Major global gulfs are essential for economic development but remain highly vulnerable to environmental pollutants. Despite progress in gulf environmental research, the extent of research investment in gulf environments across different regions worldwide remains unclear, which hinders the development of a unified global framework for bay environmental management. We aim to fill this gap by integrating GIS and Python-based methods to identify the ten largest gulfs globally and conducting a statistical analysis of research publications from 2000 to 2024 for these gulfs, based on the Web of Science core database. We find that the publication numbers show a correlation with the size of the gulf. However, the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of St. Lawrence show higher publication volumes, likely influenced by economic activities and major environmental incidents. In contrast, regions such as Hudson Bay and the Gulf of Carpentaria receive relatively less research attention. This suggests that scientific output in gulf regions may be attributed to economic activities and significant environmental events. Water quality research predominates, while sediment studies, particularly in high-latitude gulf areas (such as Hudson Bay), account for the lowest proportion, possibly due to sampling costs and challenges. Traditional pollutants, especially heavy metals (HMs) and persistent organic pollutants (POPs), are the primary focus of research. The investigation of emerging contaminants reveals significant regional disparities, emphasizing the necessity for further research and enhanced regulatory frameworks. This study provides scientific evidence for the unified governance of gulf environments.