Editorial Department of World Socialism Studies
World Socialist Studies (ISSN 10-1443/D) was officially launched on October 1, 2016, originally as a bimonthly publication. In July 2017, the journal transitioned to a monthly schedule. It is supervised by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and sponsored by the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies and the Social Sciences Academic Press. The World Socialist Studies Research Center of CASS serves as the executive organizer. Li Shenming serves as the Editor-in-Chief, with Cui Weihang, Luo Wendong, and Chen Zhigang as Deputy Editors-in-Chief. Yu Haiqing serves as the Executive Editor-in-Chief and Director of the Editorial Office, while Shan Chao serves as the Deputy Director of the Editorial Office.
World Socialist Studies is a source journal for the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI) [1], a core journal in the AMI Comprehensive Evaluation of Chinese Humanities and Social Science Journals, and a source journal for "Important Reprinted Material" by the Renmin University of China (RUC) Information Center for Postgraduate Collections [2]. It is distributed publicly both domestically and abroad. Specialized columns in the journal include: Theory and Practice of World Socialism, Overseas Research on China Issues, Interviews on Frontier Issues in World Marxism and Left-wing Studies, and Research on the Essence and Trends of World Capitalism.
Since its inception, World Socialist Studies has actively organized and solicited contributions from relevant domestic scholars as well as foreign communist parties and left-wing academics, conducting multi-perspective and multi-level research and discussions on major theoretical and practical issues of world socialism. Several articles have been reprinted by major domestic media outlets—such as the RUC Information Center for Postgraduate Collections and Marxist Digest—and by the newspapers and websites of communist parties in Russia, Australia, Britain, the United States, Turkey, and Italy, among others. With the strong support of experts and scholars at home and abroad, the journal has continuously achieved gratifying results.
In 2017, the journal was designated as a "Supplementary Journal of the CASS Innovation Program" and became a CASS core journal. In 2018, it was selected as an official journal for the "Two Sessions" [3], provided to deputies of the National People's Republic (NPC) and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). That same year, the feature collection "Penal Discussions on Studying the 'July 26' Speech to Welcome the 19th Party Congress" [4] won the second national "Excellent Article for Thematic Journal Promotion" award. It was also selected as a "New Core Journal" in the AMI Comprehensive Evaluation of Chinese Humanities and Social Science Journals.
In 2019, the journal was named the "Most Popular Journal in Political Science for 2018" by the National Philosophy and Social Science Documentation Center (NPSDC) academic journal database, ranking fifth out of 206 political science journals. In 2020, it was ranked fifth among the NPSDC's "Top 20 Most Popular Journals of 2019," ranked 12th in the "Top 20 Journals by Aggregate Interest Index over the Past Three Years," and ranked second as the "Most Popular Journal in Political Science for 2019."
In March 2021, the Academic Evaluation Center for Humanities and Social Sciences and the Information Center for Postgraduate Collections of Renmin University of China jointly released the list of "Source Journals for Important Reprinted Materials (2020 Edition)." From over 4,000 journals nationwide, 724 were selected; within the discipline of Marxist Theory, 26 out of 224 journals were chosen, with World Socialist Studies among them. During the selection process, the journal received recognition from both invited and peer-review experts. On April 30, 2021, the Chinese Social Sciences Research Evaluation Center of Nanjing University officially released the CSSCI Extended Edition Source Journal Catalog (2021–2022), marking the journal's first inclusion. In June 2021, the NPSDC user interest report ranked the journal 14th among the "Top 20 Most Popular Journals of 2020" and second among the "Most Popular Journals in Political Science for 2020."
On September 28, 2021, World Socialist Studies was selected for the "Think Tank Journal Group (Version 1.0)." This seminar was jointly hosted by the Institutes of Science and Development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Elsevier, and CNKI [5]. From this group, 66 English and 62 Chinese journals were selected as representative publications for think tank research. In October 2021, the feature collection "The CPC Centenary through the Eyes of Foreign Communist Parties and the Left" won the "Excellent Article" award at the 5th "Excellent Article for Thematic Journal Promotion" event.
In 2022, the NPSDC academic journal database ranked the journal as the "Most Popular New Journal for 2021" and the "Most Popular New Journal for 2016–2021." On March 17, 2023, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Evaluation Studies (CASSES) officially released the AMI Comprehensive Evaluation Report on Chinese Humanities and Social Science Journals (2022), where the journal was identified as a core journal. On May 17, 2023, the NPSDC and the CASS Library released the 2022 User Interest Report for Chinese Journals. The report showed that among 190 political science journals, World Socialist Studies ranked first in interest; among 1,921 Chinese publications founded before January 1, 2017, it ranked sixth.
In 2023, the journal was selected for the Nanjing University CSSCI (2023–2024) Source Journal list. In 2024, it was again included in the RUC Information Center for Postgraduate Collections "Source Journals for Important Reprinted Materials (2023 Edition)." Out of more than 4,000 journals, 749 were selected; in the discipline of Marxist Theory, it was one of only 29 journals selected from 325 reprinted titles. In 2024, the NPSDC interest report named it the "Most Popular Political Science Journal for 2023." On September 22–23, 2024, the journal was included in the "Think Tank Journal Group (Version 2.0)." Most recently, in August 2025, World Socialist Studies was selected for the Nanjing University CSSCI (2025–2026) Source Journal list, reflecting its continuously expanding academic influence and contribution.