Research Status and Development Trends of Administrative Agreements—Visual Analysis Based on CiteSpace

Abstract

Administrative agreement has dual attributes of administration and agreement. It is an important flexible governance tool for the construction of service-oriented government and the modernization of national governance. CiteSpace software was used to conduct a visual analysis of the core articles on administrative agreement-related research included in the National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) from 1998 to 2026. The relevant research has gone through three stages: concept construction, institutional specification, and governance application. The overall process has gradually shifted from basic theoretical analysis to judicial application and multi-system construction. Domestic administrative agreement research has formed a stable academic pattern. The core research strength is concentrated in universities and judicial practice departments. Cooperation among scholars is relatively scattered, and cross-institutional and cross-regional collaborative research is still insufficient. The research has formed core topics around attribute definition, judicial review, rights protection, practical application and dispute resolution, and the focus continues to develop in the direction of practicality and refinement. Relying on existing research results to further improve the design of rules and practical paths can effectively promote the healthy development of the administrative agreement system and better respond to the practical needs of building a rule of law government.