To sort out the relevant concepts of smart emergency response and put forward an understanding of the connotation of it by using the bibliometric tools to visually analyze the research hotspots and development trends in the field for further studies.

Literature analysis was used to understand the relevant connotation of smart emergency response. Citespace bibliometric analysis was carried out to visualize the articles in the field of smart emergency response from 2003 to 2023.

Emergency management research direction turned to the application of technical means to build the intelligent and digital emergency management model and gradually changed the management mode of "pay more attention to disposal than to prevention", and it also showed a trend of "moving forward the gateway". "Artificial intelligence", "internet of things", "digital twin", "smart emergency response" and "resilient cities" might become the research hotspots and development trends in the future.

Chinese scholars should continue to focus on the key research areas of emergency management, to explore the scientific issues behind the practical problems of intelligent emergency management and to carry out in-depth studies, such as strengthening the measurement of practical processes and effects, and developing scientific evaluation tools. Moreover, with the practical development of intelligent emergency management, new challenges have been put forward for us. Therefore, our research ability and knowledge structure should be enhanced.