Chinese social sciences need to promote domestic innovation and enhance their international visibility. Photo: TUCHONG

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Since its inception, social sciences have grappled with a practical gap across nations—failing to fully integrate theory with practice and thus struggling to achieve global applicability. Moreover, many social science research findings have been either refuted or have proven non-reproducible. The key to solving these problems lies in domestic innovation from various countries and the international dissemination of knowledge. This duality serves as bookends for constructing an  independent Chinese knowledge system of philosophy and social sciences in the new era. One end is knowledge input through domestic innovation, and the other is effective dissemination of this innovative knowledge via journals and others domestic and international media platforms.

Today, not all social science theories originate from Western practices. Research innovations based on the practices of developing countries have played a considerable role in advancing the field. Since the 20th century, many governance practices from developing countries have been distilled into theories and incorporated into textbooks worldwide.

For example, Argentine economist Raúl Prebisch introduced dependency theory in the 1960s based on Latin American development practices. American political scientist James C. Scott, through ethnographic research, described the everyday forms of resistance employed by Malaysian peasants as “weapons of the weak.” Another American, political scientist and anthropologist Joel S. Migdal, summarized the organizational features of strong societies and weak states in his historical study of Sierra Leone, Egypt, India, Israel, and Mexico. Indian economist Amartya Sen analyzed the Bengal famine of 1943, laying the disciplinary foundation for the politics of famine.

Some scholars have been awarded the Nobel Prize for their innovative contributions to research on developing countries. For instance, the 2019 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded jointly to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo-Banerjee, and Michael Kremer for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. The Nobel Peace Prize 2020 was awarded to the UN World Food Programme for its efforts to combat hunger.

China has accumulated a wealth of governance experience and achieved remarkable governance outcomes during its development and transformation. However, the international visibility of China’s research output has been limited due to insufficient theoretical refinement, theoretical innovation, and organized dissemination. Compared to other developing countries, studies focused on China have not been widely recognized or included in the recommended reading lists of higher education institutions around the world.

It is crucial to reflect on how to more effectively summarize China’s achievements in poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, as well as its theoretical insights, in order to engage in academic dialogue with the political science, sociology, management science, and economics communities of various countries. China must work to promote domestic innovation in social science research while systematically enhancing the international visibility of its research output.

First, it is important to carefully examine the intersection between the characteristics of China’s practices and the consensus within the international academic community. The integration of global and local concerns as well as international perspectives requires social scientists to analyze both the common and the unique development challenges faced by different countries, thereby identifying research approaches and solutions that are both globally relevant and aligned with domestic realities. While political agendas and natural sciences often provide guiding research topics, there is a lack of such consensus in social sciences.

Second, China needs to systematically present and disseminate its innovative achievements in social sciences on international academic platforms. Many countries widely use academic conferences and social media to promote and disseminate scholars’ work and views, expanding their global audience. China should provide financial and policy support for domestic academic institutions and journals to facilitate their participation in international exchange and collaboration, encouraging active overseas dissemination of Chinese social sciences. This helps connect China’s experience and case studies with global issues and increase the international influence of Chinese scholars.

Third, international academic communication in the era of artificial intelligence must address language barriers and the obstacles to internet access. Offering professional English writing and editing services to domestic scholars helps improve the language quality and influence of their research papers. For example, organizations such as the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the Japan Foundation have greatly contributed to the international dissemination of Japanese academic work.

In recent years, the Chinese Academic Translation Project managed by the National Social Science Fund of China has yielded positive results. However, there remains a need to further integrate resources from various channels, optimize project support and selection processes, and increase funding efficiency. Meanwhile, as communication is a two-way process, the needs of overseas researchers involved in China studies should be taken into consideration. For instance, overseas scholars often encounter difficulties accessing academic information on the websites of Chinese higher education and research institutions. This is not conducive to the international visibility and citation rate of Chinese social science research and undermines the opportunities for international academic dialogue and collaboration.

Zang Leizhen is a professor from the School of Public Administration and Policy at Renmin University of China.

Edited by WANG YOURAN