This
special issue emerged following the 2013 8th International Statistical
Seismology (StatSei8) workshop in Beijing. The articles within have been
collected to report on exciting new research in statistical seismology methods
and applications; it contains a collection of the newest methods, techniques
and results related to statistical analysis of earthquake occurrence and
earthquake probability forecasting. The articles within ultimately help to
define future research directions in the field. Especially, the rapid
development of observation technologies has brought geophysical research into
the big-data era. This includes not only non-seismicity geophysical data, such
as GPS observation on surface displacement, InSAR observation of the co-seismic
deformation, ionospheric observations, etc., but also extended seismological
data including slow earthquakes, tremor, and VLF earthquakes.

The subject
of statistical seismology bridges the gap between physical and statistical
models. Many significant achievements have been accomplished during the last
several decades, including formulation of conditional intensity models for
quantifying seismicity rates, earthquake probability forecasts, and theories
related to rigorous testing of forecast models.