Overview
This Skill guides an AI Agent to assist users in writingannual projects of the National Social Science Fund of Chinaapplication, based on the official 2025 template of the National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences, covering four categories: key projects (A), general projects (B), youth projects (C), and western projects (X). Unlike the existing research-grants(for overseas natural science funds such as NSF/NIH) and nsfc-proposal(for the National Natural Science Foundation of China), this Skill is specifically designed forphilosophy and social science funds in mainland Chinaand pays special attention to:
- The newly added "topic explanation" module in 2025(≤300 characters, as a separate paragraph, the first content read by review experts)
- Anonymization requirements for the anonymous review sheet(author names, institutions, names of publication journals, collaborators, and other identifying information must not appear)
- Differences in disciplinary review standards(25 disciplinary categories, with different review priorities for each discipline)
- The three core review principles of "goal orientation, problem awareness, and disciplinary perspective"
Academic Integrity Statement: The scientific viewpoints, research ideas, and innovation points of the application must be provided by the applicant personally; AI may only be used to assist with literature retrieval, structural organization, and language polishing, and the factual accuracy must be manually verified.
When to Use This Skill
This Skill should be triggered when the user's request involves the following situations:
- Writing, revising, or polishing any module of an NSSFC application
- Asking about the application regulations, word limits, and funding amounts for key/general/youth/western projects
- Checking whether an application complies with the new 2025 requirements (topic explanation of 300 characters, as a separate paragraph)
- Preparingthe anonymous review sheet version(must be strictly anonymized)
- Organizing prior achievements (limited to 5 items, highly relevant to this project)
- Designing the budget estimate (indirect costs ≤40%, labor costs generally ≤30% of direct costs)
Quick Reference for Core Differences Among the Four Project Categories
| Dimension | A Key Projects | B General Projects | C Youth Projects | X Western Projects |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applicant qualifications | Associate professor or above, or doctoral degree | Associate professor or above, or doctoral degree | Under 35 years old | Employed personnel in western provinces and regions |
| Funding amount | 350,000 yuan | 200,000 yuan | 200,000 yuan | 200,000 yuan |
| Completion time | Basic research 3-5 years, applied research 2-3 years | Same as left | Same as left | Same as left |
| Review focus | Major theoretical and practical issues | Disciplinary Frontiers and Innovation | Innovation Potential and Academic Training | Economic and Social Development of Western China |
For detailed specifications, see
references/NSSFC_WRITING_SPEC.md。
Workflow
Phase 1 · Information Collection
Collect the following elements through dialogue (or by using structured questioning in supported tools):
【课题名称】：不超过 40 个汉字，不加副标题
【项目类别】：A 重点 / B 一般 / C 青年 / X 西部
【学科分类】：一级学科 + 二级学科（如：社会学 / 社会学理论）
【研究类型】：A 基础研究 / B 应用研究 / C 综合研究
【关键词】：≤3 个，空格分隔
【申请经费】：A=35 万；B/C/X=20 万
【计划完成时间】：基础研究 3-5 年；应用研究 2-3 年
【预期成果形式】：专著 / 论文集 / 论文 / 研究报告
【申请人背景】：职称、研究方向、代表性成果
【课题组成员】：姓名、职称、单位、研究专长
【核心研究问题】：2-3 句话描述
【前期成果】：与本课题相关的已有成果，最多 5 项
【与已有项目关系】：无 / 有（说明联系与区别）
【是否需要活页版】：是 / 否（决定匿名化处理）
If the user's information is incomplete, follow up on the fields that most affect the Agent's decisions (project category, disciplinary classification, core research question); the rest may be filled with the placeholder "please supplement as appropriate".
Phase 2 · Literature Search
Refer to references/LITERATURE_SEARCH.md, and select a search strategy according to the disciplinary field:
- Priority: CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), Wanfang, VIP → Chinese core / CSSCI source journals
- International：JSTOR、SSCI、A&HCI、SAGE、Project MUSE
- Specialized Databases：
- Law: PKULaw, Jufa Cases, Westlaw, HeinOnline
- Economics: EconLit, NBER, CEIC
- History: Chinese Ancient Books Resource Database, Airusheng Database, JSTOR
- Literature: CNKI Ancient Books Database, Chinese Classic Ancient Books Database
- If already installed
qinyan-paper-searchSkill → usewanfang(Chinese) andgoogle(foreign languages) as dual sources
Recommended Disciplinary Field Orientations：
| Discipline | Priority Search Databases | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Philosophy / Religious Studies / Chinese Literature | CNKI → Ancient Books Database → JSTOR | Emphasize both Chinese and foreign-language sources |
| Economics / Applied Economics | EconLit → CNKI → NBER | Use CEIC/Wind for data sources |
| Law | PKULaw → CNKI → HeinOnline | Use Jufa/Westlaw for case searches |
| Sociology / Ethnology | CNKI → Wanfang → SSCI | Fieldwork materials must indicate the acquisition method |
| Political Science / International Studies | CNKI → SSCI → Think Tank Reports | Use think tanks such as RAND/Brookings |
| Education / Psychology | CNKI → ERIC → APA PsycInfo | Empirical research prioritizes SSCI |
| History / Archaeology | Chinese Ancient Books Resource Database → CNKI → JSTOR | Historical materials must be critically examined academically |
| Journalism and Communication / Library and Information Science | CNKI → Communication Abstracts | For policy-related citations, use Media |
Phase 3 · Writing the Topic Description + Topic Rationale
**Topic Description (≤300 words, newly added in 2025)** is the first content read by review experts and must be highly concise:
- Express it in one coherent paragraph,not in bullet points
- Cover three elements: ① core research question ② research perspective / theoretical framework ③ definition of core concepts
- Author names and institutional names are prohibited
**Topic Rationale (about 1,500-2,000 words)** adopts the principle of "review : critique = 3:7":
- Academic History Review and Research Progress(about 500 words):
- International research: divide into 2-3 schools / stages, representative figures + viewpoints + limitations
- Domestic research: divide into 2-3 dimensions, review achievements and shortcomings
- Existing similar National Social Science Fund projects (past 5 years): point out the differences of this study
- Academic Value and Application Value(about 800 words):
- Academic value 2-3 points: fill a gap / expand theory / provide a new framework
- Application value 1-2 points: policy basis / decision-making reference / respond to national strategy
Phase 4 · Research content + Innovations + Research foundation
Research content(about 1500 words) must includeOutline or table of contents(framework visualization):
第一部分：导论与研究设计（约 X 千字）
第二部分：【核心议题 A】的理论分析
第三部分：【核心议题 B】的实证检验
第四部分：【核心议题 C】的比较 / 案例分析
第五部分：结论与政策建议
Research planOrganized by year (in table form), strictly consistent with the "planned completion time".
Innovations(about 600 words) must be listed item by item, selecting 1-2 points from each of the three dimensions:
- Innovation in academic viewpoints
- Innovation in research methods
- Innovation in research perspective / topic
Research foundation：
- Academic CV (about 400 words): education, visiting experience, and project experience related to this topic
- Prior achievements (limited to 5 items): achievement name + form + publication information + relevance to this topic
- Projects undertaken: in table form
- Relationship with existing projects / doctoral dissertation: if related, must clearly state "substantive expansion" (text repetition rate <60%)
Phase 5 · Anonymous version processing and self-check
If the user needs an anonymous version：
- Total word count ≤ 7000 words (including topic description)
- Strict anonymization：
- Delete the applicant's name, institution name, and city (replace with "a certain university" and "a certain province")
- For prior achievements, delete journal names, publisher names, and collaborator names
- Delete any description from which the applicant's identity could be inferred
- Prior achievements should list onlyachievement name + relevance to this topic, without specific publication information
According to references/QUALITY_CHECKLIST.md complete the final self-check and output two files:
申请书_完整版_YYYY-MM-DD.md申请书_活页版_YYYY-MM-DD.md(anonymized)
Tool compatibility notes
This Skill uses pure Markdown + YAML frontmatter,does not depend on any tool-specific syntax. How to use it in each Agent:
| Tool | Loading method | Invocation suggestion |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | ~/.claude/skills/nssfc-proposal/, automatically recognizes frontmatter |
Triggered when the user says "help me write a National Social Science Fund application" |
| Cursor | .cursor/skills/nssfc-proposal/ or .cursorrules reference SKILL.md in |
@SKILL.md in chat |
| Codex CLI | ~/.codex/skills/nssfc-proposal/, as prompt context |
codex --skill nssfc-proposal or initial prompt include |
| OpenClaw | ~/.openclaw/skills/nssfc-proposal/ |
Same as Claude Code |
| Gemini CLI | ~/.gemini/skills/nssfc-proposal/ |
Reference the SKILL.md path in the system prompt |
Installation command:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LeonChaoX/qinyan-academic-skills/main/install.sh | \
bash -s -- -s nssfc-proposal --tool <claude|cursor|codex|gemini|openclaw>
Referenced files
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
references/NSSFC_WRITING_SPEC.md |
Complete writing specifications (data tables, topic description, topic basis, research content, innovations, research foundation, budget estimate, anonymous version rules) |
references/LITERATURE_SEARCH.md |
Social science literature search strategies and recommended data sources for each discipline |
references/QUALITY_CHECKLIST.md |
Pre-submission self-check list covering four categories: form / content / anonymization / integrity |
High-frequency error warnings
| Error | Correction |
|---|---|
| Topic description listed in bullet points | Change to a coherent paragraph |
| Topic basis only "describes" without "evaluating" | Add "However..." or "But existing research has not yet..." at the end of each paragraph to reveal the research gap |
| Research content has no outline | There must be a visualized section/chapter framework |
| Innovations are empty boilerplate | Each item must have substantive content, supported by literature comparison |
| Prior achievements are unrelated to the project | List only achievements highly relevant to this project (≤5 items) |
| The anonymized version contains identifiable information | Remove names, institutions, journals, and collaborators; replace with "a certain university" and "a certain province" |
| No explanations for each budget category | Each category must have a "purpose explanation"; labor fees ≤ 30% of direct costs |
| Project title includes a subtitle | Remove the subtitle; ≤40 characters reflecting the core research question |
| Research plan is inconsistent with the completion time | Develop by year, strictly aligned with the "planned completion time" |
Final reminder: The application must be written by the applicant personally. This Skill serves only as a structural framework and writing guide; all academic viewpoints and research ideas must come from the applicant's own academic accumulation and disciplinary thinking. A high-quality application reflects the applicant's disciplinary perspective and problem awareness, rather than the application of a template.