This dataset consists of one MS Excel (.xlsx) file. This file contains count data on the number of articles in which each reef fish species was selected for study, the number of articles which used each method to census reef fishes, the number of articles which conducted reef fish censuses in each habitat and the number of articles which conducted field-based research in each month. The data was based on 377 articles published between 1982 and 2018 in the international journal Coral Reefs. Articles were included in the dataset if they studied reef fishes and incorporated a field-based component to the research.