The nine think tanks are Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; China Institute of International Studies; China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations; Development Research Center of the State Council; Institute of International and Strategic Studies Peking University; Shanghai Institute for International Studies; Unirule Institute of Economics; Center for China and Globalization; and Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, with CASS ranking the highest among all Chinese think tanks at 31 in the list of 175 top think tanks in the 2015 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report released by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program.
The report has been subdivided to 52 lists among which one is newly added this year by country of thinks tanks worldwide apart from other ranking categories including region, area of research and special achievement.
Chinese think tanks have been selected altogether in 28 out of 52 lists with 18 of them finding their way into Top Think Tanks in China, India, Japan and the Republic of Korea, including China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (4th), China Institute of International Studies (8th), Carnegie — Tsinghua Center for Global Policy (9th), Chinese Academy of Social Science (10th), and Development Research Center of the State Council (13th), etc.
Four Chinese thinks tanks have made their presence on the list of Think Tank to Watch. They are Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, Center for China and Globalization, China Center for International Economic Exchanges, and Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies.