Trilobites are an extinct group of arthropods known only from the Paleozoic. They were abundant and diverse and had a worldwide distribution. Chinese scholars have been studying trilobites from China since 1924 and have made outstanding contributions to paleontology and stratigraphy of China. To reveal the past, present, and future trilobite research in China, we use CiteSpace citation visualization analysis software to measure the literatures on Chinese trilobites and carry out knowledge graph analysis. Data were collected from the Chinese Science and Technology Journal Database produced by CNKI, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, and Weipu Information Co., LTD., as well as the Web of Science core collection database, including 429 articles in Chinese database and 178 articles in English database. The results show that trilobite research in China has been increasing gradually with close institutional cooperation networks and gradual increase of international impact. Areas of trilobite research hotspots are in Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Hubei, Anhui of the Yangtze Plate, and Hebei and Shandong of the North China Plate. The most targeted strata are the Cambrian and the Ordovician. The research topics of Chinese literatures focus on biostratigraphy, morphology and taxonomy, while those of English literatures are on ontogeny and biostratigraphy. The research methods have been becoming more diverse and interdisciplinary, involving geochemistry, ecology, fluid mechanics, etc. The cutting-edge research topics focus on the subfields of “ontogenetic molting”, “high-precision trilobite biostratigraphic framework”, and “trilobite diversity and macroevolution”, in combination with new technology such as Micro-CT. Overall, trilobite research has experienced an initial period (before 1965), a stagnation period (1966–1975), a rapid rise period (1976–1986), and a slow fluctuation period (1987–2023). It is urgent to increase talent acquisition and education in trilobite research, deepen interdisciplinary integration, expand the study of trilobites to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and other remote areas, and strengthen the study of trilobites from the Silurian–Permian strata. Future work may also concentrate on paleogeography, paleoecology, phylogeny, and macroevolution of trilobites from China.
