Research Overview

SEM attaches great importance to scientific research, which currently covers the two fields of Economics and Management, and boasts three First Level Discipline Doctoral Degree Programs in Management Science, Business Administration, and Applied Economics, and corresponding post-doctoral mobile stations. Faculty members of SEM undertake projects of different organizations, such as National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), National Social Science Foundation of China (NSSFC), National Key Research and Development Program, Key Technologies Research and Development Programmes sponsored by the Ministry of Education, as well as provincial or ministerial levels, and various consultation projects. These research results have extensively and directly served the government and industries across the nation.

With a focus on its distinctive strengths, the School has made new breakthroughs in discipline development. In the fifth round of national discipline evaluations, the Management Science discipline remained at the top tier nationally. Furthermore，the Business Administration discipline made significant progress and rose to a leading position among similar disciplines. In the latest Times Higher Education China Subject Ratings, both Management Science and Business Administration are ranked A+.

Both the number and funding of approved national research projects have increased significantly in the past two years from 2023 to 2024. There are 66 national projects approved by NSFC, NSSFC, and Ministry of Education. Notably, over 30 projects are approved in two consecutive years, setting a record. Among them, there are 7 Key/Major programs, one renewal grant from the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars with direct funding of RMB 5.6 million. This project is the first of its kind nationwide, one of only two awarded under the management division, and the sole recipient at Tongji University. Additionally, two grants from the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars.  Overall, the total approved funding has doubled compared to the previous biennium. In 2024, three major projects under the Social Science Foundation were approved, ranked among the top schools in economics and management nationwide.

Moreover, our faculties are constantly focusing on major theoretical and practical issues of economic and social development, carrying out strategic and prospective scientific research which has close ties with practical needs from governments and businesses. The quality of commercial research funds has improved prominently, the number of funds with a single contact amount of 3 million RMB and above has increased by 200% compared with the period from 2021 to 2022. The overall scientific research level has improved significantly.

For publication performance in academic papers, both the quantity and quality have improved in large extent. More than 220 CSSCI papers were published in Chinese journals, including about 100 papers in high level journals. Besides, more than 500 SCI/SSCI papers were published as well, including about 165 papers in high level international journals (i.e. PNAS, international Top A and B). The total number of papers on top journals were increasing in large scale. There are 9 top papers published in Chinese top journals (a record high). Also, there are 28 top papers published in UTD24 top international journals, representing a 27% increase compared to the previous period. Following its first publication in the prestigious journal PNAS in 2022, two papers have been officially published in 2023, achieving steady progress in academic output.

Awards and academic influence continue to grow. It has already received five awards in the 9^th Excellent Achievement Award in Scientific Research in Higher Education (Humanities and Social Sciences) by the Ministry of Education, and one award in the 10th Zhang Peigang Development Economics Excellent Achievement Award, which is the second consecutive time the School has received this honor. Between 2023 and 2024, 13 faculty members were selected for Elsevier’s list of Highly Cited Chinese Researchers. Additionally, two and ten faculty members have been included in Stanford University’s” World’s Top 2% Scientists” lists for lifetime and annual scientific impact, respectively.

Laboratory

Several professional laboratories with teaching, research and development functions have been established due to the implementation of ‘211’ Project, ‘Action Plan’ and ‘985’ project. They are ‘Tongji—Autodesk BLM Joint Lab’ , ‘Supply Chain and Industrial Engineering Lab’ , ‘Urban Management and Urban Informatization Lab’ , ‘Accounting Simulation Lab’ and several work studios of postgraduates, which boast abundant development, application and teaching software, such as complex system simulation, risk analysis, decision support, business intelligence, operations optimization, statistics analysis, data mining, project management, Geographic Information System, SAP ERP, Wind Financial Database and UFIDA GRP.

Tongji-Autodesk BLM Joint Lab has established wide-ranging partnership with renowned universities and companies in the fields of Architecture, in which a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary professional network platform is founded covering Architecture, Civil Engineering and Management Science. The lab has contributed to many high level projects, such as the Comprehensive Operations Management Information System for World Expo 2010, the Construction Project Management System of Large-scale International Airport Hub, Application Research and Integration of Project Management Modes, and various National-level or Municipal-level Quality Course Construction Projects.

The Supply Chain and Industrial Engineering Lab is equipped with first-class research facilities and has carried out many research jobs on company simulation and optimization of internal processes, warehouse simulation and optimization, distribution simulation and optimization, and supply chain simulation and optimization. The research fruits are at the cutting-edge of level domestically and have twice been granted Second Prize by Shanghai Science and Technology Progress Award, and  twice the Second Prize by Science and Technology Progress Award from the Ministry of Education.

Urban Management and Urban Informatization Lab adheres to application-oriented methodology in research and targets actual needs of the governments and the public in e-government and urban informatization, such as in-depth research in government model, government process reengineering, and data planning, etc. The lab launches research in Urban Management Modeling and Simulation Technology, Urban Emergency Management, Urban Grid Management and Urban Information System Integration via the most cutting-edge simulation software. It has completed successfully many research projects from NSFC, Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality, Development Research Center of Shanghai Municipal People’ s Government and Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization.

Library

SEM’ s library was built shortly after the establishment of SEM. The library includes a reading area, self-enquiry system for readers, photocopiers and other facilities. The collection of SEM’ s library is comprised of Chinese and foreign books, newspapers, journals and all degree theses since the establishment of SEM. Currently the school’ s resources have been integrated with the University’ s to share its referential collections. There are two libraries in two campuses: Siping Campus Library reference materials for professional degrees while Jiading Campus Library houses those for academic degrees.