Analyzing Research Hotspots and Frontiers in Global Research on Digital Grassroots Governance through CiteSpace

In order to explore the research hotspots and development trends of digital grassroots governance abroad, this study focuses on 227 documents related to “Digital Grassroots Governance” within the Scopus database, covering a span of nearly 20 years (2005-2023). We utilized CiteSpace software to perform a visual analysis of these documents. Subsequently, we constructed keyword co-occurrence networks and cluster maps to better comprehend the landscape of “digital grassroots governance”. The study reveals that foreign research on Digital Grassroots Governance primarily revolves around three core areas: public participatory governance, regional research on digital grassroots governance, and aspects related to smart city technology and services. Based on these key thematic areas, we can summarize three major research directions in foreign digital grassroots governance. All of these directions are intertwined with the governance of smart cities, encompassing smart citizen participatory governance, the digital transformation of smart city infrastructure, and the sustainable development of smart cities.