Abstract: By using CiteSpace software to draw keyword co-occurrence graphs, keyword timeline graphs, and keyword emergent sub-column graphs, a total of 525 papers from 2017—2023 were visualized and analyzed. The analysis found that the research in this field focused on the theoretical research, legal rules, recognition criteria, and legitimacy boundaries of data crawling in the era of digital economy, but there were still problems such as weak relations between subjects and insufficient theoretical research on breadth. The future research should increase the depth, broaden the field and grasp the hotspots based on the current research situation in the academia, focusing on the legitimacy and applicability boundary, legal rules and recognition standards, and influencing factors of data crawling, so as to better balance the boundary between data circulation and data opening and build harmonious and orderly market competition environment.

Key words: data crawling, CiteSpace, bibliometrics, unfair competition