Abstract: 【Purpose/significance】Government data governance is an important part of national governance modernization. Through the
analysis of foreign government data governance research themes and hotspots, we provide reference for the construction of digital gov? ernment and national governance system nowadays.【Method/process】Based on bibliometrics and knowledge mapping, the foreign gov? ernment data governance literature in web of science between 1999-2021 was used as a sample, and the visualization results were pre? sented using Scimago Graphica, ITGInsight and CiteSpace.【Result/conclusion】Through the analysis of literature distribution charac? teristics of regions, journals, and authors, it was found that the period of literature distribution showed fluctuating growth, the research was mainly dominated by developed countries, and the author posting status was seriously polarized. Through the analysis of research themes, it is found that the thematic structure of foreign government data governance research is the macro-level support structure, the micro-level behavioral design, the meso-level local practice, the conceptual-level awareness orientation, and the value-level domain selection. The analysis of emergent keywords reveals that the hotspot evolution is divided into three stages, such as the period of gover? nance framework construction, the period of governance system improvement, and the period of governance quality enhancement, cor? responding to the macro, micro, meso, conceptual, and value level themes of the research.【Innovation/limitations】Using social net? work analysis and visual presentation, we systematically, stage by stage, and inductively sort out foreign government digital governance research, and analyze the thematic structure content and hotspot evolution pattern of the research.