This review describes the recent development in the analysis of glycoproteins using capillary electrophoresis with various separation techniques, and focuses especially on the analysis of recombinant glycoprotein pharmaceuticals. We include the analysis of glycoprotein multiforms (ie glycoform) as well as glycan analysis. The relationship between glycoprotein multiforms and oligosaccharide distributions in a glycoprotein sample is also discussed. Further, recent development in capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry is described. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.