The prognostic role of c-erbB-2 in gastric cancer is controversial. We conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the relationship between c-erbB-2 expression and the prognosis of gastric cancer. We evaluated 20 published studies assessing the relationship between c-erbB-2 and gastric cancer prognosis. The Revman 5.0 software was used to perform literature retrieval, article selection, data collection, and statistical analysis. We utilized a fixed-effect model to pool hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals from the studies. A total of 20 eligible studies including 4468 gastric cancer patients were analyzed. We were unable to demonstrate the prognostic value of c-erbB-2 for gastric cancer (hazard ratio = 1.01, 95% confidence interval = 0.87-1.16, P = 0.93). The present study indicated that c-erbB-2 expression is not a prognostic factor for gastric cancer.