Academic mentorship is a kind of mentorship emerging from scientific research activities that has an important impact on the inheritance and upgrade of scientific knowledge. This study makes a systematic summary on the basic contents, main effects, research values, project cases and future developments of academic mentorship, aiming to provide implications for related research in China. Our main results are: Not only scientific knowledge but also spiritual qualities are passed on through academic mentorships; The effects of mentorship mainly include demonstration effect of mentor, synergetic effect of teamwork, and mentor's social function; Research on academic mentorship is important for the understanding and construction of science's inner structure, operation pattern and academic tradition; Our country's research on academic mentorship and construction of academic genealogy databases has just started and shows a vast space for development.