Abstract: Quantitative analysis of earthquake literatures published in professional journals, collected in China professional journal databank by Chongqing VIP Information Co., Ltd., are done in the paper. Statistical analysis of literatures in the fields associated with seismology demonstrates that the papers are relatively concentrated in the several specific scientific subjects. The total of the earthquake literatures published in the main seismological journals decreased relatively along with the time, while the subjects expand relatively at the same time. The strengthening of some researches such as theoretical seismology and applied earthquake engineering indicates the increases of both the strength of seismological observation techniques and the service capability for the society in China. Earthquake literatures written by researchers in Center for Analysis and Prediction, China Earthquake Administration, and published in professional journals from 1994 to 2002 are also analyzed in the paper. The literature distribution shows the same highly concentrated characteristics of scientific subject distribution in seismology domain. The above results suggest that it is important to broaden the subjects of the scientific researches in order to meet the increasing needs of earthquake prevention and disasters mitigation. The primary results are of certain significance in the literature services for seismological researches.

Key words: Seismology, Literature, Quantitative analysis, Core journal