In the big data era, the rapid development of new frontier technologies has put forward new requirements for the development of webometrics. So,we put forward a new concept here under the framework of the"subject-informatics"，which is"cyber-informatics". Starting from the background of the rise of cyber-informatics, this paper introduces the development process from webometrics to cyber-informatics. Secondly, the definition, data basis and key theories and methods of cyber-informatics are clarified. Finally, the research advances of knowledge discovery in interdisciplinary field, academic influence and competitiveness evaluation of cyber-informatics is analyzed.Cyber-informatics is a subject of network data mining and knowledge discovery in the era of network big data, and a supporting subject of the new paradigm of network information research. However, there are still some key problems, such as the quality control of big data and the development of specialized technical tools. With the further development of cyber-informatics, the knowledge base of network big data, the specialized technical tools of cyber-informatics and its application fields will be vigorously developed in the future.In addition cyber-informatics may become the leading subject of subject-informatics.