This paper makes a keyword co-occurrence analysis on the scientific and technological papers published in four bay areas from the knowledge mapping perspective. The research finding shows that the four bay areas focus on studies of the pathological mechanisms and treatment of new corona pneumonia and the cardio cerebrovascular epidemics. Through the analysis of each bay area, it is found that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area devotes to the field of information technology and material science, the Tokyo Bay Area focuses on the field of clinical medical treatment, the New York Bay Area focuses on the research field of pathological mechanism and prevention and treatment of non-communicable epidemics in the United States, and San Francisco Bay area devotes itself to the field of natural science. Based on the analysis results, this study shows that the possible future research directions of the four bay areas are information technology, epidemic prevention and treatment, and climatology. This study also suggests that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area should grasp the mainstream research direction, make up for its weaknesses, and seek to realise the transformation of scientific research output from “quantity” to “quality”.

Four Bay Area, Basic Scientific Research, Knowledge Mapping, Co-occurrence Analysis, Scientific and Technological Literature, Research Hotspot