| The internationalization of social science research in the context of globalization while perhaps inevitable has been one of the important trends of social science research in the world as well as an important historical task for contemporary social science in Mainland China. How then, has the internationalization of Chinese social science research developed in recent years? What are the characteristics of the internationalization of Chinese social science research, as compared with other nearby countries/regions? How can the internationalization of Chinese social science research be sped up in the future? These questions must be addressed as Chinese social science research is internationalized. The study utilizes SSCI (Social Science Citation Index) articles to explore the development and characteristics of internationalization of social science research in Mainland China in last three decades.The present study analyzes the characteristics SSCI publications from Mainland China during the period 1978-2007 bibliometrically. The parameters analyzed include publication outputs, institutional productivity, co-authorship, international collaborations, mean impact factor and journal distributions. The results reveal that the number of SSCI articles published by Mainland China has risen gradually during the period 1978-2007 and that there has been a clear increase in the number of publications in the last decade. The number of articles published by universities and colleges was greater than published by other types of institutions. The percentage of collaborative articles was higher than that of single-authored articles. Also the number of internationally co-authored articles has increased gradually. The content of the articles focuses mainly on the domestic problems of Mainland China. There were many more articles in the area of economic, business and management than in the other areas.In this study, comparisons are made with China Taiwan and the East Asian countries of Japan and South Korea. The results reveal that there was a considerable increase in publication outputs from Mainland China between 1978 and 2007, especially during the last decade. The total number of publications from Mainland China during this period was less than that of Japan and China Taiwan and slightly more than that of South Korea. Moreover, the majority of articles were published by higher education institutions in each country/region, but Mainland China had the lowest ratio of articles published by higher education institutions of the countries/regions considered. During the period of this study, the rate of publication of co-authored and internationally co-authored articles from Mainland China increased; similar increases were observed in South Korea, Japan and China Taiwan, although the greatest increase was noted in Mainland China. Of 11 social science areas, the number of articles in the area of economics, business and management, and the area of psychology were greater than those published in the other 9 social science areas in each country/region. The mean impact factor of articles published by Mainland China in the areas of educational sciences, law and sociology was the lowest, but the highest in three areas of psychology, information and communication sciences, other social and behavioral sciences and public health and social welfare. The mean impact factor of articles published by Japan was higher in all social science areas. The mean impact factor of articles published by Mainland China, China Taiwan South Korea and Japan were lower than the mean impact factor in the world in the area of economics, business and management, and in the area of law. In addition, only one social science journal published in Mainland China was indexed in the SSCI while there were several such journals indexed in Japan, China Taiwan and South Korea during the period of 1978 to 2007.In this study, SSCI articles originating from universities in Mainland China were analyzed for the period of 1978-2007. The number of SSCI articles published by universities rose gradually during this period and the trend was the similar for the number of internationally co-authored articles published by universities and colleges. Much more SSCI articles were published by Peking universities in various social science areas than all of the other universities in Mainland China. Compared with universities and colleges in China-Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea, there was a considerable increase in the publication output originating from universities within Mainland China between 1978 and 2007; however the total number was less than those in China Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea. For each country/region considered, the majority of articles were published by universities and colleges, with Mainland China having the lowest proportion of articles published by universities and colleges. Additionally, the rate of internationally co-authored articles of universities in Mainland China went up just like those in South Korea, Japan and China-Taiwan. The most productive universities in Mainland China, China-Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea were those that received significant government support.In general, the production of SSCI papers by Mainland China is not strong, compared with the other countries/regions. Statistics show that Japan performed best in many indicators in this study. So, some possible factors affecting internationalization of Chinese social science research were analyzed, combined with a review of the experience of Japan. For instance, Japan has been paying more attention on the development and the internationalization of social sciences in recent decades. In this study, the method of linear regression and principle component regression are applied to the analysis of the factors affecting the publication of SSCI papers. The results show that GDP per capita, the number of doctoral degrees awarded, the number of researchers in social science and the amount of research funds invested and policies of social science issued by the government are related to the output of SSCI papers and internationalization of social science research. In addition, the national system of research management and evaluation as well as the traditional history and culture have some impact on it as well.Based on the analysis of factors affecting internationalization of Chinese social science research, combined with a review of the experience of Japan and other countries, this study considers the further internationalization of Chinese social science and suggests main strategies. The goal of internationalization should be a focus of the development planning of Chinese social science. In the near future, China must become a voice in social science research and Chinese problems will be solved in this process; in the medium-term, many Chinese social science scientists must engage in the global scientific community; in the long-term, Chinese social science research must expand their expertise into all social science areas. In order to speed up the internationalization of Chinese social science research, more favorable policies fostering and financially supporting international cooperation in the studies of social sciences are expected to be made by the Chinese government. It is expected that Chinese government, universities and researchers will focus more funding and effort on social science research by developing new funding mechanisms; building teams of researchers with open-minded and international competition; internationalizing national journals in social science; reforming the system of management and evaluation; furthering the international cooperation; speeding up the internationalization of higher education and development of social science in world-class universities and so on.
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