We investigate the GRB formation rate based on the relation between the spectral peak energy (Ep) and the isotropic luminosity. The Ep--luminosity relation covers the energy range of 50 -- 2000 keV and the luminosity range of 1050--1054erg/s,respectively.Wefindthattherelationisconsiderablytighterthansimilarrelationssuggestedpreviously.UsingE_{p}−−luminosityrelation,weestimatetheluminosityandtheredshiftof684GRBswiththeunknowndistancesandderivetheGRBformationrateasafunctionoftheredshift.For0 \le z \le 2,theGRBformationrateiswellcorrelatedwiththestarformationratewhileitincreasesmonotonouslyfromz\sim 2outtoz \sim 12$. This behavior is consistent with the results of previous works using the lag--luminosity relation or the variability--luminosity relation.