According to the latest data published by American Essential Science Indicators (ESI) on March 1^st, Social Sciences, General of Zhejiang University ranked among 1% of ESI global disciplines, signifying the recognition of social sciences of ZhejiangUniversity as the world first-class discipline, which was the 15^th discipline of ZhejiangUniversity listed into ESI.

ESI data showed that 218 academic papers were published in the academic journals classified into “Social Sciences, General” ESI disciplines during 2002 and 2012. Since 2002, the total citations added up to 620 and the citation per paper came to 2.75. Beginning from September 2011, the Social Sciences, General of Peking University, TsinghuaUniversity, BeijingNormalUniversity and FudanUniversity were listed into ESI.

ESI is a basic analysis and assessment tool developed by American Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) to measure the scientific research performance and keep track of the scientific development. The database is established on over 10 million literature of 10,500 academic journals in SCI and SSCI of ISI. The literature in the last 10 years was updated. The journals listed into ESI are classified into 22 disciplines and ESI, from quotation analysis, calculates, analyzes and sequences the countries, research institutes, journals, papers and scientists in 22 disciplines. This database covers comprehensive disciplines in a wide range of countries with great academic influence, so the journals and papers collected and searched are often recognized as international mainstream journals and international mainstream science.