With the institutional innovation as the driving force and the quality, efficiency, and connotation construction as the content, the humanity and social science researches in Central China Normal University (CCNU) have made great strides in many respects—including the scientific research projects, funds, achievements, and platforms as well as the national and/or the local policy consultation services—since the embarking of the 13th Five-Year Plan. As a result, great progress has been made in the scientific research and innovation capacity of CCNU, which in turn, has provided strong support for talent training and discipline construction.

The construction of scientific research platforms has made notable progress. Currently, CCNU boasts 3 Key Research Bases for Humanities and Social Sciencesdirectly under the Ministry of Education, 1 National Key Research Base for the Development of Coursebooks, 1 Collaborative Innovation Center Co-constructed by Hubei Province and the Ministry of Education,and 35 other Key Research Bases for Humanities and Social Sciencesat the provincial and/or ministerial level. In particular, Institute of China Rural Studies has become the first batch of key research bases signed by the Ministry of Education, and now ranks as high as A+ among the top 100 higher education think tanks according to Chinese Think Tank Index (CTTI). As is also indicated by CTTI, National Research Center for Cultural Industry has been selected as a source think tank. In 2020, CCNU has also been granted to build a National Collaborative Experimental Base for Teacher Development.

There is a continuous rise in scientific research funds and increase in high-level research projects that have been approved to CCNU. The university’s total amount of scientific research funds has exceeded 1.7 billion yuan. Cumulatively, 336 projects have been approved by the National Social Science Fund of China and 194 projects by the annual fund of the Ministry of Education, the total number of projects making CCNU rank among the top five universities in China. CCNU has even declared 10 major projects for key research bases of humanities and social sciences, and 4 major national bidding projects. The number of common projects supported by the Social Science Fund of Hubei Province has ranked first for 11 consecutive years.

The quality of scientific research achievements made by CCNU has been continuously improved. CCNU has won 22 first prizes of Outstanding Achievement Award in Social Sciences at the provincial and/or ministerial level, and 20 of the 8th Outstanding Achievement Award in Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, including 3 first prizes. In addition, 16 papers have been published inSocial Sciences in China, and up to 132 papers have beenfrequentlycited in international journals. During the 13th Five-Year-Plan period, 3 research achievements made by the faculty of CCNU have been successfully selected into the National Library of Achievements in Philosophy and Social Sciences, and teachers of humanities and social sciences from CCNU have put down more than 2, 500 political consultative reports, of which more than 600 have been adopted.