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Objective: To judge the efficacies of neural stem cell (NSC) transplantation on functional recovery follow-ing contusion spinal cord injuries (SCIs). Data sources: Studies in which NSCs were transplanted into a clinically relevant, standardized rat model of contusion SCI were identified by searching the PubMed, Embase and Cochrane databases, and the extract-ed data were analyzed by Stata 14.0. Data selection: Inclusion criteria were that NSCs were used in in vivo animal studies to treat contusion SCIs and that behavioral assessment of locomotor functional recovery was performed using the Basso, Be-attie, and Bresnahan lo-comotor rating scale. Exclusion criteria included a follow-up of less than 4 weeks and the lack of control groups. Outcome measures: The restoration of motor function was assessed by the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan locomotor rating scale. Results: We identified 1756 non-duplicated papers by searching the aforementioned electronic databases, and 30 full-text articles met the inclusion criteria. A total of 37 studies reported in the 30 articles were in-cluded in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis results showed that transplanted NSCs could improve the motor function recovery of rats following contusion SCIs, to a moderate extent (pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.73; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.47–1.00; P < 0.001). NSCs obtained from different donor species (rat: SMD = 0.74; 95% CI: 0.36–1.13; human: SMD = 0.78; 95% CI: 0.31–1.25), at different donor ages (fetal: SMD = 0.67; 95% CI: 0.43–0.92; adult: SMD = 0.86; 95% CI: 0.50–1.22) and from different origins (brain-derived: SMD = 0.59; 95% CI: 0.27–0.91; spinal cord-derived: SMD = 0.51; 95% CI: 0.22–0.79) had similar efficacies on improved functional recovery; however, adult induced pluripotent stem cell-de-rived NSCs showed no significant efficacies. Furthermore, the use of higher doses of transplanted NSCs or the administration of immunosuppressive agents did not promote better locomotor function recovery (SMD = 0.45; 95% CI: 0.21–0.70). However, shorter periods between the contusion induction and the NSC transplantation showed slightly higher efficacies (acute: SMD = 1.22; 95% CI: 0.81–1.63; subacute: SMD =0.75; 95% CI: 0.42–1.09). For chronic injuries, NSC implantation did not significantly improve functional recovery (SMD = 0.25; 95% CI: –0.16 to 0.65). Conclusion: NSC transplantation alone appears to be a positive yet limited method for the treatment of contusion SCIs.