编年体文学著作，以年代为纲，可以把此年的作家活动、重要作品的产生、作家间的交流、重要文学活动等一一呈现，全面、立体地展示文学史的面貌。敦煌文学编年，要根据其特点进行。对传世经典文学作品，只对其抄写时间进行考证，以说明它们在敦煌地区的传播情境。文人的创作，作者可考，但具体创作时间无法确定，则系于该作者的卒年。作者生卒年无法考定，而其进士及第或活动的大致时间可考者，系于可考之年。作者生平不可考者，可根据内容推测其大致时代。抄写时间可考者，系于抄写时间，相当于后世的作品发表时间。敦煌讲唱文学，既难考作者，也无法考订创作时间，根据内容考定其大致产生时代以及写本的抄写时间。文学活动的编年，主要指文人交往、文学仪式、作品汇集等时间的考定。对敦煌文学写本的编辑或抄写时间的考定，要采用多种综合方式，如根据避讳字考定，根据内容判断其创作的大致年代，运用系连法，包括写本群系连法和字体归类系连法等方法进行判断。由相互联系的多个文学写本构成的写本群，是考定抄写时间新的切入点。

As a literary style, chronicles are year by year accounts of a person, event or movement. They include descriptions of, for example, an author’s social activities, the creation and publication of his major works, and his communication with other important figures. A chronicle of Dunhuang studies must follow the same pattern. For literary creations, if the dates surrounding the author’s life are known but the publication of a certain work of his is unknown, we can only define the publication as having been created sometime between his birth and death. If his birth and death dates are unknown, the years he passed the highest imperial examination usually are, which also help with dating his works. For many works in the Dunhuang manuscripts, are related dates of the author are sometimes unknown, which means we must date certain works based on their historical content. These are just a few of the difficulties that arise when trying to date Dunhuang works. This is why chronicling Dunhuang studies must take a comprehensive, inter-disciplinary approach.