Abstract: A comprehensively bibliometric analysis of 1 024 published papers since 1970 from Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) database based on the VOSviewer is performed in this paper， with the aim of summarizing the main scientific issues and hot topics of shoreline change. The results shows that research on shoreline change involves multiple disciplines， including geoscience， environmental science and physical geophysics. The number of related paper publications has risen in the past 50 years. Among them, Journal of Coastal Research is the most important publication of this topic. The United States and its Geological Survey， Duke University and the University of Florida have played a leading role in shoreline change research， which formed an important cooperative cluster. Shoreline erosion is always the key issue in this field where remote sensing and GIS gradually developed into the main methods for shoreline change research. The driving force of shoreline change and its simulation and prediction， the natural and social effects of shoreline change and the comprehensive management of coastal zone have become research hotspots in recent years. Though China started late in the study of this field but it developes rapidly. This paper provides a good reference for the developments of coastline change research in China．