Characteristics of 0.98 $mu$m-pumped erbium-doped fiber (EDF) sources with double-pass forward (DPF) configuration are analyzed by numerical calculation. Various source characteristics such as output power, spectral width and mean-wavelength stability are investigated with the variation of EDF length, pump power and pump wavelength. Some of the numerical results are compared with experimental ones for verification. The results show that the characteristics of sources with DPF configuration can change considerably with the EDF length. It is also found that an optimum design can exist for stable mean-wavelength against fluctuations of pump power and pump wavelength.