ Key Practitioner Messages A substantial proportion of empirical research focuses on child maltreatment generally and less is known about some specific types of maltreatment such as exposure to domestic abuse and child trafficking. More robust evidence is particularly needed concerning the effectiveness of interventions and choice of preventative approaches. Research‐minded practitioners have an important contribution to make to the development of a practice‐relevant research agenda. ‘Research‐minded practitioners have an important contribution to make’