Based on bibliometric analysis and data of Web of Science, this paper selects four major Chinese geographic journals indexed in SCI: Journal of Geographical Sciences, Chinese Geographical Science, Journal of Mountain Science and Journal of Arid Land as research objects. We carried out a bibliometric analysis of the top 50 highly cited articles (a total of 221 papers) published in the four major Chinese geographical journals, with regards to cited frequency, subject distribution, research hotspots of highly cited articles. Furthermore, research contents and hotspots of the four journals were compared and explored. The results show that: (1) Physical Geography is hotspot disciplines of the four journals from discipline distribution, and environmental science plays an increasingly important role in recent years. (2) The keywords category statistics distinguished the key fields of the four journals while the keywords statistics revealed key research topics, with high frequency keywords such as climate change, land use, remote sensing, spatial pattern, and urbanization. (3) Rural development, urbanization, and wetland protection are important fields. What's more, multidisciplinary comprehensive research is the development trend of Geography. Results can be useful in directing the discipline design and focused direction of the journals, and providing reference for the development of Geography.